Twenty-Seventh Amendment:

No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.

On August 14, 1787, delegates to the Federal Convention reviewed a draft of the Constitution that authorized the states to set compensation for Members of Congress.1 Delegate Gouverneur Morris moved to modify this draft to permit Congress to set its Members’ salaries to be paid out of the national treasury.2 Morris contended that “there could be no reason to fear that they would overpay themselves.” 3 James Madison agreed with other delegates that allowing the states to determine Members’ compensation would undermine the national government’s stability but continued to advocate for a fixed limit on Members’ salaries in the Constitution.4 After some debate, the Convention delegates approved language providing for Members to set their pay by law, which would be paid out of the U.S. treasury.5 The delegates rejected a proposal that would have established a fixed amount for Members’ compensation.6

As proposed to the states, the Congressional Compensation Clause in Article I, Section 6 provided that “[t]he Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States.” 7 The Constitution thus provided for the national government to compensate Members of Congress for their services in amounts set by congressional legislation. Notably, the original Constitution did not prevent federal laws that increased or decreased Members’ salaries from taking effect before the next congressional election. The absence of an intervening electoral check on Congress’s power to set its own pay became a source of tension during debates in many of the state conventions that met to consider the Constitution’s ratification.8

Footnotes

1

2 The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, 290–91 (Max Farrand ed., 1911) [hereinafter Farrand’s Records] (Madison’s notes, Aug. 14, 1787).

2

Id.

3

Id.

4

Id. at 291.

5

Id. at 292–93.

6

Id. at 293.

7

U.S. Const. art. I, § 6, cl. 1. The Framers’ decision that Members of Congress should be paid from the U.S. Treasury reflected their view that Members of Congress worked for the nation as a whole and should be compensated accordingly. See ArtI.S6.C1.1 Compensation of Members of Congress.

8

3 Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States § 855 (1833) ( “[T]he omission to provide some constitutional mode of fixing the pay of members of congress, without leaving the subject to their discretion, formed in some minds a strong objection to the constitution.” ).