Twelfth Amendment

• Author: Dennis J. Mahoney
• Pages: 2740

Page 2740

The ELECTORAL COLLEGE, as contemplated in Article II of the Constitution, was to be a kind of "search committee," nominating outstanding men of various regions from among whom Congress would elect the President and Vice-President. The Framers expected each elector to cast his first vote for a candidate from his home state and his second for a national figure from another state. The delegates to the CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION assumed that the primary electoral divisions in the country were, and would remain, sectional.

The rise of POLITICAL PARTIES, which began almost immediately after the Constitution went into effect, belied that assumption. The parties nominated candidates, and the Electoral College had only to choose between the party slates; sectional loyalties were subordinated to ideological ones. In 1796, when party discipline was still developing, the Electoral College chose a Federalist President and a Republican Vice-President. In 1800 straight party voting produced a tie between THOMAS JEFFERSON and AARON BURR, the Republican nominees for President and Vice-President, respectively. The disgraceful performance of the HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, which required thirty-five ballots to ratify the voters' choice, led directly to adoption of the Twelfth Amendment.

The amendment provided that the electors would vote for President and Vice-President in separate ballots; if no candidate obtained a majority of...