U.S. Presidential Election 1789

The 1789 U.S. Presidential Election was the first presidential election in the United States of America. The historic election saw the emergence of George Washington as the first President of the United States, who was the only president to ever win unanimously. Washington was not a member of any political party when he was elected, and effectively ran unopposed. His vice president was John Adams, who won the second highest number of electoral votes.

Prior to the ratification of the Twelfth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1804, each elector was able to cast two votes for two different presidential candidates. The candidate that received the highest number of votes, provided that number was at least half of the total number of electors, became president. The runner up would become the vice president. This model required that the winning candidate have a substantial amount of public support, and also encouraged compromise between opponents, since they would have to work together.

The 1789 presidential election was unusual in that the founding fathers and framers of the Constitution were all in agreement that George Washington should be the first president, and the vote was mostly a formality. As the first presidential election, the nomination process for presidential candidates was much less complex and less formal than today's primary process. George Washington had demonstrated his leadership abilities as commander in chief of the Continental Army and later as the president of the Constitutional Convention. He was unanimously promoted to both of these roles as well. Once Washington decided to come out of retirement to run for president, he had the support of all the others.

The choice of John Adams as the vice president was also unanimous, although the electors decided to split the votes, to stop Adams from ending up with a number of votes that would tie Washington. Alexander Hamilton devised this scheme that would ensure Washington's win. Electoral votes were given to a total of twelve contenders for the presidency of the United States. The other candidates - John Jay, Robert Harrison, John Rutledge, John Hancock, George Clinton, Samuel Huntington, John Milton, James Armstrong, Edward Telfair, and Benjamin Lincoln - each received at least one electoral vote.

Only ten of the original thirteen states participated as voters in the 1789 presidential election. Rhode Island and North Carolina were not allowed to cast their votes, because they had not yet ratified the Constitution. New York legislature failed to submit its electoral votes on time, due to internal disagreement, and was barred from participating in the election. Vermont was, at the time, an unrecognized state. Every elector cast one vote for George Washington, and their second vote was given to another candidate according to the plan. George Washington won with sixty-nine electoral votes, and John Adams came in second place to win the vice presidential seat with thirty-four votes. George Washington won 100 percent of the popular vote.

The electoral votes were divided as follows:

Presidential Candidate George Washington John Adams John Jay Robert Harrison John Rutledge John Hancock George Clinton Samuel Huntington John Milton James Armstrong Edward Telfair Benjamin Lincoln

Home State Virginia Massachusetts New York Maryland South Carolina Massachusetts New York Connecticut Georgia Pennsylvania Georgia Massachusetts

Electoral Votes 69 34 9 6 6 4 3 2 2 1 1 1

US Presidential Elections History

2012 US Presidential Election	1936 US Presidential Election	1860 US Presidential Election
2008 US Presidential Election	1932 US Presidential Election	1856 US Presidential Election
2004 US Presidential Election	1928 US Presidential Election	1852 US Presidential Election
2000 US Presidential Election	1924 US Presidential Election	1848 US Presidential Election
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1992 US Presidential Election	1916 US Presidential Election	1840 US Presidential Election
1988 US Presidential Election	1912 US Presidential Election	1836 US Presidential Election
1984 US Presidential Election	1908 US Presidential Election	1832 US Presidential Election
1980 US Presidential Election	1904 US Presidential Election	1828 US Presidential Election
1976 US Presidential Election	1900 US Presidential Election	1824 US Presidential Election
1972 US Presidential Election	1896 US Presidential Election	1820 US Presidential Election
1968 US Presidential Election	1892 US Presidential Election	1816 US Presidential Election
1964 US Presidential Election	1888 US Presidential Election	1812 US Presidential Election
1960 US Presidential Election	1884 US Presidential Election	1808 US Presidential Election
1956 US Presidential Election	1880 US Presidential Election	1804 US Presidential Election
1952 US Presidential Election	1876 US Presidential Election	1800 US Presidential Election
1948 US Presidential Election	1872 US Presidential Election	1796 US Presidential Election
1944 US Presidential Election	1868 US Presidential Election	1792 US Presidential Election
1940 US Presidential Election	1864 US Presidential Election	1789 US Presidential Election