Omaha daily bee., 1884-07-17
NOTABLE vICE-PREsIDENTs
The Records of Those Who WorthiIy
Filled the Important Office.
Chicago Herald.

The Office of vlce-president was intend
ed by the founders OF our government t.
be an office of great dignity and impor
lance. Under the mode of election as a.
first c%ontrived, the vice president was t.
be, in fact, the second choice of the cleo
tors for president. The electors were tt
assemble at the time appointed in theil
respective states and vote for two per
sons. The votes were to be transmitted
to the senate and there opened. The per
son having a majority of the electoral
vote was to be the president, and the
person having the next highest number
of votes, without respect to a majority,
was to be vice president. At the first
election Washington received the unani.
nous vote of the electoral college, buI
John Adams received only thirty-four
votes out of sixty-nlne, not a majority
but the next highest number.
One of the first questions that Adams
addressed his mind to was to the titles
which should 60 with the Offices of presi-
dent and vice president. Sturdy patriot
and great man that he was, he liked the
trappings and the suits of Office. He
appeared on the streets accompanied by
four sword bearers, and he thought and
said that the chief officers of the nation
should be surrounded with splendor and
pageantry. "High Mightiness and Pro-
tector of our Liberties" was the very
lowest designation he could think of with
which to approach the president. AS to
his own title he was uncertain. At the
Inauguration of Washington the arranged
ceremony was that the PRESIDENT elect
should be received by the senate and be
escorted by it to the house OF representa-
tives, where the oath was to be admins
tered. This threw Adams into great per-
plexity, and he addressed the senate as
follows:
Gentlemen, l do not know whether
the trainers of the constitution had in
view the two kings of Sparta, the two
~consuls of Rome, or the two suffetes Of
Carthage when they formed 1.-THE one
to have all the power while he held it
and the other to be nothing. Gentlemen,
l feel great difficulty how to act. L am
possessed of two separate powers-the
one in esse, the other in posse. 1 am
vice president. In this | am nothing,
but [ may be everything. But | am
president also of the senate When the
president comes into the senate what
shall l BEG l wish, gentlemen, to think
what | shall be-"
A solemn silence ensued, though the
sense of the r~idiculouslous was 80 strong
with some of the senators that they came
near bursting into laughter. Then Els.
worth arose, with most profound gravity,
and said: 81 have looked over the con-
stltution and 1 find, sir-it 10 evident
and clear, sir-that wherever
the 'senae is to be there, sir, you must
be at the head of them; but further, sir,
/ shall not pretend to say" The senate
held out some time for titles, but the
house of representatives would not listen
to 1t, and it was finally ordered that the
president should be addressed by his off
cial title only-Mr. President. AS to the
vice president, he had no designation
whatever.
Adams continued vice president during
the yearsof Washington's administration,
and then succeeded to the presidency,
being followed in the vice presidential
chair by Jefferson. 1t was during the
%latter's incumbency that he composed
the manual Of parliamentary rules that
ileb az tno IOuuudtlOu VI phTlidLlentary
law of the United States.
Aaron Burr succeeded Jefferson after
that memorable contest for the presiden-
cy of 1900, which led to a change in the
method of choosing the vice president. Ii
was while he was vice president that his
duel with Hamilton took place. One OF
the best presiding officers that ever filled
that chair, he is described as having ''the
impartiality of IN angel, and the rigor OF
a devil" His farewell to the sensto at
the close of his term produced an unex-
pected and profound sensation. AT its
conclusion the whole senate was in tears
and SO unnamed that it was some time
before they could recover themselves
sufficiently to come to order and choose a
vice president pro tenn.
To Burr succeeded George Clinton, the
famous war governor of New York, dur
ing the revolution, He was an able,
wary, self-willed man, very popular, but
despotic in his nature. He was one of
the strongest opponents to the federal
constitution, and came near defeating it
In the New York convention. He WAS a
very imposing figure in the politics Of his
time, bat he is known less as vice presi-
dent of the United States than rs COVER
nor of Now York. Governor Clinton he
! was to tho end of his days. He was vice
president under Jefferson's second term
and Madison's first term. he gave the