<P> In response, the Republicans appealed to democratic principles . Samuel Smith of Maryland argued that the presidency ought to be as closely accountable to the people as possible . As such, having three candidates in a contingency election is far better than having five, because it is possible to have the fifth best candidate become President otherwise . Also, designation itself would drastically cut down the number of elections that would reach the house, and the President is then much more likely to be the people's choice . Another of Smith's arguments was simply the election of 1800 . William Cocke of Tennessee took a different approach when he argued that the entire small state argument of the Federalists was simply out of self - interest . </P> <P> One last order of business for the amendment was to deal with the possibility that the House would fail to choose a President by March 4 . It was the least controversial portion of the Twelfth Amendment and John Taylor proposed that the Vice President would take over as President in that peculiar occurrence, "as in case of the death or other Constitutional disability of the President ." </P> <P> It seemed clear all along that the Republican dominance would render this a no - contest and the Republicans were just waiting for all of their votes to be present, but the Federalists had one last defense . A marathon session of debate, lasting from 11 A.M. to 10 P.M., was the order of the day on December 2, 1803 . Most notably, Uriah Tracy of Connecticut argued in a similar vein as Adams when he invoked the federative principle of the Constitution . Tracy claimed the original procedure was formulated to give the small states a chance to elect the Vice President, who would be a check on the President's powers . In essence, the states balanced the power of the people . However, this only works if you make it partisan, as Georgia (for example) was a Republican small state . </P> <P> The Twelfth Amendment was proposed by the 8th Congress on December 9, 1803, when it was approved by the House of Representatives by vote of 83--42, having been previously passed by the Senate, 22--10, on December 2 . The amendment was officially submitted to the states on December 12, 1803, and was ratified by the legislatures of the following states: </P>

Under the constitution members of the electoral college