What If someone else had become the first VP instead of John Adams?

Who do you think would've been the VP had Adams not run or loss to them, and would they become the second President? Do they win reelection in 1800 avoiding the 12th amendment or would they lose?
 
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My first thought was Alexander Hamilton. I doubt that he would actually win the election over Jefferson in 1800 given how...abrasive his personality was, but it would be interesting to see him as VP or Pres rather than Secretary of the Treasury.

I do think that Washington will want someone from somewhere other than Virginia and by extension the South though, which for all practical purposes will be a New Yorker, Massachusettsite, or Pennsylvanian. George Clinton might be possible, if he is mollified on the tariff issue and is a less staunch opponent of ratification? Clinton might well win re-election in 1800, also, giving us a more pro-Federalist first decade of the 1800s.
 
I thought, at the time of the vote, there wasn't a choice for any sort of running late. It was most votes get Pres, second most gets vice Pres.
 
I thought, at the time of the vote, there wasn't a choice for any sort of running late. It was most votes get Pres, second most gets vice Pres.

Sure, but Washington can probably have enough pull to get the VP of his choice if he wants to for whatever reason
 
I thought, at the time of the vote, there wasn't a choice for any sort of running late. It was most votes get Pres, second most gets vice Pres.
This was correct.
Sure, but Washington can probably have enough pull to get the VP of his choice if he wants to for whatever reason
Washington was not a "politician" as in modern days of running for office. He did not campaign for the office of president, though no doubt he knew he would be elected. He had no wish to choose a running mate, or sway votes to someone other than Adams, whom he admired and respected and thought very highly of.
 
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This was correct.

Washington was not a "politician" as in modern days of running for office. He did not campaign for the office of president, though no doubt he knew he would be elected. He had no wish to choose a running mate, or sway votes to someone other than Adams, whom he admired and respected and thought very highly of.
It should be noted that Washington was unanimously elected, having received the maximum 69 electoral votes. John Adams came in a distant second with 34, and John Jay came in third with 9 votes. Washington was an honorable man who believed in the new Constitution that he helped oversee its creation in 1787 as president of the Constitutional Convention. He would have never tried to manipulate, or work a different result, especially since the votes were so lopsided.
 
Well, part of the problem here is that he didn’t pick anyone, that’s not how the system worked back then. John Adams was simply the man with the second most electoral votes- every elector having to choose two men and not being able to choose someone from the same state. While most contemporary scholars now put John Adams as a good president, he was never a party man, and to some extent that doomed his administration. Hamilton would have been an interesting president although I’m worried as to where that presidency would lead.
 
...than Adams, whom he admired and respected and thought very highly of.

While I certainly understood Washington respected Adams, to know he quite admired him and thought the best of him is oddly pleasing to know. I didn't know they were THAT encased in one another's goodwill, so to speak.
 
While I certainly understood Washington respected Adams, to know he quite admired him and thought the best of him is oddly pleasing to know. I didn't know they were THAT encased in one another's goodwill, so to speak.
Washington owed his appointment to Commander of the Continental Army to Adams' aggressive lobbying in the Continental Congress in 1775. Much to the chagrin of his fellow New Englanders who wanted one of their own to be commnander in what up to that time was mainly a war fought in Massachusetts. Adams was also his biggest supporter in the Congress when the war outcome looked bleak. Yes they may have quarreled, but both men admired each other very much. Later, Adams was very loyal Vice President.
 
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