Vice President of the United States

The Vice President of the United States is the second-highest executive official of the United States government, the person who is, in the words of Adlai Stevenson, "a heartbeat from the presidency." As first in the presidential line of succession, the Vice President becomes the new President of the United States upon the death, resignation, or removal by impeachment and subsequent conviction of the President. Eight Vice Presidents have assumed the Presidency upon the death of the President, and one upon the President's resignation.

Constitutional requirements

To hold the office, the Vice President must satisfy the same constitutional qualifications as the President; that is, the Vice President must be a natural-born citizen of the United States, at least thirty-five years of age and a resident of the United States for 14 years.

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The Vice President-Elect takes office just before the President-Elect. Unlike the President, the Constitution does not specify an oath of office for the Vice President. Several variants of the oath have been used since 1789; the current form, which is also recited by Senators, Representatives and other government officers, has been used since 1884:

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I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.

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President of the Senate

As President of the Senate (Article I, Section 3), the Vice President oversees procedural matters and is given the ability to cast a vote in the event of a tie. There is a strong convention within the U.S. Senate that the Vice President not use his position as President of the Senate to influence the passage of legislation or act in a partisan manner, except in the case of breaking tie votes. In fact, the Vice President is constitutionally prevented from voting except in the case of ties. In practice, the Vice President rarely presides over day-to-day matters in the Senate; in his place, the Senate chooses a President pro tempore (or "president for a time") to preside in the absence of the Vice President.

Related Topics:
Article I - U.S. Senate - President ''pro tempore''

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One duty required of President of the Senate is presiding over the counting and presentation of the Presidential and Vice Presidential electoral votes by the U.S. Electoral College, in the presence of both houses of Congress, on January 6 of the year following a U.S. presidential election. In this capacity, only four Vice Presidents have been able to announce their own election to the Presidency: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Martin Van Buren, and George H. W. Bush.

Related Topics:
U.S. Electoral College - January 6 - U.S. presidential election - John Adams - Thomas Jefferson - Martin Van Buren - George H. W. Bush

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Though he was President of the Senate, Vice President John C. Calhoun believed he would have more power as a Senator. When he was elected to the Senate from his native South Carolina, he became the first Vice President to resign the office.

Related Topics:
John C. Calhoun - South Carolina

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Election process

Under the U.S. Constitution, the members of the U.S. Electoral College originally voted only for office of President rather than for both President and Vice-President. The person receiving the greatest number of votes (provided that such a number was a majority of electors) would be President, while the individual who was in second place became Vice President. If no one received a majority of votes, then the U.S. House of Representatives would choose between the five highest vote-getters, with each state getting one vote. In such a case, the person who received the highest number of votes but was not chosen President would become Vice President. If there was ever a tie for second, then the U.S. Senate would choose the Vice President.

Related Topics:
U.S. Constitution - U.S. Electoral College - U.S. House of Representatives - U.S. Senate

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The original plan, however, did not forsee the development of political parties. In 1796, for instance, Federalist John Adams came in first, and Democratic-Republican Thomas Jefferson came second. Thus, the President and Vice President were from different parties. An even greater problem occurred in the election of 1800, when Democratic-Republicans Jefferson and Aaron Burr tied the vote. While it was intended that Jefferson was the Presidential contender and Burr was the Vice Presidential one, the electors did not and could not differentiate between the two under the system of the time. After 35 unsuccessful votes in the U.S. House of Representatives, Thomas Jefferson finally won on the 36th ballot and Burr became Vice President.

Related Topics:
Election of 1800 - Aaron Burr - U.S. House of Representatives

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The tumultuous affair led to the adoption of Amendment XII in 1804, which directed the electors to use separate ballots to vote for the President and Vice President. While this solved the problem at hand, it ultimately had the effect of lowering the prestige of the Vice Presidency, as the Vice President was no longer the second choice for President.

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The Constitution also prohibits electors from voting for both a Presidential and Vice Presidential candidate from the same state as themselves. In theory, this might deny a Vice Presidential candidate with the most electoral votes the absolute majority required to secure election, even if the Presidential candidate is elected, and place the Vice Presidential election in the hands of the Senate. In practice, this requirement is easily circumvented by having the candidate for Vice President change the state of residency as was done by Dick Cheney who changed his legal residency from Texas to Wyoming in order to run for election as Vice President alongside George W. Bush.

Related Topics:
Absolute majority - Dick Cheney - Texas - Wyoming - George W. Bush

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Formally, the Vice-Presidential candidate is nominated by the party convention. However, it has long been the custom that the Vice-Presidential candidate has been effectively named by the Presidential candidate. Often, the Presidential candidate will name a Vice-Presidential candidate to bring geographic or ideological balance to the ticket or to appeal to a particular constituency.

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