Election Day on November 5 will tell us whether Vice President Kamala Harris succeeds President Joe Biden or Donald Trump gets a second term. The focus later shifts to January 20, when Harris or Trump will be sworn-in as the 47th President of the United States.
January 20 marks the day when the US president and the vice-president are inaugurated for a four-year term. But until 1933, presidential inaugurations were held on March 4, the day when the US Constitution came into effect in 1789.
The Inauguration Day was pushed forward to January 20 after the 20th Amendment to the US Constitution. Introduced by Nebraska Senator George Norris, the amendment came into effect in October 1933.
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Franklin D Roosevelt was not only the last President to be inaugurated on March 4, but also the first to take the oath of office on January 20.
Setting The Historical Context
The US federal law states that the presidential election will be held on the first Tuesday of November.
In the pre-modern United States, November was the “goldilocks” period between the harvest season and the harsh winter. Moreover, Tuesday was chosen to help people attend church on Sunday, travel to the polling station on Monday, and vote before farmers sold their produce on Wednesday.
The four-month gap between Election Day and the presidential inauguration gave enough time to the president-elect and his Cabinet members to complete their pending work before travelling to Washington DC. This system worked more-or-less smoothly in the 19th Century when access to communication and transportation was difficult.
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But things changed rapidly after the Civil War. Aided by technological innovations, the United States turned into one of the richest nations in the world. Two Ts – Telegram & Telephone – and two Rs – Roadways and Railways – not only united the vast country but also eased political transitions.
Triggers For The Change
Norris began his decade-long quest to reduce the four-month gap in the early 1920s. By then, the long transition period fostered lame-duck presidencies, wherein the incumbent continued to govern even after losing the people’s mandate.
Things reached a tipping point when President Warren Harding attempted to push a bill regarding the US merchant marine program, even after losing the 1922 elections.
The dangers of the ‘lame-duck period’ came to the fore during the Great Depression. Roosevelt won the 1932 elections, promising to bring the American economy back on track. But the long transition delayed his ‘New Deal’ reforms.
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The transition period is still long – over 10 weeks. However, the complex process has become more efficient in the last few decades.
Interestingly, the 20th Amendment is the least controversial of them all. It has never been involved in a Supreme Court case, showing the bi-partisan impact of this amendment on the country’s politics.
