Thirty three amendments to the united states constitution have been proposed by the united states congress and sent to the states for ratification since the constitution was put into operation on march 4 1789 twenty seven of these having been ratified by the requisite number of states are part of the constitution the first ten amendments were adopted and ratified simultaneously and are . Amendment xxvii of the united states constitution was passed originally proposed on september 25 1789 it was ratified may 7 1992 note the following text is a transcription of the amendment in its original form sections that are linked have since been amended or superseded. 258 amendment xxvii constitution of the united states 18 the 27th amendment to the constitution was proposed on september 25 1789 it was declared to have been ratified by the legislatures of 39 of the 50 states in a certificate of the archivist dated may 18 1992 the dates of ratification were maryland . Congress sent twelve amendments to the states for ratification on september 25 1789 ten of these were officially ratified on december 15 1791 two years two months and 20 days after congress proposed them here is a summary of what those amendments say amendments 11 27 xi xxvii