Existing comment:
The Role of the Archivist
The Archivist of the United States, head of the National Archives, is responsible for certifying that constitutional amendments have been properly ratified. The National Archives also holds other Federal records relating to the creation and application of the amendments. This certification of the 27th Amendment - -- the last one added -- - was signed by Archivist of the United States Don Wilson.
"Happy for us that when we find our constitutions defective and insufficient to secure the happiness of our people, we can assemble with all the coolness of philosophers and set it to rights, while every other nation on earth must have recourse to arms to amend or to restore their constitutions."
-- Thomas Jefferson, 1787
Certification of the ratification of the 27th Amendment to the Constitution by the Archivist of the United States, May 18, 1992, Records of the General Government |