Jump to content

1788–89 United States presidential election

From Niidae Wiki

Template:Short description Template:More citations needed Template:Use mdy dates Template:Use American EnglishTemplate:For Template:Infobox election Presidential elections were held in the United States from December 15, 1788 to January 7, 1789, under the new Constitution ratified in 1788. George Washington was unanimously elected for the first of his two terms as president and John Adams became the first vice president. This was the only U.S. presidential election that spanned two calendar years without a contingent election and the first national presidential election in American history.

Under the Articles of Confederation, which were ratified in 1781, the United States had no head of state. The executive function of government remained with the legislative similar to countries that use a parliamentary system. Federal power, strictly limited, was reserved to the Congress of the Confederation whose "President of the United States in Congress Assembled" was also chair of the Committee of the States which aimed to fulfill a function similar to that of the modern Cabinet.

The Constitution created the offices of President and Vice President, fully separating these offices from Congress. The Constitution established an Electoral College, based on each state's congressional representation, in which each elector would cast two votes for two candidates, a procedure modified in 1804 by the ratification of the Twelfth Amendment. States had varying methods for choosing presidential electors.<ref>See "Alternative methods for choosing electors" under Electoral College.</ref> In five states, the state legislature chose electors. The other six chose electors through some form involving a popular vote, though in only two states did the choice depend directly on a statewide vote.

The enormously popular Washington was distinguished as the former Commander of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. After he agreed to come out of retirement, he was elected with ease unanimously; Washington did not select a running mate as that concept was not yet developed.

No formal political parties existed, though an informally organized consistent difference of opinion had already manifested between Federalists and Anti-Federalists. Thus, the contest for the vice-presidency was open. Thomas Jefferson predicted that a popular Northern leader such as Governor John Hancock of Massachusetts or John Adams, a former minister to Great Britain who had represented Massachusetts in Congress, would be elected vice president. Anti-Federalist leaders such as Patrick Henry, who did not run, and George Clinton, who had opposed ratification of the Constitution, also represented potential choices.

All 69 electors present cast one vote for Washington, making his election unanimous. Adams won 34 electoral votes and the vice presidency. The remaining 35 electoral votes were split among 10 candidates, including John Jay, who finished third with nine electoral votes. Three states were ineligible to participate in the election: New York's legislature did not choose electors on time, and North Carolina and Rhode Island had not ratified the constitution yet. Washington was inaugurated in New York City on April 30, 1789, 57 days after the First Congress convened.

Candidates

[edit]

Template:Unreferenced section Though no organized political parties yet existed, political opinion loosely divided between those who had more stridently and enthusiastically endorsed ratification of the Constitution, called Federalists or Cosmopolitans, and Anti-Federalists or Localists who had only more reluctantly, skeptically, or conditionally supported, or who had outright opposed ratification. Both factions supported Washington for president. Limited, primitive political campaigning occurred in states and localities where swaying public opinion might matter. For example, in Maryland, a state with a statewide popular vote, unofficial parties campaigned locally, advertising.

Federalist candidates

[edit]

Anti-Federalist candidates

[edit]

General election

[edit]

No nomination process existed at the time of planning, and thus, the framers of the Constitution presumed that Washington would be elected unopposed. For example, Alexander Hamilton spoke for national opinion when in a letter to Washington attempting to persuade him to leave retirement on his farm in Mount Vernon to serve as the first president, he wrote that "...the point of light in which you stand at home and abroad will make an infinite difference in the respectability in which the government will begin its operations in the alternative of your being or not being the head of state."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Another uncertainty was the choice for the vice presidency, which contained no definite job description beyond being the president's designated successor and presiding over the Senate. The Constitution stipulated that the position would be awarded to the runner-up in the presidential election. Because Washington was from Virginia, then the largest state, many assumed that electors would choose a vice president from a northern state. In an August 1788 letter, U.S. Minister to France Thomas Jefferson wrote that he considered John Adams and John Hancock, both from Massachusetts, to be the top contenders. Jefferson suggested John Jay, John Rutledge, and Virginian James Madison as other possible candidates.<ref>Meacham 2012.</ref> Adams received 34 electoral votes, one short of a majority – because the Constitution did not require an outright majority in the Electoral College prior to ratification of the Twelfth Amendment to elect a runner-up as vice president, Adams was elected to that post.

The outgoing Congress of the Confederation announced the procedure for the election on September 13, 1788, stipulating that all electors must be chosen on the first Wednesday in January (January 7, 1789), and that the electors must assemble to cast their votes for president and vice president on the first Wednesday in February (February 4).<ref>Template:Cite book, pp. 429-430.</ref> However, the states differed in their interpretations of this procedure and of the relevant portions of the new Constitution. New Hampshire and Massachusetts held a popular vote for their presidential electors alongside the elections for their representatives in the new Congress, on December 15 and December 18, respectively. In these two states, the legislatures ultimately chose the electors based on the voting results on the appointed day, January 7. In Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, the electors were chosen directly by the popular vote on January 7. In Connecticut, Georgia, and South Carolina, the electors were appointed by the legislature alone on January 7, while in New Jersey the governor and council selected them on that day. The legislature in New York was unable to agree on a method for choosing the electors before January 7, and so the state could not appoint any electors.<ref>Stephens, Frank Fletcher. The transitional period, 1788-1789, in the government of the United States, University of Missouri Press, 1909, pp. 67-74.</ref>

Voter turnout comprised a low single-digit percentage of the adult population. Though all states allowed some rudimentary form of popular vote, only six ratifying states allowed any form of popular vote specifically for presidential electors. In most states only white men, and in many only those who owned property, could vote. Free black men could vote in four Northern states, and women could vote in New Jersey until 1804. In some states, there was a nominal religious test for voting. For example, in Massachusetts and Connecticut, the Congregational Church was established, supported by taxes. Voting was hampered by poor communications and infrastructure and the labor demands imposed by farming. Two months passed after the election before the votes were counted and Washington was notified that he had been elected president. Washington spent eight days traveling from Virginia to New York for the inauguration.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Congress took twenty-eight days to assemble.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

As the electors were selected, politics intruded, and the process was not free of rumors and intrigue. For example, Hamilton aimed to ensure that Adams did not inadvertently tie Washington in the electoral vote.<ref>Chernow, 272–273.</ref> Also, Federalists spread rumors that Anti-Federalists plotted to elect Richard Henry Lee or Patrick Henry president, with George Clinton as vice president. However, Clinton received only three electoral votes.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Results

[edit]
[edit]
Popular voteTemplate:Sup
Count Percentage
Federalist electors 24,471 87.4%
Anti-Federalist electors 3,538 12.6%
Total 28,009 100.0%

Source: United States Presidential Elections, 1788-1860: The Official Results by Michael J. Dubin<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref>

Template:Sup Only six of the 11 states eligible to cast electoral votes chose electors by any form of popular vote.
Template:Sup Less than 1.8% of the population voted: the 1790 census would count a total population of 3.0 million with a free population of 2.4 million and 600,000 slaves in those states casting electoral votes.
Template:Sup Those states that did choose electors by popular vote had widely varying restrictions on suffrage via property requirements.

Electoral vote

[edit]

File:United States Electoral College 1788-89 (1).svg

File:United States Electoral College VP 1788-89.svgTemplate:Start U.S. presidential election box Template:U.S. presidential election box row Template:U.S. presidential election box row Template:U.S. presidential election box row Template:U.S. presidential election box row Template:U.S. presidential election box row Template:U.S. presidential election box row Template:U.S. presidential election box row Template:U.S. presidential election box row Template:U.S. presidential election box row Template:U.S. presidential election box row Template:U.S. presidential election box row Template:U.S. presidential election box row Template:End U.S. presidential election box

Source: Template:National Archives EV source Source (popular vote): A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns 1787–1825<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Template:Sup Only 6 of the 10 states casting electoral votes chose electors by any form of the popular vote.
Template:Sup Less than 1.8% of the population voted: the 1790 census would count a total population of 3.0 million with a free population of 2.4 million and 600,000 slaves in those states casting electoral votes.
Template:Sup Those states that did choose electors by popular vote had widely varying restrictions on suffrage via property requirements.
Template:Sup As the New York legislature failed to appoint its allotted eight electors in time, there were no voting electors from New York.
Template:Sup Two electors from Maryland did not vote.
Template:Sup One elector from Virginia did not vote and another elector from Virginia was not chosen because an election district failed to submit returns.
Template:Sup The identity of this candidate comes from The Documentary History of the First Federal Elections (Gordon DenBoer (ed.), University of Wisconsin Press, 1984, p. 441). Several respected sources, including the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress and the Political Graveyard, show this individual to be James Armstrong of Pennsylvania. However, primary sources, such as the Senate Journal, list only Armstrong's name, not his state. Skeptics observe that Armstrong received his single vote from a Georgia elector. They find this improbable because Armstrong of Pennsylvania was not nationally famous—his public service to that date consisted of being a medical officer during the American Revolution and, at most, a single year as a Pennsylvania judge.

Template:Bar box Template:Bar box

Results by state

[edit]
[edit]

Elections in this period were vastly different from modern day presidential elections. The actual presidential candidates were rarely mentioned on tickets and voters were voting for particular electors who were pledged to a particular candidate. There was sometimes confusion as to who the particular elector was actually pledged to. Results are reported as the highest result for an elector for any given faction. For example, if three federalist electors received 100, 50, and 25 votes, federalist electors would be recorded as having 100 votes. Confusion surrounding the way results are reported may lead to discrepancies between the sum of all state results and national results.

In Maryland, the state was effectively split into two districts: the western shore and the eastern shore. Five electors were chosen from the western shore and three from the eastern shore. All electors, however, were elected at-large by all Maryland voters.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In Delaware, no candidate received the majority of votes, throwing the election to the legislature, who chose the five best-performing elector candidates.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Virginian electors John Pride and Patrick Henry had previously voted against ratification of the Constitution.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> John Roane was one of three Clinton Electors.<ref name=":0" />Template:Rp

The vote totals of Virginia and Delaware appear to be incomplete. In several states candidates of unknown affiliation received votes.

George Washington
Federalist electors 		George Washington
Anti-Federalist electors 		Margin Not cast Citation
State Electoral
votes 		# % Electoral
votes 		# % Electoral
votes 		# %
Connecticut 7 No popular vote 7 No popular vote - - - -
Delaware 3 522 100.00 3 No ballots - 522 100.00 - <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Georgia 5 No popular vote 5 No popular vote - - - -
Maryland 6 (8) 7,665 77.09 6 2,278 22.91 - 5,387 54.18 2 <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Massachusetts 10 4,477 97.14 10 132 2.86 - 4345 94.28 - <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
New Hampshire 5 1,759 100.00 5 No ballots - 1,759 100.00 - <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
New Jersey 6 No popular vote 6 No popular vote - - - -
New York 0 (8) Legislature did not choose electors on time - - -
North Carolina 0 (7) Had not yet ratified Constitution - - -
Pennsylvania 10 6,711 90.90 10 672 9.10 - 6,039 81.80 - <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Rhode Island 0 (3) Had not yet ratified Constitution - - -
South Carolina 7 No popular vote 7 No popular vote - - - -
Virginia 10 (12) 3,337 87.98 7 456 12.02 3 2,881 75.96 2 <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
TOTALS: 69 (91) 24,471 87.37 69 3,538 12.63 0 19,459 64.78 4
TO WIN: 35 (46)

Electoral vote

[edit]

Sixty-nine electors voted out of a possible 91: Two electors from Maryland and two from Virginia did not vote, the New York State Legislature was deadlocked and the state's 8 electors were not appointed (see below), and North Carolina and Rhode Island with 7 and 3 electoral votes respectively had not yet ratified the Constitution. As per the terms of the unamended constitution, each elector was permitted two votes for president, with a majority of "the whole number of electors appointed" necessary to elect a president. Of the 69 participating electors, each cast one vote for Washington, who was elected president. Of the remaining candidates, only Adams, Jay, and Hancock received votes from more than one state; with 34 votes, Adams finished second behind only Washington, and by virtue of which fact was elected vice president.

State Electors Electoral
votes 		Template:Abbrlink Template:Abbrlink Template:Abbrlink Template:Abbrlink Template:Abbrlink Template:Abbrlink Template:Abbrlink Template:Abbrlink Template:Abbrlink Template:Abbrlink Template:Abbrlink Template:Abbrlink Blank
Connecticut 7 14 7 5 — — — — — 2 — — — — —
Delaware 3 6 3 — 3 — — — — — — — — — —
Georgia 5 10 5 — — — — — — — 2 1 1 1 —
Maryland 8 16 6 — — 6 — — — — — — — — 4
Massachusetts 10 20 10 10 — — — — — — — — — — —
New Hampshire 5 10 5 5 — — — — — — — — — — —
New Jersey 6 12 6 1 5 — — — — — — — — — —
New York 8 16 — — — — — — — — — — — — 16
Pennsylvania 10 20 10 8 — — — 2 — — — — — — —
South Carolina 7 14 7 — — — 6 1 — — — — — — —
Virginia 12 24 10 5 1 — — 1 3 — — — — — 4
TOTAL 81 162 69 34 9 6 6 4 3 2 2 1 1 1 24
TO WIN 37 37

Source: Template:Cite web

Failure of New York to appoint electors

[edit]

Control of the bicameral New York State Legislature was divided following ratification of the federal constitution, and lawmakers could not reach an agreement to appoint electors for the forthcoming presidential contest. Federalists, backed by the great landed families and the city commercial interests, were the largest faction in the Senate, the smaller of the two chambers for which roughly a quarter of the state's free white male population was eligible to vote; but in the House of Representatives, with its larger membership and electorate, Anti-federalists representing the middling interests held the majority. The fight to ratify the United States Constitution was still fresh in the memories of the legislators, and the Anti-Federalists were resentful for having been forced by events to accept the constitution without amendments. Bills to govern the selection of electors were proposed in each house and rejected by the other, leading to an impasse. The deadlock still stood on January 7, 1789, the last day for electors to be chosen by the states, and New York thus failed to appoint the eight electors allocated to it by the constitution.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Maps

[edit]


Electoral college selection

[edit]

The Constitution, in Article II, Section 1, provided that the state legislatures should decide the manner in which their Electors were chosen. State legislatures chose different methods:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Template:Start electoral college selection Template:Electoral college selection row Template:Electoral college selection row Template:Electoral college selection row Template:Electoral college selection row Template:Electoral college selection row Template:Electoral college selection row Template:End electoral college selection

Template:Sup New York's legislature did not choose electors on time.
Template:Sup One electoral district failed to choose an elector.

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]

Template:Notelist Template:NoteFoot

References

[edit]

Template:Reflist

Bibliography

[edit]

Template:Refbegin

  • Bowling, Kenneth R., and Donald R. Kennon. "A New Matrix for National Politics." Inventing Congress: Origins and Establishment of the First Federal Congress. Athens, O.: United States Capitol Historical Society by Ohio U, 1999. 110–37. Print.
  • Chernow, Ron (2004). "Alexander Hamilton". London, UK: Penguin Books. Template:ISBN.
  • Collier, Christopher. "Voting and American Democracy." The American People as Christian White Men of Property:Suffrage and Elections in Colonial and Early National America. N.p.: U of Connecticut, n.d, 1999.
  • Template:Cite book
  • Dinkin, Robert J. Voting in Revolutionary America: A Study of Elections in the Original Thirteen States, 1776–1789. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1982.
  • Template:Cite book
  • Template:Cite book
  • Template:Cite book
  • Novotny, Patrick. The Parties in American Politics, 1789–2016.
  • Paullin, Charles O. "The First Elections Under The Constitution." The Iowa Journal of History and Politics 2 (1904): 3-33. Web. February 20, 2017.
  • Shade, William G., and Ballard C. Campbell. "The Election of 1788-89." American Presidential Campaigns and Elections. Ed. Craig R. Coenen. Vol. 1. Armonk, NY: Sharpe Reference, 2003. 65–77. Print.

Template:Refend

[edit]

Template:Commons category

Template:George Washington Template:John Adams Template:USPresidentialElectionsTemplate:Authority control Template:1788 United States elections Template:State results of the 1788–89 U.S. presidential election

Retrieved from "https://wiki.niidae.com/index.php?title=1788–89_United_States_presidential_election&oldid=32624"