12th amendment to the US Constitution
The 12th amendment to the US Constitution was passed to avoid an unexpected feature in the way Americans elected their President.[1]
Original election process
[edit | edit source]The United States relies on an "Electoral College" to make the final determination as to who should serve as President, and Vice President.[1] Each state's legislature chose delegates to the Electoral College. Each delegate would cast two votes. The individual with the most votes would serve as President, while the individual with the second most votes would serve as Vice President.
The drawback of the unexpected feature of this system was exposed in the 1796 and 1800 elections.[1] In 1796 John Adams was chosen as the President, while Thomas Jefferson, who held strongly conflicting positions on key issues, was chosen as the Vice President. In the 1800 election, while Jefferson got significantly more electoral college votes than Adams, his running mate, Aaron Burr, got the same number electoral college votes as Jefferson. Breaking the tie fell to Congress. They could not break the tie, as Burr had his own supporters, in Congress.
The change
[edit | edit source]Electoral College delegates still cast two votes, but one vote was clearly a choice for President, while the other was clearly a vote for Vice President.[1]
References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3
"The 12th Amendment". Center for Civic Education. 2025-01-21. Retrieved 2026-05-07 – via YouTube.
The 12th Amendment requires electors in the Electoral College to make separate choices for president and vice president. Before this amendment, electors voted for two people for president. The winner would become president and the second-place finisher vice president. The election of 1800 convinced Americans that this system needed to change.