Amending the U.S. Constitution has changed a lot since the Bill of Rights was added in 1791.

1. How Amendments Work:

   • The Constitution provides two ways to add amendments:
     • Congressional Proposal: This means that two-thirds of both the House of Representatives and the Senate must agree.
     • State Convention: This happens when two-thirds of state legislatures call for a special meeting to discuss amendments.

2. Understanding Amendments:

   • The Bill of Rights includes the first 10 amendments and was added soon after the Constitution was created.
   • As of October 2023, there are 27 amendments in total.

3. Patterns in Adding Amendments:

   • From 1791 to 1870, a total of 15 amendments were added.
   • Since then, only 12 amendments have been added, which means we only get about one new amendment every 18.5 years.

4. Challenges We Face Today:

   • Nowadays, strong political differences make it harder to add new amendments.
   • This has led to the longest period without any new amendments, which was from 1971 to 1992.