Amendments 1-10 were written as a concession to anti-Federalists who feared the newly centralized government possessed too much power without explicit constraints. read more
Amendment 27 was one of the originally proposed amendments meant as a check against Congress raising its own salary without oversight by the states or the people, but simply did not get enough state ratifications (mainly because Congress did not generally abuse its ability to set its own salary) until the modern era. read more
Six amendments adopted by Congress and sent to the states have not been ratified by the required number of states. Four of these amendments are still technically open and pending, one is closed and has failed by its own terms, and one is closed and has failed by the terms of the resolution proposing it. read more