What does amendment 20 mean

Question

please have it so i can understand it

Answer 1

The 20th Amendment is called the 'lame duck' amendment.

When the Constitution was first written, a newly-elected president and congress didn't take office until March of the following year.  This was considered necessary because there was a long way to travel to Washington, and a new president or congressman needed time to get his affairs in order, find a new place to live, etc.

But by the 1920s it was becoming a problem.  The old outgoing president was a 'lame duck', meaning he had no real power because everyone knew he would be gone soon.  So the country was 'coasting' with no real leadership.  When Lincoln was elected, the Southern states seceded during this time, before Lincoln could take office to do anything about it.  Also FDR was elected to help with the depression but wasn't able to do anything for three months.

So in the early 30s we passed an amendment that said the president and the new Congress should take office in January instead of March.