10 Apr Can the Vice President Break a Treaty Vote Tie?
I got a chance last night (in my ASIL Conference hotel room) to catch an episode of HBO’s Miniseries “John Adams” (Episode 5, “Unite or Die”) and it is as good as advertised. Sure, the characters look a bit silly in their costumes, but the acting is good enough to make these historical figure seem real. And there is drama, even though everyone knows how the story will end.
But in their laudable efforts to build drama around obscure historical events like the 1795 Jay Treaty, the writers may have gone a step too far. In its dramatic climax, Vice President John Adams votes in the Senate to ratify the Jay Treaty, thus breaking a 15-15 deadlock. Jay Treaty supporters rejoice, and Adams becomes the enemy of anti-Jay Treaty Republicans.
But can the Vice President of the U.S. break a treaty vote “tie”? Not likely, given that a treaty needs two-thirds of the Senate. Hmm. I appreciate the efforts to dramatize historical events, a treaty vote no less, but still. I can’t quite swallow this one.
Julian,
Didn’t see the episode. But I guess they were trying to dramatize the defeat by Adams’ casting vote of the non-intercourse resolution, which was pretty tightly related and did put Adams on that enemies’ list. I could be completely wrong about this. If not, though, I can’t see why they missed the dramatic potential of having Adams vote in favor of intercourse.
if there were only 2 voting members of the senate, and they split, the VP-cast vote would both break the tie and ratify. any higher than two and it fails.
Professor Ku,
I was wondering about that as I watched the show. I didn’t think I slept throught THAT much of my Con Law class.
b>Though Adams did not cast a tie breaking vote on the Jay’s Treaty he did cast two key tie breaking votes (he holds the record at 29 total) on two important foreign policy issues that would eventually culminate in the Jay’s Treaty as the final and decisive solution to the issue. Its unfortunate that in their need to compress the timeline in this series they combined two truths and made a false. Included below is an excerpt: Although Adams, as vice president, had “no constitutional vote” in the administration’s foreign policy, he cast two important tie-breaking foreign policy votes in the Senate, where Republican gains in the 1792 elections had eroded the Federalist majority. In both cases, Adams voted to prevent war with Great Britain and its allies. On March 12, 1794, he voted in favor of an embargo on the domestic sale of vessels and goods seized from friendly nations. The following month, he voted against a bill to suspend American trade with Great Britain. Despite these votes, Adams made every effort to stay aloof from the bitter controversy over foreign policy, remaining silent during the Senate’s 1795 debates over the controversial Jay Treaty. Privately, Adams considered the Jay… Read more »
McCulloch himself wrote in the book that the Treaty in fact passed by a two thirds vote, as required by the Constitution.
There was no dramatic need for this New Myth. They could have shown Adams announcing the vote. He could have expressed his views off the floor to others and recalled his tie breaking votes.
This is not conflation, it is myth.
Welcome to mythology, Adams tie breaker. Join the Cherry Tree chopped down by young George Washington.
Another pious patriotic myth.