Friends Divided by Gordon S. Wood

Author:Gordon S. Wood
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2017-10-24T04:00:00+00:00

NINE

THE PRESIDENT VS. THE VICE PRESIDENT

WHEN WASHINGTON ASSUMED the presidency in 1789 many people, including Thomas Jefferson, thought that he might serve for life. That was why Jefferson claimed that the office of the president resembled a Polish king—an elective monarch, something that was not out of the question in the eighteenth century. As James Wilson, one of the initial justices of the Supreme Court, noted, in the distant past “crowns, in general, were originally elective.”1 But Washington had no intention of serving for life. He had tried to retire in 1792, but was talked out of it. But by 1796 he was determined to leave the office at the end of his second term. That posed an ominous threat to the Union. As the Spanish minister pointed out, Washington’s special status in the eyes of the people had saved the nation from “internal dissention.” But that could not last, “because it seems impossible that there could be found another man so beloved of all. . . . Disunion will follow.”2

Rumors of Washington’s stepping down left Adams, who was clearly not beloved by all, excited and nervous, and he sent off a series of anxious letters to Abigail that she was to show no one. He told her that they faced a momentous decision—“Either We must enter upon Ardours more trying than any ever yet experienced; or retire to Quincy Farmers for Life.” He assumed he was the “Heir Apparent” to the presidency, but he was not sure what to do politically. By attempting to represent Adams “as a Man of Moderation,” the “Southern Gentry,” he said, were playing “a very artful Game.” Although they conceded that Adams was “inclined to limited Monarchy and somewhat Attached to the English,” they claimed he was much less so than John Jay or Alexander Hamilton. Adams thought that this insidious southern scheme was designed to have him remain as vice president, “provided the Northern Gentlemen would consent that Jefferson should be president.”3

This, however, was the one thing he was sure of: he was “determined,” he said, “not to serve under Jefferson.” He could never be vice president under someone other than Washington, “especially if that other should entertain sentiments so opposite to mine as to endanger the Peace of the Nation.” Given the nature of the electoral process, where the person who received the most votes became president and the runner-up became vice president, having the two chief executive officials possess contrasting political views was quite possible and perilous. “It will be a dangerous Crisis in public affairs,” he warned, “if the President and Vice President should be in opposite Boxes.”4

Neither Adams nor Jefferson had anticipated the United States becoming riven by parties. Jefferson thought that allegiance to a party would be “the last degradation of a free and moral agent,” a denial of being an independent and disinterested citizen. “If I could not go to heaven but with a party,” he said, “I would not go there at all.” Adams agreed. Parties were “the greatest political Evil” imaginable.

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