Answer:
Step-by-step explanation:
Commonly known as the “Lame Duck Amendment,” the Twentieth Amendment was designed to remove the excessively long period of time a defeated president or member of Congress would continue to serve after his or her failed bid for reelection. Originally, federal officials took their seats on March 4 (the date coinciding with the government’s commencement of proceedings in 1789), four months after election day, and per Article I, section 4, members of Congress “shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day”; this meant that it would be 13 months before a new Congress met, and there would be a necessary session of Congress following the November elections. Because they were voted out of office, defeated politicians would serve as lame ducks, incapable of effectively representing their constituents or affecting public policy. Critics, particularly those in the Progressive Movement that had been vital to other political reforms, argued that shrinking the gap in time between elections and taking office amounted to an immediate call to public service.