The Purpose of Vice Presidency

The Purpose of Vice Presidency

It appears to me that the vice president serves little or no

significant purposes in the American political system. When I think

of the role of vice president, the only thing that comes to mind is

the fact that if the president dies or is not able to hold office it

is the job of the vice president to take over as president. I am sure

I share this ideology with many others; however, the role of the vice

president is far more complex than that. In this paper, I will

discuss the position of the vice presidency and the role of the 25th

amendment.

The Framers devoted little attention to the vice president’s duties

when designing this role. They provided that “he shall be president

of the Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be evenly divided”

(U.S. Senate). I feel that when the Framers sat down to debate the

powers of the presidency, they were fearful of a powerful executive

that would in any way resemble in its powers of the King of England.

Therefore, in order to avoid this, they had to put the concentration

of power in the hands of more than one so they considered a

multi-person executive (This Nation).

Although the Framers finally settled on the Executive Branch being led

by a single individual; they remained concerned about the amount of

power the President would exert, the method of electing presidents,

the relationship between the president and the other two branches of

the government, and the manner of succession in the case of a

president’s death or incapacitation (This Nation). As you can see,

the Framers spent a great amount of time and energy in developing the

role of ...

... middle of paper ...

...me the most

insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his

imagination conceived.” Because of the primary role of the vice

president sitting and waiting in the wings, Lyndon Johnson once said,

“Every time I came into John F. Kennedy’s presence, I felt like a

raven hovering over his shoulders.” Even these two veteran vice

presidents agree with me. The role or position of the vice president

is an ambiguous role, where one often wonders his or her significance

or purpose in the American political system.

Reference Page

http://www.thisnation.com/question/039.html

http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/

history/common/briefing/Vice_President.htm - 92k

www.answers.com/topic/ twenty-fifth-amendment-to-the-united-states-constitution

- 55k

www.usconstitution.net/constquick.html - 25k