Monday, November 28, 2016

Amendment Twenty and It's Meaning

Amendment Twenty


"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 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.

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."



Amendment 20 in simple terms is just there to determine the dates that federal government elected offices end; it also clarifies who becomes president if the president dies. There isn't much else to say on this amendment, it really just makes sure that everything is fair and done in a timely fashion. The presidents used to end on March 4th and it is now January 20th. The new congress takes office on January 3rd and also meets once a year on the same date.

This video explains the amendment in great detail and sheds light on what each section of the amendment means, I summarized most of it up in my "explanation of the amendment".


I got this picture from: http://courtneyddye.blogspot.com/2014/04/amendment-20.html

This is a funny one since the amendment is referred to as the lame duck amendment. I think this was before he was elected for second term in office, so the man is telling him not to be offended by everyone else and just keep being president!

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