< Constitution of the United States | Art. I | Sec. 4(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Constitutional Law Treatise
Table of Contents
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| Constitutional Law Outline
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| Introduction
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| The Preamble
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| Article I Legislative Branch
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| Art. I, Section 1 Legislative Vesting Clause
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| Art. I, Section 2 House of Representatives
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| Art. I, Section 3 Senate
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| Art. I, Section 4 Congress
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| Art. I, Section 5 Proceedings
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| Art. I, Section 6 Rights and Disabilities
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| Art. I, Section 7 Legislation
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| Art. I, Section 8 Enumerated Powers
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| Art. I, Section 9 Powers Denied Congress
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| Art. I, Section 10 Powers Denied States
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| Article II Executive Branch
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| Art. II, Section 1 Function and Selection
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| Art. II, Section 2 Powers
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| Art. II, Section 3 Duties
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| Art. II, Section 4 Impeachment
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| Article III Judicial Branch
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| Art. III, Section 1 Vesting Clause
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| Art. III, Section 2 Justiciability
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| Art. III, Section 3 Treason
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| Article IV Relationships Between the States
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| Art. IV, Section 1 Full Faith and Credit Clause
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| Art. IV, Section 2 Interstate Comity
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| Art. IV, Section 3 New States and Federal Property
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| Art. IV, Section 4 Republican Form of Government
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| Article V Amending the Constitution
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| Article VI Supreme Law
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| Article VII Ratification
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| First Amendment: Fundamental Freedoms
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| Religion
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| Establishment Clause
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| Free Exercise Clause
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| Free Speech Clause
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| Freedom of Association
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| Second Amendment: Right to Bear Arms
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| Third Amendment: Quartering Soldiers
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| Fourth Amendment: Searches and Seizures
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| Fifth Amendment: Rights of Persons
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| Sixth Amendment: Rights in Criminal Prosecutions
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| Seventh Amendment: Civil Trial Rights
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| Eighth Amendment: Cruel and Unusual Punishment
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| Ninth Amendment: Unenumerated Rights
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| Tenth Amendment: Rights Reserved to the States and the People
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| Eleventh Amendment: Suits Against States
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| Twelfth Amendment: Election of President
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| Thirteenth Amendment: Abolition of Slavery
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| Thirteenth Amend., Section 1 Prohibition on Slavery and Involuntary Servitude
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| Thirteenth Amend., Section 2 Enforcement
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| Fourteenth Amendment: Equal Protection and Other Rights
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| Fourteenth Amend., Section 1 Rights
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| Fourteenth Amend., Section 2 Apportionment of Representation
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| Fourteenth Amend., Section 3 Disqualification from Holding Office
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| Fourteenth Amend., Section 4 Public Debt
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| Fourteenth Amend., Section 5 Enforcement
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| Fifteenth Amendment: Right of Citizens to Vote
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| Fifteenth Amend., Section 1 Right to Vote
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| Fifteenth Amend., Section 2 Enforcement
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| Sixteenth Amendment: Income Tax
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| Seventeenth Amendment: Popular Election of Senators
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| Eighteenth Amendment: Prohibition of Liquor
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| Eighteenth Amend., Section 1 Prohibition
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| Eighteenth Amend., Section 2 Enforcement of Prohibition
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| Eighteenth Amend., Section 3 Ratification Deadline
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| Nineteenth Amendment: Women's Suffrage
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| Twentieth Amendment: Presidential Term and Succession
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| Twentieth Amend., Section 1 Terms
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| Twentieth Amend., Section 2 Meetings of Congress
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| Twentieth Amend., Section 3 Succession
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| Twentieth Amend., Section 4 Congress and Presidential Succession
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| Twentieth Amend., Section 5 Effective Date
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| Twentieth Amend., Section 6 Ratification
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| Twenty-First Amendment: Repeal of Prohibition
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| Twenty-First Amend., Section 1 Repeal of Eighteenth Amendment
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| Twenty-First Amend., Section 2 Importation, Transportation, and Sale of Liquor
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| Twenty-First Amend., Section 3 Ratification Deadline
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| Twenty-Second Amendment: Presidential Term Limits
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| Twenty-Second Amend., Section 1 Limit
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| Twenty-Second Amend., Section 2 Ratification Deadline
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| Twenty-Third Amendment: District of Columbia Electors
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| Twenty-Third Amend., Section 1 Electors
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| Twenty-Third Amend., Section 2 Enforcement
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| Twenty-Fourth Amendment: Abolition of Poll Tax
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| Twenty-Fourth Amend., Section 1 Poll Tax
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| Twenty-Fourth Amend., Section 2 Enforcement
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| Twenty-Fifth Amendment: Presidential Vacancy
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| Twenty-Fifth Amend., Section 1 Presidential Vacancy
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| Twenty-Fifth Amend., Section 2 Vice President Vacancy
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| Twenty-Fifth Amend., Section 3 Declaration by President
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| Twenty-Fifth Amend., Section 4 Declaration by Vice President and Others
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| Twenty-Sixth Amendment: Reduction of Voting Age
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| Twenty-Sixth Amend., Section 1 Eighteen Years of Age
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| Twenty-Sixth Amend., Section 2 Enforcement
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| Twenty-Seventh Amendment: Congressional Compensation
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Article I Legislative Branch
Section 4 Congress
Clause 2 Assembly
| Clause Text
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| The 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.
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When Congress Shall Assemble[edit | edit source]
Ratified in 1933, Section 2 of the Twentieth Amendment superseded Article I, Section 4, Clause 2, by changing the date when Congress shall assemble from "the first Monday in December" to "noon on the 3d day of January . . . ."[1]
In requiring Congress to assemble at least once a year, the Framers ensured that Congress would meet regularly, thereby placing such sessions "equally beyond the power of faction, and of party of power, and of corruption."[2] During the Constitutional Convention, the Framers considered both May and December as possible periods for convening. In making this decision, they weighed the difficulties of traveling in December against the inconvenience to Members engaged in agricultural pursuits in May.[3] The interest in commercial pursuits proving greater than the interest in convenience, the Framers selected the first Monday in December to assemble.
The Framers' choice of December rather than May meant that more than a year would pass from the election of Congress in November until Congress convened in December of the following year. In its 1932 Report on Fixing the Commencement of the Terms of the President and Vice President and Members of Congress, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary explained the need for the lengthy delay, stating: "When our Constitution was adopted there was some reason for such a long intervention of time between the election and the actual commencement of work by the new Congress. We had neither railroads nor telegraphic communication connecting the various States and communities of the country."[4] The Senate Committee on the Judiciary also noted that, prior to the 1913 adoption of the Seventeenth Amendment, time was required between the election and convening of Congress so that state legislatures could convene and select Senators.[5] With popular election of Senators and improved communication and transportation technologies, the lengthy delay between the election and convening of Congress was no longer necessary.[6]
- ↑ Twentieth Amendment Presidential Term and Succession.
- ↑ Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States § 827 (1833). Justice Story further opined: "[I]t was obvious, that from the nature of their duties, and the distance of their abodes, the members of congress ought not to be brought together at shorter periods, unless upon the most pressing exigencies. A provision, so universally acceptable, requires no vindication or commentary." Id.
- ↑ Max Farrand, The Framing of the Constitution 136 (1913) (noting that James Madison advocated for Congress to convene in May because it was easier to travel then, but the Framers chose December for its convenience for Members involved in agriculture.)
- ↑ Fixing the Commencement of the Terms of the President and Vice President and Members of Congress, S. Rep. No. 26, 72nd Cong., 1st Sess. (1932), as reprinted in 75 Cong. Rec. 1372, 1372 (Jan. 6, 1932).
- ↑ Id. ("Originally, Senators were elected by the legislatures, and as a rule the legislatures of the various States did not convene until after the beginning of the new year, and it was difficult and sometimes impossible for Senators to be elected until February or March.").
- ↑ Id. ("Under present conditions the result of elections is known all over the country within a few hours after the polls close, and the Capital City is within a few days' travel of the remotest portions of the country.").
