ATLANTA — The wait between the November election and the inauguration of a new president lasts more than two months in the United States, but it used to be much longer.
In Great Britain, Prime Minster Boris Johnson was sworn into office the day after he was elected in 2019.
In the United States, we’re not in such a rush.
“During most of our history the President took over in early March,” said University of Georgia Political Science Professor Dr. Charles Bullock. “But that was a long period between when the election took place in November and March to take over.”
In 1789, the Congress of the Confederation selected March 4th as Inauguration Day. In the early days, Congress waited until February to count the Electoral College votes. Transportation was rather primitive in those days and elected officials needed time to travel to the nation’s capital.
Eventually, the four-month wait proved problematic.
An outgoing president, known in politics as a “lame duck,” remained in power for those four months.
“That gives the lame duck president and lame duck Congress four months to continue to make policy that the next administration will have to deal with,” said Andra Gillespie, professor of political science at Emory University.
Honest Abe had to deal with what’s known as Secession Winter after his election in November of 1860. While he waited for his March inauguration, six southern states seceded from the United States.
The 20th Amendment moved Inauguration Day from March to January 20th.
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the first sworn into office on that date as he began his second term in 1937.
“From a practical standpoint, it just made sense to shorten the transition period,” said Bullock.
Members of Congress don’t have to wait until the 20th. They’re sworn into office on January 3rd.