April 21, 1789: John Adams officially became the first vice president of the United States, nine days before George Washington became the first president. Adams was made vice president because he received the second-most votes for president. From the start, the American vice presidency was not very powerful. As historian Harry C. Thompson writes, “It was not Adams’ fault that his office did not assume greater importance. Thomas Jefferson made nothing of it either while he held the office. We must look to the Constitutional Convention to find the culpable parties. The Founding Fathers tacked the presidency onto the Constitution without giving it the careful thought they had the other parts of their masterwork. They created an office with no significant day-to-day functions and during the eight years that Adams served as Vice President neither he nor Washington worked out a means of filling this lack.” However, it is important to remember that the remarkable potential for power within the office of the vice presidency is tremendous. In case of emergency, the vice president must be ready.
Citations: Harry C. Thompson, “The Second Place in Rome: John Adams as Vice President,” Presidential Studies Quarterly 10, no. 2 (Spring 1980): 173, 177, https://www.jstor.org/stable/27547562; “John Adams,” etching (location unknown, date unknown), https://catalog.archives.gov/id/348341262.
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