20th Amendment

By DavisRas
  • The lame duck

    The lame duck

    Shortened the period between presidential and congressional election and the start of their terms

  • National election day

    Congress passed the legislation in 1846 creating the national election day. presidents received word of there elections days or week.
  • South

    South

    Because of the 4 month lame duck period, Abraham Lincoln couldn't deal with the succession of the southern states right away, like he wanted to.

  • The Push for Reform

    The talk about shortening the lame duck period began getting more attention. With FDR being elected, they expressed the need to shorten the gap for allowing for a quicker action if something bad would happen to the nation

  • Proposal

    Congress man Harold Knutson of introduced a new way to change the date of presidential inauguration and the beginning of a congressional term.

  • Approvement

    The Senate passed the amendment, which was approved by both houses
  • The election of 1932

    The election of 1932

    Franklin Roosevelt was elected as president in a landslide victory. The economic problems of the great depression highlight the problems caused by the long gap between election and inauguration.

  • Ratification by states

    Nebraska became the 36th state to ratify the amendment, fulfilling the requirement.

  • FDR 2 inauguration

    First effect of of the 20th amendment was the inauguration of FDR on January 20, 1933, rather than the previous March 4 date. This shortened the time between his election and taking office.

  • The Amendment in Effect

    The 20th amendment officially took effect. it moved the start date for congressional terms to January 3 and presidential inauguration to January 20.