Amendment XX (20)

Amendment XX

Ratified January 23, 1933.

Section 1.
     The terms of the President and the Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3rd 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.

Section 2.
     The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall begin at noon on the 3d day of January, unless they shall by law appoint a different day.

Section 3.
     If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the President elect shall have died, the Vice President elect shall become President. If a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for the beginning of his term, or if the President elect shall have failed to qualify, then the Vice President elect shall act as President until a President shall have qualified; and the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice President shall have qualified, declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which one who is to act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a President or Vice President shall have qualified.

Section 4.
     The Congress may by law provide for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the House of Representatives may choose a President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them, and for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the Senate may choose a Vice President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them.

Section 5.
     Sections 1 and 2 shall take effect on the 15th day of October following the ratification of this article.

Section 6.
     This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission.


     The twentieth amendment reduced the amount of time between election day and the beginning of the Presidential, Vice Presidential, and Congressional terms. Originally, the terms began four months after the elections were held on March 4th. This amendment changed this to January 20th for the President and Vice President,  and January 3rd for members of Congress. The amendment also states what should be done when there is no President-elect, which is the time period between election day and inauguration day. One reason for this change of date, was to allow for travel time for the incoming winners. This amendment is also called the lame duck amendment. A lame duck is an elected official who is approaching the end of his or her holding of an office, especially on whose successor has already been elected. This amendment helped to put the lame duck sessions of Congress to an end.




     This is a picture depicting that there is no more lame ducks. The twentieth amendment created the opportunity to get rid of all of these lame ducks that came about before the amendment was ratified. Many congressmen wouldn't have the time to tackle all of the problems that the nation faced before this amendment was passed.

     This is a picture of Giuseppe Zangara being watched over by Sheriff Dan Hardie, after he attempted to murder President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt. If the assassination was successful, then in accordance with section three of the twentieth amendment, Vice President-elect John N. Garner would have then became President.