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Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution

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Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution

The Twentieth Amendment (Amendment XX) to the United States Constitution moved the beginning and ending of the terms of the president and vice president from March 4 to January 20, and of members of Congress from March 4 to January 3. It also has provisions that determine what is to be done when there is no president-elect. The Twentieth Amendment was adopted on January 23, 1933. The amendment reduced the presidential transition and the "lame duck" period, by which members of Congress and the president serve the remainder of their terms after an election. The amendment established congressional terms to begin before presidential terms and that the incoming Congress, rather than the outgoing one, would hold a contingent election if the Electoral College deadlocked regarding either the presidential or vice presidential elections.

Tables

· Proposal and ratification
The Twentieth Amendment,National Archives

References

  1. Archives.gov
    https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/amendments-11-27
  2. The bill originally specified a thirty-day period for the states to choose their electors. Annals of Congress, House of
    http://memory.loc.gov/ll/llac/003/0100/01370277.tif
  3. Presidential Election Day Act as enacted (5 Stat. 721) in the US Statutes at Large
    https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-5/pdf/STATUTE-5-Pg721.pdf
  4. The Failure of the Founding Fathers: Jefferson, Marshall, and the Rise of Presidential Democracy
    https://archive.org/details/failureoffoundi00acke
  5. Political theory and practice: Thinking and doing
    https://web.archive.org/web/20190608031215/http://blogs.usyd.edu.au/theoryandpractice/2013/10/if_woodrow_wilson_had_lost_the.html
  6. "Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation"
    https://www.congress.gov/content/conan/pdf/GPO-CONAN-2017.pdf
  7. "'Lame Ducks' Doom Sealed"—Missouri Is 36th State To Ratify 20th Amendment To Constitution" Archived January 14, 2021, a
    https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=gL9scSG3K_gC&dat=19330124&printsec=frontpage&hl=en
  8. "The Electoral College: An Overview and Analysis of Reform Proposals"
    https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metacrs5853/m1/1/high_res_d/RL30804_2004Nov05.pdf
  9. "Presidential Transitions: Issues Involving Outgoing and Incoming Administrations"
    https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL34722.pdf
  10. "The Significance of March 4"
    https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/The_Significance_of_March_4.htm
  11. "The First Inauguration after the Lame Duck Amendment: January 20, 1937"
    http://history.house.gov/HistoricalHighlight/Detail/35948?ret=True
  12. The Interactive Constitution
    https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendments/amendment-xx
  13. "The Continuity of the Presidency: The Second Report of the Continuity of Government Commission"
    https://web.archive.org/web/20160304060729/http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/reports/2009/7/06%20continuity%20of%20government/06_continuity_of_government.pdf
  14. Constitution Daily
    https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/five-little-known-men-who-almost-became-president/
  15. The Failure of the Founding Fathers: Jefferson, Marshall, and the Rise of Presidential Democracy
    https://archive.org/details/failureoffoundi00acke
  16. Michigan State University College of Law
    https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2635633
  17. US Constitution (Annotated)
    https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/amdt20-S6-2/ALDE_00001006/
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