In the early years of the United States voters balloted for president only, not vice president. Electors were selected to vote in the Electoral College for president. No distinct Electors were to vote for a vice president.
Here was the quirk. The Electors met after the general election in the state capitols and cast their votes for president. The candidate with the most votes became President of the United States, the candidate with the second largest number of votes became Vice President of the United States. If there was a tie, the Senate voted on who would become vice president. A tie for president was decided by the House of Representatives.
So in fact the president was stuck with his opponent in the general election as the vice president in his administration. This was changed with Amendment XII of the Constitution passed by Congress December 9, 1803 and ratified June 15, 1804. Beginning with the election of 1804, there was distinct voting for president and vice president. Each part fielded a presidential and vice presidential candidate.
To illustrate how ridiculous the original concept was let’s look at how some historical election results would have played out if the amendment was never passed. In the cases of presidents who died in office (dio), note the person who would have become president.
1864
President Abraham Lincoln (dio), Vice President George McClelland (a general Lincoln had fired)
1880 President James Garfield (dio), Vice President Winfield Hancock (no Chester Arthur)
1900
President William McKinley (dio), Vice President William Jennings Bryan (no Teddy Roosevelt)
1920
President Warren Harding (dio), Vice President James Cox (no Calvin Coolidge)
1944
President Franklin D. Roosevelt (dio), Vice President Thomas Dewey (no Harry Truman
1960
President John F. Kennedy (dio), Vice President Richard Nixon (no Lyndon Johnson
2000
President George W. Bush, Vice President Al Gore
2004
President George W. Bush, Vice President John Kerry
You get the idea. History would be very different if the Constitution had not been amended to correct this quirk. The consitutional amendment took the vice president from being a political thorn in the president’s side, to a silent partner (very silent in most cases). Certainly vice presidents could still be embarassing to the administration as we will see in future posts.
WRITINGS & RAMBLINGS 
I didn’t mean to be bossy. LOL But you piqued my interest.
Certainly. I will post an update/additional post. I was just trying to keep the original post short.
Steve
If you have access to it, can you post information on how the Strange Bedfellows ruled before the Amendment change?
Is it any wonder the president tried his best to avoid his vice president in those days. Seems to have carried over. Cheney is one of the first ones to be given any serious duties and to be totally involved, not that that is a good thing necessarily. At least if the vice president is in the loop any transition in the case of the worst case is seamless.
I can’t believe the lack of care taken in selecting and approving a vice presidential candidate. The parties need to learn from history – hey the president is mortal, he can die.
Steve
“So in fact the president was stuck with his opponent in the general election as the vice president in his administration.”
What a curious set-up! Of course they were just learning how to work the system and naturally there would be glaring mistakes but that just baffles me how they thought it was a good idea.
I look forward to those future posts- this is a most fascinating history lesson.