THE 12 TH AMENDMENT

WHEN DID THE VICE PRESIDENCY STOP GOING TO THE 2ND PLACE WINNER?

thAt WAs, AftEr All, how it was done in the early days of the Republic—whoever came in second in the Electoral College voting became the vice president regardless of their political affiliation. That's how John Adams and Thomas Jefferson each got the job.

Then the 1796 election resulted in a president (John Adams) and vice president (Thomas Jefferson) from opposing parties, and the 1800 election led to a tie between Jefferson and Aaron Burr. They were members of the same party (the Democratic-Republican party), but it took the House of Representatives 36 contentious ballots to break the tie, electing Jefferson president and Burr vice president.

The fact that Jefferson almost lost the election to his own running mate made Congress rush through the 12th Amendment to the Constitution in 1804. Later that year, Jefferson was re-elected, and George Clinton became the first vice president to serve after passage of the 12th Amendment. (The 12th Amendment requires that the electors cast separate ballots for president and vice president and that if no candidate receives a majority, the House chooses from the top three candidates.)

As the two-party system developed, the tradition evolved wherein party conventions chose the party ‘ticket’ (starting with the Democratic convention of 1832). After the convention had chosen a presidential candidate, it went on to choose a vice presidential candidate, generally with no input from the presidential nominee, who was not present.

The vice-presidential nomination was made (usually on the last day of the convention) by the delegates. Not surprisingly, they were often motivated by concerns of party unity, regional balance, rewarding particular factions. In more than a few instances, the running mates were not qualified to be president. (For example, Chester A. Arthur—before he was placed on the Republican ticket as James A. Garfield’s running mate in 1880—had held no public position higher than inspector of the port of New York, a position famous for making its occupant wealthy through graft.) nominated for vice president. Wallace was nominated and this was the beginning of the new normal in which the presidential nominee chooses his own running mate. In 1944, when FDR was renominated for a fourth term, the party bosses persuaded him to let them nominate Harry Truman, which turned out to be a pretty big deal, since FDR died early in his fourth term.

This tradition (of conventions selecting the running mates) remained in place until 1940, the year Franklin D. Roosevelt won an unprecedented third term. During his first two terms, former Speaker of the House John Nance Garner was FDR’s running mate. He had been chosen by the convention, in the usual way (without FDR’s input).

Aaron Burr Jr. was a politician and lawyer who served as the third vice president of the United States from 1801 to 1805. His legacy is defined by his famous personal conflict with Alexander Hamilton that culminated with Burr killing Hamilton in a duel in 1804 (while Burr was vice president).

FDR didn’t like or trust Garner to preserve the New Deal, steer U.S. foreign policy away from isolationism, and to take active role in saving Britain and making sure that Hitler wouldn’t conquer Europe. (It didn't help that Garner had begun a campaign for the nomination, without FDR’s support or approval.) FDR let it be known that he wanted his agriculture secretary, Henry Wallace, to be

In all cases since, except one, the presidential nominee has made the choice. The exception was 1956 the Democrats nominated Adlai Stevenson and Stevenson voluntarily allowed the convention to pick his running mate. It took three ballots before the convention chose Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver.

The tradition of the presidential nominee rolling out his choice for running mate the week ahead of the convention is even more recent—the first being Walter Mondale, in 1984 when he made history by making U.S. Rep. Geraldine Ferraro the first woman on a major-party ticket.n stEvEn Wright is An American comedian. He is best known for his slow, deadpan comedy of sayings, and one-liners. He was ranked as the 15th Greatest Comedian by Rolling Stone in its 2017 list of the 50 Greatest Stand-up Comics, and he was named No. 23 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 greatest stand-up comics.

7 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot.

A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.

A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good.

All those who believe in psychokinesis raise my hand.

AMBITION IS A POOR EXCUSE FOR NOT HAVING ENOUGH SENSE TO BE LAZY. Bills travel through the mail at twice the speed of checks.

Cross country skiing is great if you live in a small country.

Dancing is a perpendicular expression of a horizontal desire. Drugs may lead to nowhere, but at least it’s the scenic route.

Eagles may soar, but weasels don’t get sucked into jet engines.

Everyone has a photographic memory. Some just don’t have film. For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism.

How do you tell when you’re out of invisible ink?

I almost had a psychic girlfriend, but she left me before we met.

I bought a house on a one-way deadend road. I don’t know how I got there.

I bought a million lottery tickets. I won a dollar.

I bought some powdered water, but I don’t know what to add to it.

I planted some birdseed. A bird came up. Now I don’t know what to feed it.

I saw a bank that said ‘24 Hour Banking’, but I don’t have that much time.

The hardness of the butter is proportional to the softness of the bread.

I saw a sign: ‘Rest Area 25 Miles’. That’s pretty big. Some people must be really tired. I couldn’t repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder. I eat Swiss cheese from the inside out.

I had amnesia once or twice.

I SPILLED SPOT REMOVER ON MY DOG. HE’S GONE NOW.

I took a course in speed waiting. Now I can wait an hour in only ten minutes. I used to have an open mind, but my brains kept falling out.