These Are the Amendments to the Constitution That Never Passed Including Making Divorce Illegal

Audience Editor (Trends)

The Constitution is one of the most famous documents in the world, and a living piece of history after being created more than 200 years ago.

It was written in 1787 and ratified the next year. Only 27 changes have officially been made, but there have been more than 10,000 proposed over the decades.

Varying from marriage to personal wealth, a list of some of the most ludicrous propositions has been shared to Reddit.

User @Cdistefa shared a snap of a book to the Mildyinteresting forum, saying: "A list of American Amendments that were never approved."

The page begins: "The following is a very limited list of the proposed amendments that never left the halls of congress."

They range from 1876 all the way to 1971, with the text believed to be taken from The U.S. Constitution And Fascinating Facts About It, by Terry L. Jordan.

The list is corroborated by website Constitutionfacts.com, which has the same slimmed-down list.

1876: An attempt to abolish the United States Senate.

1876: The forbidding of religious leaders from occupying a governmental office or receiving federal funding.

1878: An Executive Council of Three should replace the office of President.

1893: Renaming this nation the "United States of the Earth."

1893: Abolishing the United States Army and Navy.

1894: Acknowledging that the Constitution recognizes God and Jesus Christ as the supreme authorities in human affairs.

1912: Making marriage between races illegal.

1914: Finding divorce to be illegal.

1916: All acts of war should be put to a national vote. Anyone voting yes had to register as a volunteer for service in the United States Army.

1933: An attempt to limit the personal wealth to $1 million.

1936: An attempt to allow the American people to vote on whether or not the United States should go to war.

1938: The forbidding of drunkenness in the United States and all of its territories.

1947: The income tax maximum for an individual should not exceed 25 percent.

1948: The right of citizens to segregate themselves from others.

1971: American citizens should have the alienable right to an environment free of pollution.

Since being shared on Wednesday, the list has amassed more than 100,000 upvotes, and sparked a lively debate.

Patterson2020 commented: "Well that was a roller coaster lol, quite the mixed bag."

DickieB22 asked: "Seriously—what happened between 1933 and 1947?

"Throughout the entire history of the U.S., there have always been those who want to force their religion onto others, and those that advocate for religious freedom," MetricCascade29 pointed out.

I_might_be_weasel thought: "Very progressive or very regressive. Nothing in between."

Remote file — Post from Reddit sharing book excerpt.

The constitution was most recently amended in 1992, with the 27th amendment requiring "any change to the rate of compensation for members of the U.S. Congress to take effect only after the subsequent election in the House of Representatives."

Interestingly, this amendment was among the first 12 proposed in 1789, 10 of which were ratified and became the Bill of Rights.

Due to its early proposal, the amendment didn't carry with it a time limit for ratification. Originally it was only ratified by six states—Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Vermont, and Virginia.

It wasn't until a campaign spearheaded by University of Texas student, Gregory Watson, saw it pick up traction again in 1982. By 1992 all but four states—Massachusetts, Mississippi, New York, and Pennsylvania—had ratified it.

On May 18 1992, more than 200 years after it was first proposed, archivist of the United States Don W. Wilson became "the first and so far only archivist to certify a constitutional amendment," according to Archives.gov.

Newsweek reached out Cdistefa for comment.