who ran against george washington in the first election
Washington was re-elected unanimously, receiving one vote from each of the 132 participating electors. Learn more abouthow George Washington shaped the role and function of the President of the United States. The two men nearly crashed into the Channel along the way, however, as their balloon was weighed read more. There were 12 names on the ballot which is a lot by current standards where we are used to our two-party system and maybe some independents. Your email address will not be published. Washington was inaugurated in New York City on April 30, 1789, 57 days after the First Congress convened. A great crowd broke into cheers as Washington, standing on the balcony of Federal Hall, took the oath administered by Chancellor Robert Livingston and retired indoors to read to Congress his inaugural address. pp. READ MORE: Every U.S. Presidential Election Since 1789. The remainder of the votes were divided among 10 other candidates. Voting in Revolutionary America: A Study of Elections in the Original Thirteen States, 17761789. Clinton, the Governor of New York and a former anti-Federalist leader, became the party's nominee after he won the backing of Jefferson and James Madison. The executive function of government remained with the legislative similar to countries that use a parliamentary system. On the other hand, Washington could not escape his conscience. (g) The identity of this candidate comes from The Documentary History of the First Federal Elections (Gordon DenBoer (ed. Between the Revolutionary War and Constitutional Convention, Washington secured his position as a trusted leader. The American People as Christian White Men of Property:Suffrage and Elections in Colonial and Early National America. 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. As instructed in Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution, Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist was sworn in to preside, read more, Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries travel from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in a gas balloon, becoming the first to cross the English Channel by air. Several other candidates sought the nomination, including Speaker of the House John Nance Garner of Texas (who found support in the west) and the party's 1928 candidate, Alfred Smith (who ran strong in the urban northeast). (Two electors from Maryland and two from Virginia neglected to vote; the New York State Legislature was deadlocked and no electors were appointed from that state.) This is also how John Adams ended up as our first vice president. John Adams, who would later become President Adams, was the clear runner-up in this race, with 34 of the 64 electors casting their second vote for him. Congress sets January 7, 1789 as the date by which states are required to choose electors for the country's first-ever presidential election. In this election, George Washington was elected for the first of his two terms as President of the United States, and John Adams became . document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription. The Washington Library is open to all researchers and scholars, by appointment only. Join the thousands of fellow patriots who rely on our 5-minute newsletter to stay informed on the key events and trends that shaped our nation's past and continue to shape its present. This article was most recently revised and updated by, United States presidential election of 1789. National Archives and Records Administration. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1987. OnMay 16 1789, Mrs. Washington and her grandchildren, Nelly and Washy, embarked on an 11-day journey through Baltimore, Philadelphia, and more. 1st quadrennial U.S. presidential election, 17881789 United States presidential election, New York had ratified the Constitution but its, See "Alternative methods for choosing electors" under, "17881789 United States presidential election", Learn how and when to remove this template message, National Archives and Records Administration, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, "The Electoral College Count for the Presidential Election of 1789", 178889 United States House of Representatives elections, "National General Election VEP Turnout Rates, 1789-Present", "A Saturday Session in the First Congress | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives", "The Electoral Count for the Presidential Election of 1789", United States presidential election, 1789, Presidential Election of 1789: A Resource Guide, A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns, 17871825, "A Historical Analysis of the Electoral College", Initiated, co-wrote, 1769 Virginia Association, 178889 United States presidential election, Longfellow HouseWashington's Headquarters National Historic Site, George Washington and the Revolutionary War Door, General George Washington Resigning His Commission, Washington and Jefferson National Forests, WashingtonRochambeau Revolutionary Route, Chairman of the Marine Committee, 1775-1779, United States presidential election 17881789, Massachusetts Historical Society holdings, A Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, Family home and John Quincy Adams birthplace, Co-founder and second president, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence, Letters of Mrs. Adams, the Wife of John Adams, elections in which the winner lost the popular vote, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=17881789_United_States_presidential_election&oldid=1141583738, Articles needing additional references from April 2017, All articles needing additional references, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Pages using bar box without float left or float right, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, each elector chosen by voters statewide; however, if no candidate wins majority, state legislature appoints electors from top ten candidates, state divided into electoral districts, with one elector chosen per district by the voters of that district, state had not yet ratified the Constitution, two electors appointed by state legislature, each remaining elector chosen by state legislature from the two most popular candidates in each U.S. House district. A young but able soldier, he was inexplicably slow; and at times his hesitation allowed Washington's army to escape certain destruction. The states chose 135 electors, out of whom 132 cast ballots. No nomination process existed at the time of planning, and thus, the framers of the Constitution presumed that Washington would be elected unopposed. He was arguably more influential on the world stage than Washington, having played an important role in the Continental Congress and the Treaty of Paris. George Washington, as the first president, was well aware of the great responsibility of defining the American presidency. Have Any U.S. Presidents Decided Not to Run For a Second Term? People were so concerned about a President who would try to take too much power, that anyone who tried to obtain the job would not be considered. Members of the U.S. Congress, though, cant be electors. Donald Trump. Retrieved July 30, 2005. Under this system, each elector cast two votes: the candidate who received the greatest number of votes (so long as they won a majority) became president, while the runner-up became vice president. All Rights Reserved. Spend the day with us! It was the first contested American presidential election . Ron DeSantis on Tuesday will release his book, "The Courage to be Free," to much anticipation ahead of his expected plunge into the 2024 presidential race. Adams received 77 votes as Washington's running mate on the Federalist ticket to 50 for Democratic-Republican George Clinton, 4 for Thomas Jefferson, and 1 for Aaron Burr. The Twelfth Amendment would eventually replace this system, requiring electors to cast one vote for president and one vote for vice president, but this change did not take effect until 1804. Sixty-nine electors voted out of a possible 91. Need help with homework? Greenstein, Fred I. Federalists attacked Clinton for his past association with the anti-Federalists. Donald Trump said he could beat George Washington in an election, even with Abraham Lincoln as running mate. Adams won 34 electoral votes and the vice presidency. Suffering from diminished physical abilities, Pres. Washington believed that the precedents he set must make the presidency powerful enough to function effectively in the national government, but at the same time these practices could not show any tendency toward monarchy or dictatorship. The Washington Library is open to all researchers and scholars, by appointment only. The successful execution of a second democratic election in the United States helped legitimize the institution of the American presidency. There was no precedent for this office in a world full of kings, leaving Washington the monumental task of figuring out how to act like a president. He received the congressional notification about his win on April 16th before taking part in the first-ever inauguration on April 30th. (c) Those states that did choose electors by popular vote had widely varying restrictions on suffrage via property requirements. (a) Only 6 of the 10 states casting electoral votes chose electors by any form of the popular vote. But it's not the first time . Considered the best artist in the city, he was the obvious choice for Washington's first presidential portrait. Although electors arent constitutionally mandated to vote for the winner of the popular vote in their state, it is demanded by tradition and required by law in 26 states and the District of Columbia (in some states, violating this rule is punishable by $1,000 fine). 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. Free black men could vote in four Northern states, and women could vote in New Jersey until 1776. As the first, Washington had to create the American presidency from scratch. As with the previous presidential election, each elector voted for two candidates. Athens, O.: United States Capitol Historical Society by Ohio U, 1999. The first presidential election was held on the first Wednesday of January in 1789. Her father found a note on the floor asking for a $20,000 ransom. Washington was elected unanimously, receiving one vote from every elector. On Feb. 4, 1789, electors convened in 10 states to cast their ballots. February 20, 2017. By 1792, a party division had emerged between Federalists led by Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, who desired a stronger federal government with a leading role in the economy, and the Democratic-Republicans led by Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and Representative James Madison of Virginia, who favored states' rights and opposed Hamilton's economic program. "The Election of 1788-89." Discover what made Washington "first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen". He presided over the Constitutional Convention and encouraged some unsure about the new Constitution to, There Were 12 Candidates on the Final Ballot, John Adams Was a Worthy and Popular Opponent, He was arguably more influential on the world stage than Washington, having played an important role in the Continental Congress and the, Other Well-Known Figures Didnt Do As Well, From there, the rest of the field received very few votes each. Who ran against George Washington for the role of president? On the evening of January 7, 1955, the curtain at the Metropolitan Opera in New York rises to reveal Marian Anderson, the first African American to perform with the Met. [2] In five states, the state legislature chose electors. He loved his life living on a large plantation on the Potomac River in Virginia. 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. Mount Vernon is owned and maintained by the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union, a private, non-profit organization. The result is interesting, considering Clintons poor showing in the first presidential election. The other candidates receiving electoral votes were George Clinton who received fifty votes, Thomas Jefferson won four votes, and Aaron Burr won one vote. Under the Articles of Confederation, which were ratified in 1781, the United States had no head of state. However, some advisers and fellow statesmen argued that the volatile political climatemarked not only by the ongoing conflict between Great Britain and France but also by a growing internal dispute between Federalists and Anti-Federalists that often divided along regional linesdemanded a president who could reliably maintain the young countrys stability. 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. In most states, the congressional elections were recognized in some sense as a "struggle between the Treasury department and the republican interest," to use the words of Jefferson strategist John Beckley. The disaster, the worst mining catastrophe in Oklahomas history, was mainly due to the mine owners emphasis on profits over safety. The inaugural ceremony was performed on Wall Street, near the spot now marked by John Quincy Adams Wards statue of Washington. He took 50 votes against Adams 77. This election was the first in which each of the original 13 states appointed electors, as did the newly added states of Kentucky and Vermont. But the divide apparent in the 1792 vice presidential race was a preview of the coming 1796 election. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. *Electors were chosen by legislatures in many states, not by popular vote. 3 (September 2006): 373-390. The other candidates receiving electoral votes were George Clinton who received fifty votes, Thomas Jefferson won four votes, and Aaron Burr won one vote. 1. George Washington had wished to retire at the end of his first term in office. Bowling, Kenneth R., and Donald R. Kennon. Source: "The Electoral College Count for the Presidential Election of 1789". Several respected sources, including the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress and the Political Graveyard, instead show this individual to be James Armstrong of Pennsylvania. Of those 12, the man with the highest number of votes would gain the top job, and the runner-up would take the role of vice president. Mount Vernon is owned and maintained by the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union, a private, non-profit organization. However, officially, there were three names on the ballot, with the other two deemed presidential candidates on a technicality. John Hancock did even worse. The 1796 United States presidential election was the third quadrennial presidential election of the United States. The president and vice president are the only elected federal officials chosen by the Electoral College instead of by direct popular vote. The Khmer Rouge, organized by Pol Pot in the Cambodian jungle in the 1960s, advocated a radical Communist revolution that would wipe out read more, You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen because of the 1823 poem A Visit From St. Nicholas (aka Twas the Night Before Christmas), but your knowledge of Rudolphthe most famous reindeer of allcomes courtesy of a department store copywriter named Robert L. May, Mays read more, On January 7, 1999, the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton, formally charged with lying under oath and obstructing justice, begins in the Senate. James Madison later called the rambling first draft a "strange production". Our Digital Encyclopedia has all of the answers students and teachers need. Asking for a Second democratic election in the hearts of his first Term in office he the... Capitol Historical Society by Ohio U, 1999 the third quadrennial presidential.! The floor asking for a $ 20,000 ransom ) only 6 of the president of answers... 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Abouthow George Washington in an election, each elector voted for two candidates taking part in the first,! The previous presidential election of 1789 votes and the vice presidency after the first Wednesday of January in.... Which States are required to choose electors for the country 's first-ever presidential election was on! Via Property requirements in 1781, the state legislature chose electors 10 States to their... Weighed read more New Jersey until 1776 to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you any... Vote from each of the votes were divided among 10 other candidates artist in the of... Wards statue of Washington the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions bowling Kenneth. Street, near the spot now marked by John Quincy Adams Wards statue of Washington along way... Country 's first-ever presidential election was the obvious choice for Washington 's first presidential was.