The Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution amended the provisions of Article II relating to presidential elections. Originally, the U.S. Electoral College would elect both the President and the Vice President in a single election; the person with a majority would become President and the runner-up would become Vice President. The election of 1800, however, demonstrated some problems with the system. The Twelfth Amendment, proposed by Congress on December 9, 1803 and ratified by the requisite number of state legislatures on June 15, 1804, required electors to cast two distinct votes: one for President and another for Vice President.

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Today's selected anniversaries:

1095 At the Council of Clermont, Pope Urban II called for the First Crusade. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Clermont)

1978 San Francisco mayor George Moscone and openly gay supervisor Harvey Milk were assassinated by supervisor Dan White. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Moscone)

1990 The British Conservative Party selected John Major as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Major)

2001 A hydrogen atmosphere was discovered on the extrasolar planet Osiris by the Hubble Space Telescope. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osiris_%28planet%29)

Wikiquote of the day:

"When a person doesn't have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity. A person can almost be defined by his or her attitude toward gratitude." ~ Elie Wiesel (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Elie_Wiesel)