Oath of Office

Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:– I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
                 - United States Constitution, Article II, Section 1, Clause 8

Every four years on January 20, before the incoming President takes office, he swears or affirms the oath prescribed in the Constitution. The Twentieth Amendment (1933) fixed Jan. 20 to start presidential terms and a slightly earlier date for terms in Congress, to have new Representatives in place to select a President if the election were inconclusive.

Only for the President does the Constitution spell out exact wording for the oath of office, quoted above. George Washington said, in his second inaugural address, that if he ever knowingly violated the oath, “I may (besides incurring Constitutional punishment) be subject to the upbraidings of all who are now witnesses of the present solemn ceremony.”

The Constitution requires hundreds of federal and state officials to vow to support the Constitution but leaves the wording open, provided no religious test is required. The oath for members of Congress has grown from a brief “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States” to a more detailed version than the President’s. They vow not only to support the Constitution but to defend it “against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” They swear they take this obligation without purpose of evasion. The President’s oath seems simple by comparison, but the obligation he undertakes is no less solemn and binding.

Image: President Washington takes oath of office, April 30, 1789.