Quoting Trent W. Buck (trentbuck@gmail.com):
Didn't I read somewhere that the whole president/vice president dynamic arose organically and was unintentional?
Oh, not just that: At first, the electoral mechanics were so badly thought out that deadly-enemy rivals from opposing parties repeatedly took the two offices. A Constitutional amendment was required to fix the electoral mechanism so that (eliding a lot of details) Pres. and VP candidates are considered in the ELectoral College as packaged pairings. But still after that, most VPs were selected to be avoided by their associated Presidents, who after all _usually_ didn't care to see or work with the walking memento mori that is a VP. Most VPs are not even kept briefed by their Presidents and their staff, being tapped on the shoulder only if the President dies (or resigns) or it's necessary for them to carry out their only _other_ assigned duty, as tie-breaking vote if the Senate deadlocks (but never having a Senate vote at any other time).