592
Changing the Constitution
ming’s ratification in 1978 to protest a 1977 Congressional pay increase,
Madison’s proposal was virtually forgotten for nearly two centuries.
Beginning in 1982, an extraordinary series of events revived public interest in the moribund amendment, largely because of the diligence and
perseverance of a young college student. While looking for a research
topic, Gregory D. Watson, an undergraduate economics major at the University of Texas at Austin, stumbled upon the Congressional Pay Amendment. He discovered that the two unratified proposals in the original Bill
of Rights contained no internal time limits for ratification, and concluded
not only that the Congressional Pay Amendment was a worthy proposal,
but that it was also still viable. In his research paper, he described the origin, meaning, and history of the Amendment, and argued in favor of its
adoption. Theoretically, he reasoned, a proposed amendment remains
valid for ratification indefinitely, unless Congress has placed a time limit
upon it.
But Watson’s college instructor was unpersuaded. He gave Watson a
grade of C on his paper, informing him that the Amendment was defunct
and would never become a part of the Constitution. Ten years later, Watson proved his teacher wrong, as well as members of Congress, legal
scholars, and historians, when the Archivist of the United States certified
in 1992, after the thirty-eighth State (Michigan) had approved the measure, that the Congressional Pay Amendment had been duly ratified by
three-fourths of the States. Originally the second amendment, it was now
officially declared to be the Twenty-Seventh Amendment to the Constitution.
Watson’s personal triumph was unparalleled in the history of the
amendment process, for the ratification of this Amendment was mainly
the result of one individual’s prophetic vision, indomitable spirit, and
hard labor. After leaving the University, Gregory Watson became an aide
in the Texas legislature. During his free time he waged a lonely ten-year
battle to generate support for the Amendment. Truly a one-man lobbying
firm, Watson encouraged State legislators throughout the Union to support the Amendment. One by one, first Maine in 1983, then Colorado in
1984, the States rallied to the cause.
No doubt much of Watson’s success may be attributed to increasing