By Jacqueline Richey

How did a nineteen-year-old defy his professor and the Supreme Court? He got the 27th Amendment ratified when no one thought it was possible.

Gregory Watson, a sophomore at the University of Texas at Austin, had to write a paper for a government class. He researched amendments that Congress had approved with the necessary two-thirds majority in both chambers but which had not been ratified by enough state legislatures to become part of the U.S. Constitution. One, he told NPR, “just jumped right out at me.”

It read, “No law varying the compensation for the services of Senators and Representatives shall take effect until an election of representatives shall have intervened.”

In other words, if the members of Congress vote themselves a raise, it will not take effect until after the voters can decide if they deserve it.

This amendment was one of twelve drafted by James Madison and passed by the first Congress in 1788. Ten of those amendments were ratified by three quarters of the states to become the Bill of Rights.

In Watson’s research he learned that only six states had ratified the proposed compensation amendment by 1791. The Ohio General Assembly had ratified it in 1873 after Congress gave itself a $5,000 retroactive raise. The public outcry against the “salary grab” was so great that representatives and senators rushed to return the money or donate it to charity.

In his paper Watson argued that because there was no deadline for ratification, the proposed amendment was still alive and could be ratified. His professor disagreed and gave him a grade of C.

Being outraged, Watson began a solitary, self-financed campaign, contacting state legislators around the country. State legislatures began responding with Maine voting for ratification in 1983. His campaign gained momentum as liberal and conservative activists, including consumer activist Ralph Nader and Ohio’s Representative John Boehner, promoted ratification.

Legal scholars countered that the Supreme Court [Dillon v. Gloss (1921)] had ruled that the amendment was not viable because it lacked a “contemporary consensus.” Nonetheless, more and more state legislatures ratified it.

After ten years of letter writing, phone calls, and shaming, 35 states had passed the amendment. Only three more states were needed. On May 5, 1992, both Alabama and Missouri passed the amendment.

On May 7, Watson listened on the telephone as the Michigan House of Representatives put it over the top.

The Archivist of the United States, who has the statutory responsibility to certify amendments, declared on May 18, 1992, that the compensation amendment had met the requirements of Article V of the Constitution and thus was ratified. It was published in the Federal Register the next day.

Members of Congress, after some initial debating, accepted political realities, and both chambers overwhelmingly confirmed the Archivist’s decision.

The 27th Amendment took 203 years to be ratified. That contrasts with the 26th Amendment, which lowered the voting age to 18 and was ratified in 100 days.

The story of Greg Watson and the 27th Amendment is an inspiration on the power of individuals to make real change.

Jacqueline Richey is a member of Living Democracy: Engaging Citizens, a local citizen group. Our mission is to inform and educate the Mid-Ohio Valley about how government works on the local, state, and federal levels and how citizens can be involved to make our democracy work. Join us the third Monday of each month.

livingdemocracymov@gmail.com and facebook/speak foryourselfvote and Youtube channel Living Democracy.