Vice presidency of John Adams

John Adams served as the first vice president of the United States from April 21, 1789 to March 4, 1797, during the presidency of George Washington. Vice President Adams was later elected president from 1797 to 1801, and his political rival Thomas Jefferson succeeded him as vice president and later as president. The only Federalist to hold the vice presidency, Adams was a leader of the American Revolution who served the United States government as a senior diplomat in Europe during the American Revolutionary War. Adams was succeeded in both offices by his political rival Thomas Jefferson.

Adams was elected to two terms as vice president under President George Washington. Although Adams was President of the Senate, his manner irritated Senators, creating the precedent of it being a largely ceremonial position. Adams cast 29 tie-breaking votes as President of the Senate in favor of Washington's policies, the third highest in history. Washington and Adams were reelected in the 1792 United States presidential election. Adams bemoaned the vice presidency's lack of influence, writing in 1793, "My country has in its wisdom contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived; and as I can do neither good nor evil, I must be borne away by others and meet the common fate."

Adams was elected as the United States' second president in 1796 under the banner of the Federalist Party. Jefferson came in second, which made him Adams' vice president under the electoral laws of the time. Four years later, in the 1800 presidential election, Jefferson again challenged Adams and won the presidency, becoming the second vice president to also become president.