Episode 1 of 3
Adams' Assessment of the Vice Presidency
- When
- mid-1789
- Where
- Vice presidency during the federal government's first months in New York
By mid-1789 Adams found the vice presidency inactive and mechanical, calling it the most insignificant office ever contrived.
While Adams brought energy and dedication to the office, by mid-1789 he had already found it "not quite adapted to my character ... too inactive, and mechanical." He wrote that his country had contrived for him "the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived." His initial behavior in the Senate made him a target for critics of the Washington administration.
Sources
- John Adams Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-27
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.