John Adams became the first vice president of the United States under President George Washington in 1789.
In the first presidential election, George Washington received 69 electoral votes, while Adams received 34. Under the original constitutional system, electors cast two votes without separately designating president and vice president. The runner-up therefore became vice president.
Adams served from 1789 to 1797 and presided over the Senate, where the vice president can cast a tie-breaking vote. He cast 29 such votes during his tenure, supporting several Washington administration measures.
Adams later became the nation’s second president, serving from 1797 to 1801. Thomas Jefferson succeeded him as vice president and later defeated him in the presidential election of 1800. Adams’s son, John Quincy Adams, eventually became the sixth president.