Why the 10 Amendments haven’t changed since 1791 since technically all constitutions are a product of their time?

by justavivian

For clarification I am not from the US

OldPersonName

Well the first thing to address with your question is there are not 10 amendments, there are 27. Second problem is that the last amendment was passed in 1992, not 1791.

The first 10 amendments were written by James Madison and are now, collectively, referred to as the bill of rights. The fact that there are exactly 10 is a coincidence, Madison originally submitted 17. See this answer from u/histprofdave, https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/tqp6ka/was_the_numerical_order_of_the_american_bill_of/

Amendments can't change directly but they can be repealed by later amendments. Most famously the 18th amendment prohibits alcohol, and the 21st amendment repealed the 18th 13 years later. Of the first 10 amendments only one in the modern day is significantly controversial or challenged; the second amendment. Today that amendment is used to justify the right of citizens to own guns, and I'm guessing this is really what you have in mind when asking this question.

u/Georgy_K_Zhukov discusses interpreting the 2nd amendment and the role of the bill of rights here: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1wdg5z/comment/cf17gqb/

And finally, you may be curious about that recentish amendment in 1992. It's actually a weird one as described by u/amazonstar here, https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/uuwuxn/27th_amendment_controversial/

Amending the constitution requires an incredibly high degree of broad popularity that is practically impossible in the modern political climate of the US for anything but the most anodyne or administratively necessary amendments (I don't think that is a controversial opinion). There are actually a couple of ways but the most familiar is 2/3 of the house and Senate must approve it and then 3/4 of the state legislatures. Much like the electoral college system this gives small states a significantly stronger say than their population would suggest (Wyoming, with a population smaller than the city of Washington DC, will have its vote count as much as California or New York, for example).