Why was Thomas Jefferson as vice president for Adams a problem?

Answer 1

Jefferson and Adams were political rivals and differed sharply on several issues. ( In those days, the person who finished second in electoral votes was made the vice-president. This was changed in 1804 by the 12th amendment to the Constitution. )

Jefferson was the opposition candidate against Adams in 1796. His views on government differed from those of Adams in several important ways. However, in accordance to Constitution, he was made vice-president, having come in second in the presidential voting . The 12th amendment, passed in 1804 changed this method of election so that now the president and vice-president are from the same party.

Answer 2

Jefferson and Adams were political rivals and differed sharply on several issues. ( In those days, the person who finished second in electoral votes was made the vice-president. This was changed in 1804 by the 12th amendment to the Constitution. )

Jefferson was the opposition candidate against Adams in 1796. His views on government differed from those of Adams in several important ways. However, in accordance to Constitution, he was made vice-president, having come in second in the presidential voting . The 12th amendment, passed in 1804 changed this method of election so that now the president and vice-president are from the same party.

Answer 3

At the time, the way the Presidential election worked was the winner became President and the runner-up was Vice President. The reason it could be problematic was that the candidates were of different political parties. Adams was a Federalist and Jefferson a Republican.

Answer 4

Vice President John Adams and former Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson were running against each other in the 1796 U.S. presidential election. John Adams was the nominee of the Federalist Party, and his running mate was Thomas Pinckney of South Carolina. Thomas Jefferson was the nominee of the Democratic-Republican Party, and his running mate was Aaron Burr of New York. Beginning in 1804 the U.S. Constitution has had each elector cast one vote for President and one vote for Vice President. However, before 1804 the Constitution had each elector cast two votes for President, then whoever received the second-highest number of votes became the Vice President. Although John Adams received votes from a majority of the appointed electors, his opponent received more votes than his running mate, making his opponent his Vice President.

It's ironic that although electing a President and a Vice President of opposing parties was recognized as a problem in 1796-1797 and throughout U.S. history, the U.S. has never amended the Constitution to keep that from happening in the event that no presidential or vice-presidential candidate receives a majority of electoral votes while the party that dominates a majority of state delegations in the U.S. House of Representatives is different from the majority party of the U.S. Senate. There has been one election in which no presidential candidate received the votes of a majority of electors, and there has been one election in which likewise no vice-presidential candidate received enough votes, but both cases have never happened in the same election, and these days it's rare that a presidential candidate does not receive the same number of votes as his running mate.

By the way, I calculated that if Massachusetts' share of House seats apportioned to it after the 1790 U.S. Census were proportional to its share of the U.S. population as counted in that census, Jefferson would likely have won the 1796 U.S. presidential election.

Answer 5

These two men had very different views on the role of the federal government , states rights and the rights of individuals to criticize the government. They were opponent in the election of 1796. Adams won and Jefferson finished second, which made him vice-president, according to the law in effect at that time. (The Law was changed soon after that.)

Answer 6

Adams and Jefferson represented different political parties. The way elections worked at the time is that the winner became president, and the runner-up was vice-president.