Question: Which constitutional amendment took 202 years to ratify?
Answer: The 27th Amendment, which blocks any change in congressional pay from taking effect until after the next House election. It was proposed on Sept. 25, 1789, as part of the original slate that became the Bill of Rights, but only six states signed on, and it was largely forgotten for nearly two centuries. It came back because of a college student: Gregory Watson wrote a 1982 paper arguing the amendment was still live, got a C on it, and spent the next decade writing state legislatures until enough of them ratified. The National Archives has the full story, which ends on May 7, 1992, 202 years and seven months after Congress sent it out.
