To be classified in the class Arachnida, an arthropod must have the following characteristics. Arachnid bodies are usually divided into two distinct regions, the cephalothorax (anterior) and the abdomen (posterior). Adult arachnids have four pairs of legs, which attach to the cephalothorax. In immature stages, the arachnid may not have four pairs of legs (such as in mites).
The ERA in the States. The Equal Rights Amendment was passed by Congress on March 22, 1972 and sent to the states for ratification by both houses of their state legislatures. A proposed amendment becomes part of the Constitution when approved by three-fourths (38) of the 50 states. During the next five years, 35 states approved the amendment.
The Equal Rights Amendment is not yet in the U.S. Constitution. The ERA, affirming the equal application of the Constitution to all persons regardless of their sex, was written in 1923 by Alice Paul, suffragist leader and founder of the National Woman's Party. ratification in three more of the 15 state legislatures that did not ratify the ERA during the 1972-82 ratification campaign, based on legal analysis that when three more states vote yes, this non-traditional process could withstand legal challenge and put the ERA into the Constitution.