Talk:Constitution of the United States/Problem with editing 12th Amend. §

Problem with editing 12th Amend. §

In the process of making this (IMHO, ill-advised) change, some original explanatory text from the 12th amendement article was removed. Additionally, links are being redirected to this general, and less useful page. For example, if someone is specifically interested in the 12th amendment, they are now redirected to the U.S. Constitution page, whereas before, they actually got the 12th amendment and historical context. sigh.

Here's the text, in hopes that someone figures out how to integrate it.

This amendment was motivated by the Presidential election of 1800. Prior to ratification of the Twelfth Amendment, votes for President and Vice President were not listed on separate ballots. Thomas Jefferson and his running mate Aaron Burr tied in the number of electoral votes received, neither receiving a majority of votes. The House of Representatives voted over thirty times to a tie vote before a deal was struck and Jefferson was elected.

The amendment itself was a subject of a constitutional dilemma. On June 15, 1804, the amendment received the constitutionally-required ratification by three-fourths of the state legislatures when New Hampshire ratified the amendment. However, on June 20, the Governor of the state vetoed the amendment. Since the Constitution doesn't mention anything about governors, it's questionable whether their veto matters. The issues was resolved when Tennessee ratified the amendment on July 27, 1804.

-- RobLa July 20, 2002