The March (4th) of time

The last time that we wrote about a president being inaugurated on March 4, it was in 1933: “Frank Roosevelt takes office today; and Mr. Roosevelt enters the White House when the country is at what we all hope is the bottom of the worst depression it has ever suffered.”

You see, today, March 4, used to matter. A lot. It was when Congress and the president began their terms. But the date has been a relic of history since the 20th Amendment, ratified that same year, 1933, moved the inauguration up six weeks to reduce the lame duck period from early November. Starting in 1937, the presidential action has been on Jan. 20, with Congress beginning on Jan. 3.

We’ve cracked open the archives because some crazed supporters of Donald Trump believe that he will be sworn in today, that March 4 is still all-important. Because the last time Trump’s crazed supporters believed a nutty theory about presidential succession, they sacked the Capitol, the House has cancelled today’s session as a precaution against another attack.

The lunacy goes like this: When ratified in 1868, the 14th Amendment supposedly did something that caused everything that followed to be not legitimate, including the 20th Amendment. We’re not sure if the 14th still counts, but anything later is void, from the 15th to the 27th. No more rights of Blacks (15th) and women (19th) to vote. No more income tax (16th).

Hmm. Maybe the correct theory is that only the original Constitution is actually real, meaning no Bill of Rights, no free speech, no Fifth Amendment criminal rights, and there still would be slavery (with slaves counting for three-fifths of a person for representation).

March 4 was in the 12th Amendment, not the 1787 Constitution. The Continental Congress picked the date for the new government. But the new government didn’t make it. The first House met April 1, 1789, the first Senate on April 6, when they jointly counted the electoral votes. Washington’s inauguration was April 30. We guess he’s not legitimate either.