ABSTRACT
The proposed Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the U.S. Constitution was drafted by suffragist Alice Paul in 1921 and introduced in every session of Congress since 1923. A revised version was finally passed by Congress in 1972 and sent to the states for ratification. At the end of the ten-year limit, the amendment had been ratified by 35 states-still three short of the 38 (three-quarters of all the states) needed for adoption. Following are the original text as drafted by Paul and the text passed by Congress in 1972. Following these are lists of the ratifying and nonratifying states.
