25th Amendment
Most people might not even know what and amendment is. An amendment is a change to a legal document which when appropriately signed has the same legal control as the original document. There are twenty seven amendments in the original constitution. All of the twenty seven amendments were good changes, but the amendment that will be discussed in my paper will be amendment twenty five. Senator Birch Bayh proposed in the House of Representatives what would later on become known as the twenty fifth amendment. The twenty fifth amendment was passed by congress July 6, 1965, and then later on ratified February 10, 1967. This amendment replaced part of Article II, section 1 of the constitution, originally written 1783. The twenty fifth amendment has four different sections to. The first section basically is there in case of the removal of the President from office or from his passing away or resignation, and then the Vice President will become President. Section two talks about how if there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, then the President shall nominate a Vice President who will take office after confirmation by a majority vote from both Houses of Congress. Section three goes over how if the President conveys to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he cannot release the powers and duties of his office, until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, these powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as the Acting President. The last section, section four says that whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive divisions or of such other body as Congress may by law offer, convey to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is incapable of discharging the powers and duties of his office, and then the Vice President can immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President. Then after, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives will then have his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office. The Twenty-fifth Amendment was an effort to decide some of the ongoing issues rotating about the office of the President; that is, what occurs upon the death, removal, or resignation of the President and what is the course to follow if for some reason the President becomes disabled to such a degree that he cannot fulfill his duties. It was well established that the Vice President became President upon the death of the