United States presidential election, 1788–1789
The presidential election in the United States from 1789 was the first presidential election in the United States and the only one that took place in an odd year. The election took place following the ratification of the U.S. Constitution in 1788 instead. Polling stations opened on December 15 in 1788 and closed on 10 January 1789. George Washington was first elected president and John Adams was the first Vice President of the United States.
Prior to this election, the United States had no head of state in the proper sense. Prior to this, the government of the constitutional convention together, the board an official, and some executive departments, but there was no independent operating executive.
In this election, the enormously popular Washington stepped to quasi without serious opposition candidate. The only really interesting was the decision of the Vice President. According to Article 2 of the U.S. Constitution then gave each elector two votes from; once a candidate had achieved a majority of the votes cast, he was elected president, the runner-up became vice president. All 69 electors from each gave a voice to Washington, the second votes were distributed among eleven candidates; John Adams got most of them, and thus became vice president. The 12th Amendment to the Constitution of 1804 changed this process, so that each elector could only ever cast a vote for President and Vice President.
Candidates
George Clinton
John Hancock
Samuel Huntington
George Washington
- John Adams, a former ambassador to Great Britain, from Massachusetts
- James Armstrong, politicians from Georgia
- George Clinton, Governor of New York
- Robert Hanson Harrison, Judge of Maryland
- John Hancock, Governor of Massachusetts and former President of the Continental Congress
- Samuel Huntington, Governor of Connecticut
- John Jay, U.S. Secretary of State, from New York
- Benjamin Lincoln, Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts
- John Milton, Secretary of State of Georgia
- John Rutledge, former Governor of South Carolina
- Edward Telfair, former Governor of Georgia
- George Washington, a retired commander of the U.S. Army, Virginia
The choice
Since it 's formation meetings ( the so-called Convention ) did not exist at that time, there was also no formal nomination process. The heads, who wrote the Constitution, went assume that Washington would be the first president, and after he returned from retirement and had accepted his candidature, there was no opposition candidates to him. He was consequently elected unanimously.
Only 10 of the then 13 states participated in this election. North Carolina and Rhode Iceland had not yet ratified the Constitution and therefore could not participate. The state of New York did not have his eight electors determined, as the Parliament of the State agreed not to an electoral procedure or to candidates.
George Washington received 69 electoral votes and currently the only president to have won a round without a voice ( in the election in 1792 gave two electors from Maryland and one from Virginia their voices not expire. ). As Vice President John Adams was elected. Some electors gave, even though they wanted Adams as Vice President, their second vote to another candidate because they wanted to avoid ties between Washington and Adams.