Earlier 20th Amendment?

From the time of the Framing until 1933, the terms of Presidents, Senators, and Representatives all began on 4 March of the year after the election.

As Federal election dates standardized on 2-8 November, this meant a very long "lame- duck" period. A Congress (and all Representives) was "lame-duck" for 1/6 of its duration; a President for 1/12 of his term.

At the time of the Framing, a long lame-duck period was necessary, as travel and from many parts of the United States to the capital took several weeks.

By the mid 1800s, however, the development of steamboats and railroads had eliminated this problem. Even the Pacific Coast was within a week's travel after the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869.

The problems caused by a long lame-duck period were shown in 1861, when Lincoln had to watch helplessly as the secession crisis developed. (Though to be sure, five Deep South states had declared secession before 20 January, when the President's term now begins.)

Suppose that in the wake of the Civil War, an Amendment had been proposed to move the end/start of terms up to 4 January for Congress and 20 January, as was eventually done in 1933 by the 20th Amendment?

Would such an amendment have any chance of ratification?

Could such an amendment be proposed at other times before 1933?

If ratified, what effects would it have?

The effect in 1933 would be obvious - FDR's bank holiday could start that much sooner, as would the rest of his immediate New Deal measures. But what about other years?
 
The 20th Amendment could have passed a decade earlier than it did. The Republican leaders in Congress kept it bottled up for a decade after Senator George Norris proposed it. Incidentally, "Norris' motivation, and the principal argument advanced for the change, was to make Congress more immediately responsive to the voters by eliminating the 'lame duck' sessions, in which, it was said, legislators already defeated at the polls often behaved irresponsibly. Shortening the period between the election and inauguration of the President was considered a useful by-product. Little consideration seems to have been given to the effect of the new sequence of congressional and presidential terms on legislative-executive relations." https://archive.org/stream/presidentialtran030967mbp#page/n331/mode/2up
 
What about on May 10, 1869, while making his "Golden Spike" speech American tycoon, industrialist and former Governor of California, Leland Stanford, states that now the First Transcontinental Railroad can get politicians across America in no more then a week, he would run as senator with the plan to pass an amendment to get rid of lame duck politicians who spend the four months after the elections failing to adequately respond to a significant national crisis in a timely manner.

This would bring the amendment at least 60 years forward :D
 
Any way that original constitution could have avoided the lame duck factor?

Any other way it could be amended before January 1861?
 
Any way that original constitution could have avoided the lame duck factor?Any other way it could be amended before January 1861?
The constitution could state either:
1 - The dates of office are between 4th January - 4th March meaning that the incumbent senator still acts in office until the successor can make it to the capital e.g. a New York Senator will act from 4th January 1789-4th January 1790 while a Georgia Senator will act from 4th March 1789-4th March 1790
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2 - Parties create acting senators to sit in place of out going senators while waiting for a new one.

Meaning this could be in effect with the first constitution of 1775
 
The constitution could state either:
1 - The dates of office are between 4th January - 4th March meaning that the incumbent senator still acts in office until the successor can make it to the capital . . .
I think this has some potential. The Constitution could be re-written 'at least three weeks to give the existing Congress time to bring current business to completion' and then . . .

'when the new Senator or Representative arrives at the capitol'

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I would also like to see in the 1800s how we in the U.S. compared to the UK in this regard.
 
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