The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1896-09-17
AMERICAN VICE PRESIDENTS.
An II.founded Prejudice Against an Office
Which Has Been Held by Statesmen.

Which Has Been Held by Statesmen.
The routine duties of the office of vice
president are unimportant and the in
f1ucnce of vice president in the ad-
miniStration of which he is a member
is insignificant He has less to do with
the course Of legislation than any Of
the members of the Senate over which
he legally presides. In executive mat
ters and in the consideration of appoint
ments a president cOnSultS with his
cabinet-neyer with the vice president.
The presidents private secretary, in
deed. Outranks usually in point of in
tiuencc and authority the vice preSi-
dent, and the latter parsonage has come
to be regarded as an amiable figure
head,whOse only real Importance arises
from the possibility of the presidents
office becoming vacant.
Yet some of the most important men
in American history. especially in the
early days of the republic, have held
the office of vice president. and have
brought to the discharge of its duties
qualities of the very first Importance
The first vice president of the United
States, John Adams. was afterward
president. and certainly no New Eng
land man was more prominent than Mr..
Adams in support of the revolution. A
Signer of the Declaration of 1ndepen-
dence, he was accredited as Minister to
France in 1111 and as Minister to Eng
land in 17SJ, two Of the most important
offices which an American at that time
could fill, and outranked only by the Of
flee held by George Washington, Mr..
Adams's predecessor as president. who
was Commander-in-chef of the Ameri-
can army. The second vice president
of the United States was the iflustriOus
Democratic statesman. Thomas Jetfer-
son. whose participation in the events
leading up to the Revolution was GER
tainly more active and important than
that of any of the members of the Sen
ate over which he presided. George
Clinton. who enjoyed the remarkable
distinction of being Governor Of New
York for eighteen years cOnsecutively
(and the first Governor of New York,
too), was the fourth vice president OF
the United States. and Daniel d. TOmp-
| kins, who was Governor of New York
for ten years, was the sixth.
1t has been said often by critics Of
American political history that the
most distinguished statesmen. Henry
Clay, Daniel Webster, and others of
like prominence. have by some politi-
cal fatality fallen short Of the prcSi-
dency, and the name of John c. Cal
| houn of South Carolina has generally
| been included in this list. But Mr.. Cal
| houn did not fall short Of the vice nresi-
! lency, for he succeeded in office Gov.
| TOmpkinS of New York, and was for
| eight years the vice president, having
as his distinguished successor Martin
| Van Ruren of New York. Mr.. Van
Buren, was certainly the most promin-
| ent Democratic statesman in the period
| in which he lived, and after serving as
vice president he was elected president
| in 1896, defeating William II. Harrison
! grandfather Mr.. Cleveland'S prede-
| cesSOr 4 careful and satisfactory per
formance of the duties of the vice presi-
! dent was, in the case Of Mr.. Van Buren,
no bar to his subsequent promotion to
the presidency, and later Millard Fill
more, elected vice president in lS4S, be,
came president, and in the presidential
contest of 1896, though running on an
outside ticket of third party, Mr.. Fill
more received 100000 votes. In more
recent years the office Of vice president
has been of less prominence, but it has
been held with distinction by at least
two New York Republicans-Chester \
| Arthur and Levi p MOrtOn-the former
afterward president and the latter a
candidate for that Office.