1348 JOINT RESOLUTIONS.

States in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House
concurring therein), that the following article be proposed
as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States,
which, when ratified by the Legislatures of three-fourths
of the several States, shall be valid to all intents and pur-
poses as part of the Constitution, viz:

ARTICLE

Section 1. The terms of the President and Vice-Presi-
dent shall end at noon on the twentieth day of January and
the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the
third day of January of the years in which such terms
would have ended if this article had not been ratified, and
the terms of their successors shall then begin.

Sec. 2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in
every year, and such meeting shall begin at noon on the
third day of January, unless they shall by law appoint a
different day.

Sec. 3. If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the
term of the President, the President-elect shall have died,
the Vice-President-elect shall become President. If a Presi-
dent shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for
the beginning of his'term or if the President-elect shall
have failed to qualify, then the Vice-President-elect shall
act as President until a President shall have qualified; and
the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein
neither a President-elect nor a Vice-President-elect shall
have qualified, declaring who shall then act as President or
the manner in which one who is to act shall be selected, and
such person shall act accordingly until a President or Vice-
President shall have qualified.
Sec. 4. The Congress may by law provide for the case
of the death of any of the persons from whom the House
of Representatives may choose a President whenever the
right of choice shall have devolved upon them and for the
case of the death of any of the persons from whom the
Senate may choose a Vice-President whenever the right of
choice may have devolved upon them.

Sec. 5. Sections one and two shall take effect on the
fifteenth day of October following the ratification of this
article.