Thomas Pickney as the Second Vice President

The 1796 election was the first US Presidential election involving more than one candidate. With incumbent President George Washington having refused a third term in office, incumbent Vice-President John Adams of Massachusetts became a candidate for the presidency on the Federalist Party ticket with former Governor Thomas Pinckney of South Carolina as the next most popular Federalist. Their opponents were former Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson of Virginia along with Senator Aaron Burr of New York on the Democratic-Republican ticket. At this point, each man from any party ran alone, as the formal position of "running mate" had not yet been established.

While Adams won the presidency, his preferred choice for the Vice Presidency, Pickney, failed to pick up enough electoral votes to be elected. Instead, the office went to Jefferson. This is the only occurrence in US history of the president and vice president being from different parties and provide impetus for the 12th Amendment.


What if Adam's electors are able to better coordinate and Pickney becomes the Second Vice President of the United States?
 
The two major things I know Jefferson did as VP:

  • Codify the Senate's rules. Without Jefferson as President of the Senate, it'd probably continue with informal rules for a while longer, and when the rules eventually get codified, they'll likely take a very different form. One major consequence would be that the filibuster will likely be butterflied away, as it emerged accidentally decades after the fact as an abuse of the codified rules. Another major consequence would be that without a strict formalized ruleset, the VP's role as President of the Senate would take on significantly more importance, with the VP exercising considerable discretion as chairman.
  • Use his stature as VP to act as Leader of the Opposition. He'd still be a major role in Democratic-Republican politics without the VP title, but he'd be more of a voice in the wilderness, and his role as leader of the party might be overtaken (or at least rivaled) by someone like Madison. And without the VP title, Jefferson would not have been as well-placed to do things like conducting independent diplomatic talks with the French government, and changing that could have significant implications for the development of the XYZ Affair and the Quasi-War.
 
Would this at all improve Pickney's prospects for the Presidency later on?

Is Jefferson still the nominee in the next election?
 
The two major things I know Jefferson did as VP:

  • Codify the Senate's rules. Without Jefferson as President of the Senate, it'd probably continue with informal rules for a while longer, and when the rules eventually get codified, they'll likely take a very different form. One major consequence would be that the filibuster will likely be butterflied away, as it emerged accidentally decades after the fact as an abuse of the codified rules. Another major consequence would be that without a strict formalized ruleset, the VP's role as President of the Senate would take on significantly more importance, with the VP exercising considerable discretion as chairman.
  • Use his stature as VP to act as Leader of the Opposition. He'd still be a major role in Democratic-Republican politics without the VP title, but he'd be more of a voice in the wilderness, and his role as leader of the party might be overtaken (or at least rivaled) by someone like Madison. And without the VP title, Jefferson would not have been as well-placed to do things like conducting independent diplomatic talks with the French government, and changing that could have significant implications for the development of the XYZ Affair and the Quasi-War.

How do you mean codify? Senate and House procedure is voted on at the beginning of each section. Sen. Dorgan (D-SD?) recently said if you want to get rid of the filibuster then don't ratify the senate procedure rules every session, write new ones. I suppose if you meant make them consistent from term to term then yes, Jefferson did but they are not standing rules. This may be of interest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_Rules_of_the_United_States_Senate

As to Jefferson's influence, I don't think he gets overtaken by Madison because they operated as group providing checks on each other and each playing to the other's strengths. They were symbiotic in a sense, and not rivals. Is it possible for Madison as a representative to overshadow Jefferson? possibly but remember we are in the days of "King Caucus" insiders pick the next POTUS not the people, meaning that Jefferson will probably be president before Madison because of his influence in his party, although not being Washington does make less influential. I think this comes down to the relationship between Madison and Jefferson, where Jefferson is IMHO clearly the senior partner.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson#Election_of_1796_and_Vice_Presidency

To the principle question, how do we get Thomas Pinckney to be VP?

Federalist Discipline, I don't think it would help matters for Adams though, just one more Hamiltonian Federalist in the cabinet.
 
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