Amendment 20 — Ratification Of Twentieth Amendment

Twentieth Amendment , Section 6:

This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission.

The Twentieth Amendment was proposed by Congress on March 2, 1932, when it passed the Senate[1](https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/amendment-20/ratification-of-twentieth-amendment#fn1amd20 " Cong. Rec. (72d Cong., 1st Sess.) 5086 ") , having previously passed the House on March 1.[2](https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/amendment-20/ratification-of-twentieth-amendment#fn2amd20 " Id. at 5027 ") It appears officially in 47 Stat. 745 . Ratification was completed on January 23, 1933, when the thirty-sixth state approved the amendment, there being then forty-eight states in the Union. On February 6, 1933, Secretary of State Stimson certified that it had become a part of the Constitution.[3](https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/amendment-20/ratification-of-twentieth-amendment#fn3amd20 " 47 Stat. 2569 ")

Footnotes

1

Cong. Rec. (72d Cong., 1st Sess.) 5086

2

Id. at 5027

3

47 Stat. 2569