Until the aftermath of the election of 1800, the Vice Presidency went to the 2nd-place finisher instead of a running mate. It’s why Adams (a Federalist) had a Democratic-Republican (Jefferson) as his VeeP.
But then they ended up having the VeeP run against the sitting President in 1800, and it was a fucking mess. So they changed the constitution to put the VeeP on the ballot.
That’s why the US is in dire need of a new constitution: bad decisions from over 200 years ago still shape the way politics is done right up until today.
We used to have a bit of that.
Until the aftermath of the election of 1800, the Vice Presidency went to the 2nd-place finisher instead of a running mate. It’s why Adams (a Federalist) had a Democratic-Republican (Jefferson) as his VeeP.
But then they ended up having the VeeP run against the sitting President in 1800, and it was a fucking mess. So they changed the constitution to put the VeeP on the ballot.
That’s why the US is in dire need of a new constitution: bad decisions from over 200 years ago still shape the way politics is done right up until today.