I made a mistake in stating that the Bill of Rights was proposed to the states by Congress on Dec. 15, 1791. That is actually the date that the first ten amendments became part of the Constitution, being ratified by the required number of states. The date on which Congress first approved the set of 12 proposed amendments was actually Sept. 25, 1789. [This information is taken from the booklet "The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America" published by the Cato Institute.]

I also took another look at the history section of the TONA website. I am definitely impressed by the careful research that went into it. And it certainly seems from what is presented there that I (along with most people in Washington today) was wrong about which states are required to ratify a proposed amendment. The facts show that James Madison, the "Father of the Constitution", considered only those states which were members of the union at the time an amendment was proposed (passed) by Congress to be eligible to vote on its ratification. And if anyone should know, he should. I'm not sure which of the original states did or did not approve today's 27th Amendment, but certainly, if Madison's interpretation was correct, Michigan's vote in 1992 should not have been relevant.

I'm still not convinced about Virginia's "ratification by publication" of TONA. But even if it wasn't approved back in 1819, it did get 12 of the required 13 state approvals, and either of the states which did not formally act on in then (Virginia or South Carolina) could presumably still approve it today. That would certainly shake things up. But they should wait until the new President is sworn in - let's have one "Constitutional crisis" at a time!