United States presidential election, 1788–89
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69 electoral votes of the Electoral College 35 electoral votes needed to win |
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Presidential election results map. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state. (Note: North Carolina and Rhode Island had not yet ratified the Constitution, the New York legislature was deadlocked, and Vermont was operating as a de facto unrecognized state.)
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None (Office created by the U.S. Constitution)
The United States presidential election of 1788–89 was the first quadrennial presidential election. It was held from Monday, December 15, 1788, to Saturday, January 10, 1789. It was conducted under the new United States Constitution, which had been ratified earlier in 1788. In the election, George Washington was unanimously elected for the first of his two terms as president, and John Adams became the first vice president.
Under the first federal constitution, the Articles of Confederation ratified in 1781, the United States had no ceremonial head of state and the executive was part of the Congress, as it is in countries that use parliamentary systems of government. All federal power was reserved to the Congress of the Confederation, whose "President of the United States in Congress Assembled" was also chair of the de facto cabinet, called the Committee of the States. It was not until the United States Constitution was enacted that separate and co-equal legislative, executive and judicial branches of government were created.
George Washington was enormously popular and his agreement to serve as the first President of the United States ensured that he was listed first when the electors cast their votes on the appointed day. The only real question was the person who the electors would list as their second choice, which was the person who would be named vice president. Originally under the Article Two of the United States Constitution, each state chose a number of electors equal to its representation in Congress. Each elector then cast two votes for President, at least one of the candidates being from a state other than the one represented by the elector. All 69 electors cast one vote for Washington, so that he received 69 of 69 possible votes, thus making his election unanimous. Eleven candidates received the electors' second votes, of which John Adams received the most votes. As the person who received the second largest number of votes overall, he was elected vice president. This procedure was changed by the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1804, under which the electors now cast separate ballots for president and vice president.
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