The Election of 1789
There have been 25 Presidential elections in which there was no incumbent president running for re-election: 1789, 1796, 1808, 1816, 1824, 1836, 1844, 1848, 1852, 1856, 1860, 1868, 1876, 1880, 1884, 1896, 1908, 1920, 1928, 1952, 1960, 1968, 1988, 2000, and 2008. This year, in 2016, this will be the case again, so I thought it would be fitting to explore those previous elections as the theme of this the first month of another election year.
The election of 1789 was the first quadrennial presidential election, and while I refer to it as the election of 1789, voting actually began in some locations on Monday, December 15, 1788 and continued up to Saturday, January 10, 1789. It was the first presidential election in the United States under the new Constitution, which was adopted on September 17, 1787. It is also the answer to a recent Final Jeopardy question, "when was the only US Presidential election ever to take place partially in a year that is not a multiple of four?" (What is 1789 Alex).
This election was unique because previously the United States had no chief executive. Under the previous system agreed to under Articles of Confederation, the national government was headed by the Confederation Congress. It had a ceremonial presiding officer and several executive departments, but did not have any independent executive branch. The "President" of the Congress was more like the Speaker of the House than any sort of national CEO.
As the hero of the American Revolution, George Washington was enormously popular. He essentially ran unopposed and the only real contest was over who would be chosen as vice president. Under the system that was then in place, each elector cast votes for two persons. The person who received a vote from a majority of the electors became president and the runner-up became vice president. At the time there were 69 electors, and each of them cast one vote for Washington, making him the first President of the United States.
The other votes of the electors were divided among eleven other candidates. When the votes were counted, John Adams of Massachusetts was elected vice president. It wasn't until 1804, when the Twelfth Amendment was ratified, that this procedure would change and electors would be required to cast distinct votes for president and vice president.
No political parties existed at the time of this election. Candidates were divided on regional interests, as well as on the issue of whether or not they supported the creation of a strong central government. Federalists supported the ratification of the Constitution (which created and empowered the central government), while Anti-Federalists opposed ratification. These groups were not yet established political parties. The one issue on which they were united was their support for Washington as president.
Washington's immense popularity made the question of who would be the first president a foregone conclusion. The real race was for the vice presidency. At the time there was no formal nomination process. Because Washington was from Virginia, many assumed that a vice president would be chosen from one of the northern states to balance sectional interests. In an August 1788 letter, U.S. Minister to France Thomas Jefferson wrote that he considered John Adams and John Hancock to be the top contenders.
The Constitution, in Article II, Section 1, provided that the state legislatures should decide the manner in which their Electors were chosen. Different state legislatures chose different methods. Six states held a popular vote to direct their electors who to vote for. Those states that did choose electors by popular vote had widely varying restrictions on who could vote, mostly based on property requirements. More specifically:
* Five states decided that each elector would appointed by the state legislature (Connecticut, Georgia, New Jersey, New York and South Carolina. New York did not participate in the election however due to a deadlock in the legislature)
*Massachusetts appointed two electors by the state legislature, with each remaining elector chosen by state legislature from list of top two vote-getters in each congressional district.
*In New Hampshire, each elector was chosen by a statewide vote, but the rules provided that if no candidate won a majority, the state legislature could appoint elector from top two candidates.
*In Virgina and Delaware, the state was divided into electoral districts, with one elector chosen per district by the voters of that district.
*In Maryland and Pennsylvania the electors were chosen at large by the voters.
*North Carolina and Rhode Island had not yet ratified the Constitution, so they were not eligible to choose electors.
Each elector cast one vote for Washington. The electors used their second vote to cast a scattering of votes. Alexander Hamilton was worried that Adams would tie with Washington, throwing the election to the House of Representatives, so he lobbied some of the electors to vote against Adams.
Only ten states out of the original thirteen cast electoral votes in this election. North Carolina and Rhode Island were ineligible to participate as they had not yet ratified the Constitution. New York failed to appoint its allotment of eight electors because of a deadlock in the state legislature.
Washington received 69 electoral votes. Among the other candidates, the electoral votes were as follows:
John Adams (Federalist of Massachusetts)-34
John Jay (Federalist of New York)-9
Robert H. Harrison (Federalist of Maryland)-6
John Rutledge (Federalist of South Carolina)-6
John Hancock (Federalist of Massachusetts)-4
George Clinton (Anti-Federalist of New York)-3
Samuel Huntington (Federalist of Connecticut)-2
John Milton (Federalist of Georgia)-2
James Armstrong (Federalist of Georgia)-1
Benjamin Lincoln (Federalist of Massachusetts)-1
Edward Telfair (Anti-Federalist of Georgia)-1
Washington was inaugurated as the first President of the United States on April 30, 1789.
The election of 1789 was the first quadrennial presidential election, and while I refer to it as the election of 1789, voting actually began in some locations on Monday, December 15, 1788 and continued up to Saturday, January 10, 1789. It was the first presidential election in the United States under the new Constitution, which was adopted on September 17, 1787. It is also the answer to a recent Final Jeopardy question, "when was the only US Presidential election ever to take place partially in a year that is not a multiple of four?" (What is 1789 Alex).
This election was unique because previously the United States had no chief executive. Under the previous system agreed to under Articles of Confederation, the national government was headed by the Confederation Congress. It had a ceremonial presiding officer and several executive departments, but did not have any independent executive branch. The "President" of the Congress was more like the Speaker of the House than any sort of national CEO.
As the hero of the American Revolution, George Washington was enormously popular. He essentially ran unopposed and the only real contest was over who would be chosen as vice president. Under the system that was then in place, each elector cast votes for two persons. The person who received a vote from a majority of the electors became president and the runner-up became vice president. At the time there were 69 electors, and each of them cast one vote for Washington, making him the first President of the United States.
The other votes of the electors were divided among eleven other candidates. When the votes were counted, John Adams of Massachusetts was elected vice president. It wasn't until 1804, when the Twelfth Amendment was ratified, that this procedure would change and electors would be required to cast distinct votes for president and vice president.
No political parties existed at the time of this election. Candidates were divided on regional interests, as well as on the issue of whether or not they supported the creation of a strong central government. Federalists supported the ratification of the Constitution (which created and empowered the central government), while Anti-Federalists opposed ratification. These groups were not yet established political parties. The one issue on which they were united was their support for Washington as president.
Washington's immense popularity made the question of who would be the first president a foregone conclusion. The real race was for the vice presidency. At the time there was no formal nomination process. Because Washington was from Virginia, many assumed that a vice president would be chosen from one of the northern states to balance sectional interests. In an August 1788 letter, U.S. Minister to France Thomas Jefferson wrote that he considered John Adams and John Hancock to be the top contenders.
The Constitution, in Article II, Section 1, provided that the state legislatures should decide the manner in which their Electors were chosen. Different state legislatures chose different methods. Six states held a popular vote to direct their electors who to vote for. Those states that did choose electors by popular vote had widely varying restrictions on who could vote, mostly based on property requirements. More specifically:
* Five states decided that each elector would appointed by the state legislature (Connecticut, Georgia, New Jersey, New York and South Carolina. New York did not participate in the election however due to a deadlock in the legislature)
*Massachusetts appointed two electors by the state legislature, with each remaining elector chosen by state legislature from list of top two vote-getters in each congressional district.
*In New Hampshire, each elector was chosen by a statewide vote, but the rules provided that if no candidate won a majority, the state legislature could appoint elector from top two candidates.
*In Virgina and Delaware, the state was divided into electoral districts, with one elector chosen per district by the voters of that district.
*In Maryland and Pennsylvania the electors were chosen at large by the voters.
*North Carolina and Rhode Island had not yet ratified the Constitution, so they were not eligible to choose electors.
Each elector cast one vote for Washington. The electors used their second vote to cast a scattering of votes. Alexander Hamilton was worried that Adams would tie with Washington, throwing the election to the House of Representatives, so he lobbied some of the electors to vote against Adams.
Only ten states out of the original thirteen cast electoral votes in this election. North Carolina and Rhode Island were ineligible to participate as they had not yet ratified the Constitution. New York failed to appoint its allotment of eight electors because of a deadlock in the state legislature.
Washington received 69 electoral votes. Among the other candidates, the electoral votes were as follows:
John Adams (Federalist of Massachusetts)-34
John Jay (Federalist of New York)-9
Robert H. Harrison (Federalist of Maryland)-6
John Rutledge (Federalist of South Carolina)-6
John Hancock (Federalist of Massachusetts)-4
George Clinton (Anti-Federalist of New York)-3
Samuel Huntington (Federalist of Connecticut)-2
John Milton (Federalist of Georgia)-2
James Armstrong (Federalist of Georgia)-1
Benjamin Lincoln (Federalist of Massachusetts)-1
Edward Telfair (Anti-Federalist of Georgia)-1
Washington was inaugurated as the first President of the United States on April 30, 1789.