The Vice-President of the United States has an Official Uniform

So I've been reading Empire of Liberty, by Gordon S. Wood, about the early days of the American republic. In it, he write about the confusion in the Senate over procedures and in particular, about John Adams's dilemma over how to act when he preceded over it.

To that end, he came up with a particularly delightfully solution. He would wear a powdered wig and a ceremonial sword:

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Unfortunately, he soon gave them up. But because I have too much time on my hands, I was wondering what it would take for the Veep to soon have his own official uniform. And because I'm unimaginative, I was wondering what it take for it to be fairly outlandish, like something out of the old Austrian-Hungarian empire:

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Maybe if the Vice President held some sort of ceremonial military rank, or if the Vice President was also the Sergeant at Arms, but I definitely don't see that happening.
 
There were a lots of "ceremonial" ideas Adams had for politics in America, however I don't think it would work. Plus a sword in Senate could be a dangerous thing, look at poor Sumner and the cain incident.

You also have the affect of making them look like dictators, due to other third world nations choosing to decorate themselves.
 
There were a lots of "ceremonial" ideas Adams had for politics in America, however I don't think it would work. Plus a sword in Senate could be a dangerous thing, look at poor Sumner and the cain incident.

I don't think the sword as a weapon would be an issue. Look at what happened with just a cane, and there's no way you could ban canes in the Senate. Similarly, at the time a number of Senators took to bringing pistols with them into the Chamber after the attack on Sumner, especially as Congressman Keitt had prevented bystanders from aiding Sumner by threatening them with a pistol. My understanding is that there was actually a period after the attack when a sizable portion of Congress was coming to work armed, and there was a distinct possibility of a death in the Capitol if things had gotten out of hand again.

You also have the affect of making them look like dictators, due to other third world nations choosing to decorate themselves.
I'm not sure that would have been a problem at the time- for one, what other countries would there have been to compare the US to? The perception of poor and newly independent countries' dictators embellishing themselves comes later. Moreover, a continual complaint of US diplomats in the Nineteenth Century was that they always appeared underdressed compared to their European colleagues. At the time, the US did not have an official diplomatic uniform, while most other natins did. So at formal events, the American diplomats were turning up in formal dress-suits, tailcoats, top hats- while everyone else was in colourful and gaudy uniforms. Apparently the diplomats weren't happy at always looking underdressed. So this could go along with an idea of creating uniforms on the European model for certain positions. The Vice-President could have one for official duties, diplomats for their duties, and perhaps other offices would get them as well.
 
Not sure how I feel about Veeps or the Prez getting their own uniforms. The great thing about OTL modern American political dress is that (appearance-wise, anyway) they're just like us, regular Americans. Well-presented, but otherwise representative of the ideal American, and to some extent it gives off that feeling that 'Hey, this guy is like me, maybe he cares about the things I care about'. Making them look like lords kind of disassociates them from the people -- and, perhaps, might even influence the wearers of the outfits themselves to think so too (in a way even more prominent than OTL that is).
 
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