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'Amendment XX' (the 'Twentieth Amendment') of the United States Constitution, also called 'The Lame Duck Amendment', or the "Norris" Amendment, establishes some details of presidential succession and of the beginning and ending of the terms of elected federal officials.

Contents

Text

History

Proposal and ratification

References

External links

Text

History

This amendment was established in 1933. The purpose of the amendment was to reduce the amount of time between the election of the President and Congress and the beginning of their terms. Under the Constitution as originally adopted, the terms of the President and the Congress began on March 4, four months after the elections were held. While this lapse was a practical necessity during the 18th century, at which time a newly elected official might need several months to put his affairs in order and then undertake the arduous journey from his home to the national capital, it had the effect of impeding the functioning of government in the modern age. This was seen most notably as the states of the Confederate States of America seceded after the election of Abraham Lincoln but before he could take office in 1861, and while the Great Depression worsened following the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932, but the nation remained under the lame duck leadership of Herbert Hoover.
In addition, under Article One as originally adopted, Congress was required to convene once each year in December. That resulted in a mandatory "lame-duck" session following each election, at which (typically) little was accomplished.
The amendment was ratified on January 23, 1933 but, because of Section 5, it did not affect the dates for the meeting of Congress or the inauguration of the new President Roosevelt, in 1933.
On February 15, 1933, only 23 days after this amendment was ratified, President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt was the target of an unsuccessful assassination attempt by Giuseppe Zangara. If the attack had killed Roosevelt, the provisions of Section 3 of the amendment would have become operative, and John Nance Garner would have been sworn in as President on Inauguration Day March 4, 1933.
The first inauguration to take place under Section 1 of this amendment was that of Roosevelt and Vice President John Nance Garner on January 20, 1937.

Proposal and ratification

Congress proposed the Twentieth Amendment on March 2, 1932.^[1] The following states ratified the amendment:
# Virginia (March 4, 1932)
# New York (March 11, 1932)
# Mississippi (March 16, 1932)
# Arkansas (March 17, 1932)
# Kentucky (March 17, 1932)
# New Jersey (March 21, 1932)
# South Carolina (March 25, 1932)
# Michigan (March 31, 1932)
# Maine (April 1, 1932)
# Rhode Island (April 14, 1932)
# Illinois (April 21, 1932)
# Louisiana (June 22, 1932)
# West Virginia (July 30, 1932)
# Pennsylvania (August 11, 1932)
# Indiana (August 15, 1932)
# Texas (September 7, 1932)
# Alabama (September 13, 1932)
# California (January 4, 1933)
# North Carolina (January 5, 1933)
# North Dakota (January 9, 1933)
# Minnesota (January 12, 1933)
# Arizona (January 13, 1933)
# Montana (January 13, 1933)
# Nebraska (January 13, 1933)
# Oklahoma (January 13, 1933)
# Kansas (January 16, 1933)
# Oregon (January 16, 1933)
# Delaware (January 19, 1933)
# Washington (January 19, 1933)
# Wyoming (January 19, 1933)
# Iowa (January 20, 1933)
# South Dakota (January 20, 1933)
# Tennessee (January 20, 1933)
# Idaho (January 21, 1933)
# New Mexico (January 21, 1933)
# Georgia (January 23, 1933)
# Missouri (January 23, 1933)
# Ohio (January 23, 1933)
# Utah (January 23, 1933)
Ratification was completed on January 23, 1933. The amendment was subsequently ratified by the following states:
# Massachusetts (January 24, 1933)
# Wisconsin (January 24, 1933)
# Colorado (January 24, 1933)
# Nevada (January 26, 1933)
# Connecticut (January 27, 1933)
# New Hampshire (January 31, 1933)
# Vermont (February 2, 1933)
# Maryland (March 24, 1933)
# Florida (April 26, 1933)

References

1. Ratification of Constitutional Amendments

External links

★ National Archives: 20th Amendment

★ CRS Annotated Constitution: 20th Amendment