Vice Presidents of the United States

Hmm Setanta will know this but I believe originally the VP was the first runner up in the Presidential contest. I believe Jefferson and J. Adams were on the opposite ends of the aisle.

Many presidents and vps didn't like each other one bit. As far as openly disagreeing, or vying against one another for the nomination, I can't say.

I believe Jefferson under Adams qualifies, although I have not researched it. My impression is, though, that while Jefferson worked actively against Adams, it was largely behind his back.

Aron Burr under Jefferson comes immediately to mind also. This is one of the reasons the constitution was changed and the vice president was no longer the candidate with the second most electoral votes.

Yes, that system was a disaster, since one could end up with presidents who were not in sympathy with their vice presidents, and it was also very difficult to control which candidate obtained the presidency and which the vice presidency.

They also had a tendency to shoot at each other. Burr shot and killed Hamilton who was a likely candidate for president in 1804. That was the immediate cause of the 12th amendment that did away with the original system for choosing VP's.

Agreed. Don't want to stray too far from the topic, but don't you think the Republicans would have blackmailed Hamilton about his affair, if necessary, to keep him out of the race?

Hamilton had written a pamphlet about the affair, sort of a tell all mae culpa, to prevent just such a move. I do not know if it was published before his death or if it was ever published. I recall reading some where, and I can't recall where, that the feeling at the time was that while it would damage his reputation, it would not damage his election chance. Sounds very modern doesn't it.

The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each; which List they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately chuse by Ballot one of them for President; and if no Person have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like Manner chuse the President. But in chusing the President, the Votes shall be taken by States, the Representation from each State having one Vote; A quorum for this purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two thirds of the States, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a Choice. In every Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person having the greatest Number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal Votes, the Senate shall chuse from them by Ballot the Vice President.

Jespah is, as one would expect, completely correct about this. Above is the portion of Article II, Section one which was changed by amendment. I have emphasized the portion to which she refers, which meant that the runner-up would be president. This was perhaps the most naive passage of the original constitution, but it should be borne in mind that political parties as we know them did not then exist, and would not for two generations. Adams was a Federalist, to the extent that anybody was, as it was not an organized political party. Jefferson was an "anti-Federalist," and eventually organized his own party, the Republican Party, which is often erroneously referred to as the ancestor of the Democratic Party.

Jefferson was Vice President to Adams, and it was a disaster (both men eventually relented, and they became friends later in life--but they weren't playin' nice in the 1790's). The amendment of Article II, Section 1 became a priority for Jefferson. Although he did not have a political party as we know it, organized down the lowest levels, he still had access to a publicity apparatus, and as there was no opposition to the proposition, the amendment was ratified fairly quickly (sent to the States by the Congress in December, 1803, it was ratified in June, 1804, just a little over six months later--very fast).

Jefferson was obliged to tolerate Aaron Burr, but then selected George Clinton for his second term. Clinton then served as Vice President to James Madison, who had been Jefferson's Secretary of State. Madison must not have been a pleasant man to work with--both Clinton, and Madison's second Veep, Elbridge Geary, resigned before the end of their respective terms. James Monroe presided over an era of peace and growing prosperity which the history mavens have named "the Era of Good Feelings." So much so, that he was unopposed in his second term. He was succeeded by John Quincy Adams, who represents the last gasp of the Federalists, the party that never was a party. His Veep was John Calhoun. Andrew Jackson had taken the disaffected portions of the Republican Party (which by then, was most of them) and created a very effective political machine from the ground up in Tennessee. His "emissaries" in other states rallied the same support, and Jackson defeated Adams in 1828. Incredibly, his Veep was John Calhoun. Calhoun was attempting to climb the political ladder to the Presidency, and didn't care if he stepped on Jackson's fingers on the way up. But Jackson dumped him, and he eventually resigned. One of the political operatives in the northeast who had helped him win the election, and a man who had made himself Jackon's closest political friend in the "kitchen cabinet" which Jackson organized after his betrayal by Calhoun, was Martin Van Buren (Old Knickerbocker--his intials of approval on a document--"O.K."--meant that this was an old croney, and everything was alright). Van Buren more than any other politician of the day saw the genius of Jackson's regimented, military-like party organization, and spread it across the middle Atlantic states and New England. The Democrats would be the dominant political party for more than 30 years.

Not quite. Hamilton, though very successful as first Secretary of the Treasury under Washington, was never a likely candidate for President. In fact, only Burr had a realistic shot at national (or even state-wide) office.

Now it is very likely that presidential politics played an indirect role in the duel --since Hamilton tried hard to insure that Burr did not become President in 1800-- but the more immediate cause was to be found in NEW YORK politics. Hamilton had made some sort of vicious tales about fellow New Yorker Burr while the latter was running for Governor. Burr heard reports of this shortly after losing that race, and asked Hamilton to specify what he had said and/or deny; Hamilton, as you can guess, never did. (Historians to this day are trying to guess what Hamilton said --best guess I've heard, and still just a guess, had suggested an improper relationship between Burr and his devoted daughter). Of course, it's likely Hamilton really could not deny having said such things, since he had been attacking Hamilton for years. (It may be that Burr had decided he just wouldn't take it any more, or that the charges in this case were particularly serious [which is why some are attracted to the theory that it touched the honor of Burr's daughter].)



The immediate cause of this amendment was the election of 1800 in which Jefferson & Burr (the latter understood to be the V.P. candidate) ended up in an unintended tie in electoral votes. Since everyone was aware of the danger of a tie, the plan was for a couple of electors (yet not enough to endanger the success of the ticket) to cast their ballots for a dark horse to ensure that the intended candidate ended up in the top spot. But in 1796--the first time Jefferson & Burr ran together-- southern electors had failed to give full support to the Burr half of the ticket, angering the northern wing of the party. Thus in 1800 the effort was made to avoid a repeat of that mistake (especially after Burr's efforts successfully lined up essential support for the ticket in New York), but they did too good a job of it!

Following the original Constutional provision, the tie was to be settled by the outgoing House. This made matters especially messy, because though Jefferson's (Democratic) Republican party had won control of the House, the outgoing body was heavily Federalist and very much against Jefferson. Burr was, of course, of the same party as Jefferson, but a number of Federalists did not believe he was as partisan. Feeling they could work better with Burr than with Jefferson, some voted for him. In a series of inconclusive votes in the House, Burr actually stayed very much on the sidelines, rather than courting Federalist votes. Had he done so, he likely could have secured them. (Ironically, Jefferson, who did court votes, was led to believe Burr was trying to do just that, never trusted him again, and eventually dumped him from the 1804 ticket.)

Anyway, to be fair to the Founding Fathers, when the Constitution was written everyone at the time despised the idea of political "parties". Having the second-choice (hypothetically the second most qualified) as V.P. made sense. With the emergence of the party of Jefferson & Madison (called "Republicans" at that time) in opposition to the Federalists (Washington, Adams, Hamilton...) it became apparent that idea would no longer work.

Going back to the original question. . .

Since the 12th amendment was passed, no sitting Vice President ever has run against the President he was serving under. And relatively few former V.P.'s have even run for President; fewer still have been elected President "on their own". (The big exception is related to Presidential death in office -- see below.)

Futher. . .
For a long time after the passage of the 12th amendment, it was not the norm for the Vice Presidency (an office recognized as generally weak already by John Adams) to be considered the route to the Presidency. Beginning with Jefferson's presidency, the typical stepping-stone to President from within an administration was from Secretary of State, the most powerful cabinet position. (Madison, Monroe & J.Q.Adams all held this position; Henry Clay took the post under J.Q.A. with similar, though unfulfilled, expectations.)

In fact, after Jefferson, Martin VanBuren was the only sitting V.P. to run for the Presidency until Nixon did so in 1960 and the only sitting V.P. to WIN the office until George H.W. Bush ! Also, Nixon's victory in 1968 was the first by any former V.P. to the Presidency since Van Buren. From 1800 to 2000 only three former V.P's were elected President without first becoming presidency by the death the President. (This route was followed four times in the 20th century; in the 19th century none of these "accidental" Presidents was re-elected, or even received his party's nomination.)

So, even though it has become common since 1960 for current or former V.P.s to run for the Presidency, the historical trends suggest that, unless you're expecting the President to die, serving as V.P. is not the best strategy for gaining the top office. Considering the fact that V.P's have long been chosen to "balance" the ticket --to shore up one specific area of perceived weakness in the Presidential candidate's support-- it is perhaps not surprising.

(I would also suggest that there has often been LESS tension between the President and Vice President precisely BECAUSE the Vice President did not run with the hope/expectation of eventually moving on to the higher office.)