Amend12W7

=12W7= =Twelfth Amendment=
 * by Olivia Moschetti and Ryan Massa**

(OM) 1. **__What issues prompted the creation of your amendment?__** Answer: Problems with the original procedure arose in the elections of 1796 and 1800. The Twelfth Amendment refined the process whereby a President and a Vice President are elected by the #|Electoral College. The amendment was proposed by the Congress on December 9, 1803, and was ratified by the requisite three–fourths of state legislatures on June 15, 1804. Shortly after the nearly disastrous Election of 1800, efforts were undertaken to amend the Constitution.The resulting 12th Amendment was ratified in 1804.  Problems developed almost immediately. In 1796, the system yielded a president from one party and a vice president for another. In 1800, two candidates from the same party received the same number of votes, throwing the matter into the House of Representatives where each state would cast a single vote. The emergence of partisan political activity caused the failure of the original constitutional plan.

(RM) **__What impact did your amendment have on society at that time (1803)?__** Answer: The 12th Amendment stood the test of time, even though it still doesn’t mention #|political parties. It indirectly recognizes the existence of parties by providing that electors cast a separate vote for president and also the vice president. So, it’s no longer a problem if a party’s vice-presidential candidate gets the same number of votes as that party’s candidate for president, which is what would normally happen. However, some people do criticize the Electoral College system, and some criticize the #|entire system, as laid down in the Constitution and as well as the Twelfth Amendment, saying it was undemocratic.

__**Seventh Grade Language Summary:**__

The 12th amendment was made in 1803 during the administration of #|Thomas Jefferson, and changed presidential election rules, applying to the president and the vice president. The 12th Amendment  provided the following remedies :
 * separate ballots are used for president and vice president
 * the candidates with the greatest number of votes for each office will be elected if that number constitutes a majority of the total electors
 * if a majority for the president is lacking, the House of Representatives shall vote by state from among the three highest candidates
 * if a majority for the vice president is lacking, the Senate shall vote by state from among the two highest candidates
 * the vice president must meet the same constitutional requirements  as provided for the president.

__**Questions:**__

(OM) 1. Before this amendment was passed, how was the Vice president and/or President picked?

Answer: Before 1804, however, when an elector cast his ballot he listed his top two choices for president. The choices weren't ranked as "first choice" or "second choice" and no mention of vice president was made on the ballot. One list was then drawn up that included both names from every elector's ballot. The person with the majority of votes from the total numbers of electors (not the majority of the total number of electoral votes) was #|named president. The person with the next highest number of votes was named vice president. If two people had a majority and the same number of votes, then the House of Representatives would choose between them which would be president; the other would be vice president. If two or more people were tied for second on the list the Senate would choose among them the vice president. In other words, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;">before the 12th amendment electors cast two votes. The person with the most votes was #|elected president and the person with the second most was elected vice president.

https://manzelli.wikispaces.com/file/view/Election_of_1800.jpg/277063972/Election_of_1800.jpg

2. After this amendment was passed, how was the Vice President and/or President picked?

Answer: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: verdana,arial,'trebuchet ms',helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">After 1804, every four years voters go to the poles and select a candidate for president and one for vice president. The candidate who wins the majority of votes in a state wins thats states electoral votes. If no one gets a majority of electoral votes the election is given to the House Of Representatives. The top three candidates face off with each state casting one vote. Whoever wins a majority of states wins the election.

3. How did the 12th amendment change the election process?

Answer: The new electoral process was first used for the 1804 election. Each presidential election since has been conducted under the terms of the twelfth amendment. The twelfth amendment stipulates that each elector must cast distinct votes for president and vice president, instead of two votes for president.

4. What was the positive outcome of the 12th amendment?

Answer: The 12th amendment had a positive outcome because there will no longer be a situation where the president and the vice president are from two different parties or for a candidate to get the same number of votes. This allows for a more effective government.

5. What was the negative outcome of the 12th amendment?

Answer: The 12th amendment also had a negative outcome because a person who receives the greatest number of electoral votes will win the presidency even if they don't win the popular vote.

(RM) 6. Who was the first president picked after this amendment was created and what was the impact?

Answer: The first president picked after this amendment was created was Thomas Jefferson, but originally it was supposed to be John Adams because In 1796 the <span class="wiki_link_ext">Federalist Party supported <span class="wiki_link_ext">John Adams for president, but it split its vote such that the Democratic-Republican candidate, <span class="wiki_link_ext">Thomas Jefferson, earned the second greatest number of votes, thereby securing the post of vice president. To forestall this situation from occurring again, the parties sought to ensure that all its electors were united. In 1800 this produced an <span class="wiki_link_ext">electoral college tie between Jefferson, the Democratic-Republican candidate for president, and <span class="wiki_link_ext">Aaron Burr, the party’s vice presidential candidate. Under the rules, the electors voted for two candidates without specifying who should hold which office. The election ultimately went to the House of Representatives, which elected Jefferson.

7. Did the election become more or less popular after this amendment was passed?

Answer: The election became more popular after this amendment was passed because it is said that the election of 1800 was one of the most important in American history and, arguably, even in world history, for it represented the first time that an incumbent leader was defeated in an election. The election of 1800 was also one of the most important in American history and, arguably, even in world history, for it represented the first time that an incumbent leader was defeated in an election. The incumbent was John Adams, who had been Washington’s Vice President for two terms and was then elected in his own right in 1796. His Vice President was Thomas Jefferson. This result reflects the desire of the Framers of 1787 to avoid development of political parties and focus indeed on some notion of “best men.” Any such hopes were quickly frustrated, however. Even by 1796, Adams was associated with the Federalist Party, while Jefferson was supported by the Democratic-Republican Party. They ran against each other again in 1800, and both Adams and Jefferson had “running mates,” Charles Cotesworth Pinckney from South Carolina in the case of Adams (and the Federalist Party) and Aaron Burr of New York, for Jefferson. The Federalist Party electors figured out that it was important not to cast both of their votes for Adams and Pinckney, for that would create a tie and, if both got a majority of the vote, throw the election into the House; the Democratic-Republican electors were not so sagacious. They dutifully cast both of their votes for their party’s champions, creating a tie majority vote that forced the House to choose between Jefferson and Burr. In any event, the Twelfth Amendment, though probably unknown to most Americans, has not only a fascinating history but, much more importantly, has the capacity to play a key role should we ever become a multi-party system (as was the case in 1948 and 1968) in which enough candidates get electoral votes to deprive anyone of a majority and thus force election by the House. Perhaps this helps to explain why a popular television program, “Veep,” concluded its fourth season by setting up a tie vote between the title figure, who had succeeded to the presidency and was now running for election, and the other party’s candidate. Among other possibilities explored in the last five minutes as the final show concluded, was that her vice-presidential running mate (who could be chosen by the Senate) might in fact end up as President should the House be unable to decide between the two somewhat unpopular and flawed presidential candidates! (Had the scriptwriters really wished to teach a civics lesson, they could have introduced a distinguished “independent” candidate who received millions of popular votes and, crucially, the electoral vote of at least one state. That would have allowed the House to choose among the top three.) So one of the most esoteric features of the Constitution made its own contribution to popular culture—and deservedly so.

8. Did the 12th amendment apply to only the president?

Answer: It did because it says that the Twelfth Amendment also precluded those ineligible to be President from also being Vice President. Here is a procedure of the amendment itself and it's process: There were four crucial aspects of that mechanism. The first was that the electors would vote for two persons (at least one of whom had to be from outside the elector’s home state). The second was that the electors did not differentiate between the two persons as potential presidents or vice presidents. Electors should simply vote for the two persons they viewed as most qualified to become president. The person gaining the most votes (if a majority) would become president. The runner-up (presumably the second-most-qualified person) would become vice president. The third assumption was that the electors—at least following the completely predictable (and unanimous) election of George Washington as our first president—would quite often fail to reach majority approval of a specific candidate; in that case, according to the original Constitution, the decision would be made by the House of Representatives, with each state’s delegation having one vote. The Constitution also provided that the House would choose in case of a tie vote between two candidates each of whom had received a majority of votes.

9. What two states rejected the amendment?

Answer: The two states that rejected the amendment was Delaware and Connecticut. Delaware rejected it in January 18th, 1804. Connecticut rejected it in May 10, 1804.

10. What states ratified the amendment?

Answer: The states that ratified the amendment were Tennessee and Massachusetts. Tennessee ratified it July 27th, 1804. Massachusetts ratified it the year 1961, soon after rejection February 3rd, 1804.

Fun facts on the 12th amendment: 1. No president and vice president can be from the same state (Habitation Clause) 2. Bush and Cheney violated this because they were both from Texas.

Sources and websites used:

http://presidentelect.org/art_before12.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelfth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution http://www.britannica.com/topic/Twelfth-Amendment http://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendments/amendment-xii http://www.teachertube.com/video/27-amendments-video-333750

=**__Current Event__**=

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Olivia M: My article was about who Donald Trump would pick as Vice President. This article explains who Trump might need in order to fill the spot as Vice President. For example, in the article it says since Trump is a business man, he is looking for somebody who can help him out with the political spot. Trump also explains how there is a 40% chance that he would choose one of his former rivals as his Vice presidential running mate. Then, it lists who Trump might choose and explains why or why not he might choose them. According to the article Trump announced that John Kasich, Chris Christie and Nikki Haley were going to be unlikely choices. Out of the list Susana Martinez, Rick Scott, Ben Carson, Sarah Palin, Scott Walker, Marco Rubio, Rob Portman, Bobby Jindal and Jeff Sessions. It was also announced that Jan Brewer, Rick Perry and Mary Fallin were open to the job and Newt Gingrich and Joni Ernst were not spoken to.====== I personally think that Trump is going to pick Jan Brewer. I think this because Trump stated that he wanted someone more political, which Brewer is. She is the former governor in Arizona. Trump also might feel the need to pick a girl as Vice President since he is running up against Hilary Clinton. Even if Trump did choose her, Brewer would be willing to. "Of course, I would be" Brewer said on CNN.