John Adams served as the first vice president of the United States from April 21, 1789 to March 4, 1797, during the presidency of George Washington. Vice President Adams was later elected president from 1797 to 1801, and his political rival Thomas Jefferson succeeded him as vice president and later as president. The only Federalist to hold the vice presidency, Adams was a leader of the American Revolution who served the United States government as a senior diplomat in Europe during the American Revolutionary War. Adams was succeeded in both offices by his political rival Thomas Jefferson.
Adams was elected to two terms as vice president under President George Washington. Although Adams was President of the Senate, his manner irritated Senators, creating the precedent of it being a largely ceremonial position. Adams cast 29 tie-breaking votes as President of the Senate in favor of Washington's policies, the third highest in history. Washington and Adams were reelected in the 1792 United States presidential election. Adams bemoaned the vice presidency's lack of influence, writing in 1793, "My country has in its wisdom contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived; and as I can do neither good nor evil, I must be borne away by others and meet the common fate."
Adams was elected as the United States' second president in 1796 under the banner of the Federalist Party. Jefferson came in second, which made him Adams' vice president under the electoral laws of the time. Four years later, in the 1800 presidential election, Jefferson again challenged Adams and won the presidency, becoming the second vice president to also become president.
Creation of the vice presidency No mention of an office of vice president was made at the 1787 Constitutional Convention until near the end, when an eleven-member committee on "Leftover Business" proposed a method of electing the chief executive (president). Delegates had previously considered the selection of the Senate's presiding officer, deciding that "the Senate shall choose its own President", and had agreed that this official would be designated the executive's immediate successor. They had also considered the mode of election of the executive but had not reached consensus. This all changed on September 4, when the committee recommended that the nation's chief executive be elected by an Electoral College, with each state having a number of presidential electors equal to the sum of that state's allocation of representatives and senators.
Recognizing that loyalty to one's individual state outweighed loyalty to the new federation, the Constitution's framers assumed individual electors would be inclined to choose a candidate from their own state (a so-called "favorite son" candidate) over one from another state. So they created the office of vice president and required the electors to vote for two candidates, at least one of whom must be from outside the elector's state, believing that the second vote would be cast for a candidate of national character. Additionally, to guard against the possibility that electors might strategically waste their second votes, it was specified that the first runner-up would become vice president.
The resultant method of electing the president and vice president, spelled out in ArticleII, Section1, Clause3, allocated to each state a number of electors equal to the combined total of its Senate and House of Representatives membership. Each elector was allowed to vote for two people for president (rather than for both president and vice president), but could not differentiate between their first and second choice for the presidency. The person receiving the greatest number of votes (provided it was an absolute majority of the whole number of electors) would be president, while the individual who received the next largest number of votes became vice president. If there were a tie for first or for second place, or if no one won a majority of votes, the president and vice president would be selected by means of contingent elections protocols stated in the clause.
Although delegates to the constitutional convention approved establishing the office, with both its executive and senatorial functions, not many understood the office, and so they gave the vice president few duties and little power. Only a few states had an analogous position. Among those that did, New York's constitution provided that "the lieutenant-governor shall, by virtue of his office, be president of the Senate, and, upon an equal division, have a casting voice in their decisions, but not vote on any other occasion". As a result, the vice presidency originally had authority in only a few areas, although constitutional amendments have added or clarified some matters.
President of the Senate Article I, Section 3, Clause 4 confers upon the vice president the title "President of the Senate", authorizing the vice president to preside over Senate meetings. In this capacity, the vice president is responsible for maintaining order and decorum, recognizing members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices, and precedent. With this position also comes the authority to cast a tie-breaking vote.
Adams presided regularly over Senate proceedings and did much to shape the role of Senate president.
1788-1789 Election
On June 17, 1788, Adams returned to a triumphant welcome in Massachusetts. He returned to farming life in the months after. The nation's first presidential election was soon to take place. Because George Washington was widely expected to win the presidency, many felt that the vice presidency should go to a northerner. Although he made no public comments on the matter, Adams was the primary contender. Each state's presidential electors gathered on February 4, 1789, to cast their two votes for the president. The person with the most votes would be president and the second would become vice president. Adams received 34 electoral college votes in the election, second behind Washington, who was a unanimous choice with 69 votes. As a result, Washington became the nation's first president, and Adams became its first vice president. Adams finished well ahead of all others except Washington, but was still offended by Washington receiving more than twice as many votes. In an effort to ensure that Adams did not accidentally become president and that Washington would have an overwhelming victory, Alexander Hamilton convinced at least 7 of the 69 electors not to cast their vote for Adams. After finding out about the manipulation but not Hamilton's role in it, Adams wrote to Benjamin Rush that his election was "a curse rather than a blessing."
Although his term started on March 4, 1789, Adams did not begin serving as vice president until April 21, because he did not arrive in New York in time.
First term (1789–1793)
The sole constitutionally prescribed responsibility of the vice president is to preside over the U.S. Senate, where they were empowered to cast a tie-breaking vote. Early in his term, Adams became deeply involved in a lengthy Senate controversy over the official titles for the president and executive officers of the new government. Although the House agreed that the president should be addressed simply as "George Washington, President of the United States", the Senate debated the issue at some length. Adams favored the style of Highness (as well as the title of Protector of Their [the United States'] Liberties) for the president. Some senators favored a variant of Highness or the lesser Excellency. Anti-federalists in the Senate objected to the monarchical sound of them all; Jefferson described them as "superlatively ridiculous." They argued that these "distinctions," as Adams called them, violated the Constitution's prohibition on titles of nobility. Adams said that the distinctions were necessary because the highest office of the United States must be marked with "dignity and splendor". He was widely derided for his combative nature and stubbornness, especially as he actively debated and lectured the senators. "For forty minutes he harangued us from the chair," wrote Senator William Maclay of Pennsylvania. Maclay became Adams's fiercest opponent and repeatedly expressed personal contempt for him in public and private. He likened Adams to "a monkey just put into breeches." Ralph Izard suggested that Adams be referred to as "His Rotundity," a joke which soon became popular. On May 14, 1789, the Senate decided that the title of "Mr. President" would be used. Privately, Adams conceded that his vice presidency had begun poorly and that perhaps he had been out of the country too long to know the sentiment of the people. Washington quietly expressed his displeasure with the fuss.
As vice president, Adams largely sided with the Washington administration and the emerging Federalist Party. He supported Washington's policies against opposition from anti-Federalist Republicans. He cast 29 tie-breaking votes, and is one of only three vice presidents who have cast more than 20 during their tenure. He voted against a bill sponsored by Maclay that would have required Senate consent for the removal of executive branch officials who had been confirmed by the Senate. In 1790, Jefferson, James Madison, and Hamilton struck a bargain guaranteeing Republican support for Hamilton's debt assumption plan in exchange for the capital being temporarily moved from New York to Philadelphia, and then to a permanent site on the Potomac River to placate Southerners. In the Senate, Adams cast a tie-breaking vote against a last-minute motion to keep the capital in New York.
Adams played a minor role in politics as vice president. He attended few cabinet meetings, and the President sought his counsel infrequently. While Adams brought energy and dedication to the office, by mid-1789 he had already found it "not quite adapted to my character ... too inactive, and mechanical." Adams's initial behavior in the Senate made him a target for critics of the Washington administration. Toward the end of his first term, he grew accustomed to a marginal role, and rarely intervened in debate. Adams never questioned Washington's courage or patriotism, but Washington did join Franklin and others as the object of Adams's ire or envy. "The History of our Revolution will be one continued lie," Adams declared. "The essence of the whole will be that Dr. Franklin's electrical Rod smote the Earth and out sprung General Washington. That Franklin electrified him with his Rod – and henceforth these two conducted all the Policy, Negotiations, Legislatures and War." Adams won reelection with little difficulty in 1792 with 77 votes. His strongest challenger, George Clinton, had 50.
On July 14, 1789, the French Revolution began. Republicans were jubilant. Adams at first expressed cautious optimism, but soon began denouncing the revolutionaries as barbarous and tyrannical.
Adam's first term was the shortest of any complete vice presidential term due to the delay in Adams assuming office.
Second term (1793-1797) After the reelection of Washington and Adams in 1792, Adams' second term began on March 4, 1793. John Adams had become embittered by the vice presidency, writing to Abigail on December 19, "My country has in its wisdom contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived; and as I can do neither good nor evil, I must be borne away by others and meet the common fate."