Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution

E8344

amendment to the United States Constitution constitutional amendment

The Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution is a 1933 amendment that shortened the "lame duck" period by changing the start and end dates of presidential and congressional terms and clarifying procedures for presidential succession.

Aliases (2)

Lame Duck Amendment ×1
Twentieth Amendment ×1

Statements (45)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	amendment to the United States Constitution → constitutional amendment →
addressesProblem	delay between presidential election and inauguration → extended lame duck sessions of Congress →
alsoKnownAs	Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution → surface form: "Lame Duck Amendment"
appliesTo	United States government → surface form: "federal government of the United States"
clarifies	procedures for presidential succession → procedures if a president has not been chosen before the term begins → procedures if the president-elect dies before taking office →
constitutionalCategory	governance amendment → structural amendment →
containsSection	Section 1 → Section 2 → Section 3 → Section 4 → Section 5 → Section 6 →
country	United States of America →
effect	changed the start date of congressional terms to January 3 → changed the start date of presidential terms to January 20 → reduced the time outgoing officials remain in office after elections →
governsOffice	U.S. Representative → surface form: "Members of the United States House of Representatives" President of the United States → United States Senate → surface form: "United States Senators" Vice President of the United States →
hasConsequence	limits duration of outgoing administration after election → synchronizes start of congressional and presidential terms more closely with elections →
historicalContext	adopted during the Great Depression →
language	English →
legalDomain	constitutional law →
legalStatus	in force →
locationOfText	Article V amendments section of the United States Constitution →
ordinalNumber	20 →
partOf	United States Constitution →
proposedBy	72nd United States Congress →
proposedOn	1932-03-02 →
purpose	to shorten the lame duck period between election and assumption of office →
ratifiedBy	three-fourths of the states →
ratifiedOn	1933-01-23 →
sectionCount	6 →
shortName	Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution → surface form: "Twentieth Amendment"
subject	congressional terms → lame duck period → presidential succession → presidential terms →

Referenced by (5)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution → alsoKnownAs → Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution →

this entity surface form: "Lame Duck Amendment"

Presidential Succession Act → basedOn → Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution →

Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution → followedBy → Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution →

Section 1 → partOf → Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution →

subject surface form: "Section 1 of the Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution"

Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution → shortName → Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution →

this entity surface form: "Twentieth Amendment"