20th Amendment
Published on Dec 01, 2015
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PRESENTATION OUTLINE
What the Constitution says:
Section 1.
The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if this article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then begin.
Why this amendment?
In the original Constitution, the President, Vice President and members of Congress did not take office until March 4; four months after the election. This was necessary because, in the 18th century, it would take several months for a newly elected official to put his affairs in order and make the difficult journey to the capitol.
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Continued
As transportation, telecommunications and technology improved, less time was needed to arrange affairs and travel. The four months between the election and when officials were seated did, however, create a long period in which “lame duck” officials were still in power. These outgoing officials, especially when large numbers of them were outgoing, could create laws and mischief for which they had no mandate. This was a major problem problem in 1861 and 1933.
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