Amendments and ratification
Congress has sent 33 amendments to the states. Twenty-seven were ratified and six were not. This page holds the date Congress sent each one, the date each state acted, and the date ratification was completed.
The dates are read from the footnotes of the Constitution of the United States: Analysis and Interpretation, printed by the Government Publishing Office, and checked against a later edition of the same book, the National Archives and Congressional Research Service reports. A date a source does not give is left blank and marked. Where two sources disagree, both are shown.
The 27 amendments
26th Amendment
Voting age of 18. Congress proposed it on March 23, 1971. Ratification was completed on July 1, 1971, 100 days later.
- Proposed by Congress
- March 23, 1971 (Senate March 10, 1971; House March 23, 1971)
- Ratified by
- State legislatures
- Ratification completed
- July 1, 1971 (38th state, North Carolina) (50 states in the Union)
- Certified
- July 5, 1971, Administrator of General Services
- Proposal to completion
- 100 days
- Under 9.2
- 9.2 to under 17
- 17 to under 26
- 26 to under 34
- 34 or more
- No figure
A dashed tile means the source lists no ratification by that state: it may not have been a state yet, it may have rejected the amendment, or the source may not mention it. Dates are those of the state legislature; where states acted on the same day the order follows the source's list. 26 states share a date with a neighbour in the order. Each state is one equal square, so a small state is as easy to see as a large one. Shading is in five steps; the value is also written on each tile and in the table.
Data table: The order in which states ratified the 26th Amendment
| State | Place in the order |
|---|---|
| Alabama | 36 |
| Alaska | 16 |
| Arizona | 29 |
| Arkansas | 9 |
| California | 22 |
| Colorado | 23 |
| Connecticut | 1 |
| Delaware | 2 |
| District of Columbia | No figure |
| Florida | No figure |
| Georgia | 42 |
| Hawaii | 6 |
| Idaho | 10 |
| Illinois | 35 |
| Indiana | 18 |
| Iowa | 11 |
| Kansas | 14 |
| Kentucky | No figure |
| Louisiana | 21 |
| Maine | 19 |
| Maryland | 17 |
| Massachusetts | 7 |
| Michigan | 15 |
| Minnesota | 3 |
| Mississippi | No figure |
| Missouri | 33 |
| Montana | 8 |
| Nebraska | 12 |
| Nevada | No figure |
| New Hampshire | 28 |
| New Jersey | 13 |
| New Mexico | No figure |
| New York | 31 |
| North Carolina | 38 |
| North Dakota | No figure |
| Ohio | 37 |
| Oklahoma | 39 |
| Oregon | 32 |
| Pennsylvania | 24 |
| Rhode Island | 30 |
| South Carolina | 26 |
| South Dakota | No figure |
| Tennessee | 4 |
| Texas | 25 |
| Utah | No figure |
| Vermont | 20 |
| Virginia | 40 |
| Washington | 5 |
| West Virginia | 27 |
| Wisconsin | 34 |
| Wyoming | 41 |
Source: GovInfo, Constitution of the United States: Analysis and Interpretation (1992). As of November 2, 2026.
State by state, in the order they ratified
| Order | State | Date | Entry as printed in the source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Connecticut | March 23, 1971 same day | Connecticut, March 23, 1971 |
| 2 | Delaware | March 23, 1971 same day | Delaware, March 23, 1971 |
| 3 | Minnesota | March 23, 1971 same day | Minnesota, March 23, 1971 |
| 4 | Tennessee | March 23, 1971 same day | Tennessee, March 23, 1971 |
| 5 | Washington | March 23, 1971 same day | Washington, March 23, 1971 |
| 6 | Hawaii | March 24, 1971 same day | Hawaii, March 24, 1971 |
| 7 | Massachusetts | March 24, 1971 same day | Massachusetts, March 24, 1971 |
| 8 | Montana | March 29, 1971 | Montana, March 29, 1971 |
| 9 | Arkansas | March 30, 1971 same day | Arkansas, March 30, 1971 |
| 10 | Idaho | March 30, 1971 same day | Idaho, March 30, 1971 |
| 11 | Iowa | March 30, 1971 same day | Iowa, March 30, 1971 |
| 12 | Nebraska | April 2, 1971 | Nebraska, April 2, 1971 |
| 13 | New Jersey | April 3, 1971 | New Jersey, April 3, 1971 |
| 14 | Kansas | April 7, 1971 same day | Kansas, April 7, 1971 |
| 15 | Michigan | April 7, 1971 same day | Michigan, April 7, 1971 |
| 16 | Alaska | April 8, 1971 same day | Alaska, April 8, 1971 |
| 17 | Maryland | April 8, 1971 same day | Maryland, April 8, 1971 |
| 18 | Indiana | April 8, 1971 same day | Indiana, April 8, 1971 |
| 19 | Maine | April 9, 1971 | Maine, April 9, 1971 |
| 20 | Vermont | April 16, 1971 | Vermont, April 16, 1971 |
| 21 | Louisiana | April 17, 1971 | Louisiana, April 17, 1971 |
| 22 | California | April 19, 1971 | California, April 19, 1971 |
| 23 | Colorado | April 27, 1971 same day | Colorado, April 27, 1971 |
| 24 | Pennsylvania | April 27, 1971 same day | Pennsylvania, April 27, 1971 |
| 25 | Texas | April 27, 1971 same day | Texas, April 27, 1971 |
| 26 | South Carolina | April 28, 1971 same day | South Carolina, April 28, 1971 |
| 27 | West Virginia | April 28, 1971 same day | West Virginia, April 28, 1971 |
| 28 | New Hampshire | May 13, 1971 | New Hampshire, May 13, 1971 |
| 29 | Arizona | May 14, 1971 | Arizona, May 14, 1971 |
| 30 | Rhode Island | May 27, 1971 | Rhode Island, May 27, 1971 |
| 31 | New York | June 2, 1971 | New York, June 2, 1971 |
| 32 | Oregon | June 4, 1971 | Oregon, June 4, 1971 |
| 33 | Missouri | June 14, 1971 | Missouri, June 14, 1971 |
| 34 | Wisconsin | June 22, 1971 | Wisconsin, June 22, 1971 |
| 35 | Illinois | June 29, 1971 | Illinois, June 29, 1971 |
| 36 | Alabama | June 30, 1971 same day | Alabama, June 30, 1971 |
| 37 | Ohio | June 30, 1971 same day | Ohio, June 30, 1971 |
| 38 | North Carolina | July 1, 1971 same day | North Carolina, July 1, 1971 |
| 39 | Oklahoma | July 1, 1971 same day | Oklahoma, July 1, 1971 |
| 40 | Virginia | July 8, 1971 same day | Virginia, July 8, 1971 |
| 41 | Wyoming | July 8, 1971 same day | Wyoming, July 8, 1971 |
| 42 | Georgia | October 4, 1971 | Georgia, October 4, 1971 |
42 states are listed. Ratification was complete with the 38th state, of 50 in the Union. A "same day" mark means the source gives the same date for the state before or after it; the order then follows the order in the source's list.
Where each date for the 26th Amendment comes from
- Proposed. The Twenty-sixth Amendment was proposed by Congress on March 23, 1971, upon passage by the House of Representatives, the Senate having previously passed an identical resolution on March 10, 1971. It appears officially in 85 Stat. 825. Source: GovInfo, Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation, 1992 edition, part 7 (Amendments) ↗
- National Archives. Passed by Congress March 23, 1971. Ratified July 1, 1971. Source: National Archives, Constitutional Amendments 11-27 ↗
- Ratification completed. Ratification was completed on July 1, 1971, when action by the legislature of the 38th State, North Carolina, was concluded, and the Administrator of the General Services Administration officially certified it to have been duly ratified on July 5, 1971. Source: GovInfo, Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation, 1992 edition, part 7 (Amendments) ↗
- Certification. July 5, 1971, Administrator of General Services. Ratification was completed on July 1, 1971, when action by the legislature of the 38th State, North Carolina, was concluded, and the Administrator of the General Services Administration officially certified it to have been duly ratified on July 5, 1971. 36 Fed. Reg. 12725. Source: GovInfo, Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation, 1992 edition, part 7 (Amendments) ↗
Download this ledger as a spreadsheet (CSV) Cite the 26th Amendment Read the text
Dates: GovInfo, Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation, 1992 edition, part 7 (Amendments) ↗, read again against GovInfo, Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation, 2022 edition, Intro.3 (text layer, second read) ↗. Proposal and completion dates for amendments 11 to 27 are also read from National Archives, Constitutional Amendments 11-27 ↗. Held as of November 2, 2026. File SHA-256: 75d0471bcac18754….