A different type of vote
The first U.S. presidential election occurred 235 years ago, in 1789. It was a small election (about 28,000 voters) without attack ads, noisy political conventions, assassination attempts and vice presidents taking over the campaign a few months before voters decide.
Could you have voted for George Washington?
In 1789 only White men who owned property had the right to vote. Thirteen years after the American Revolution began in 1776, the nation had its first presidential election. Washington won in a landslide without having to campaign. After serving as commander of the Continental Army and president of the Constitutional Convention, Washington was a national hero.
The real race
Unlike today, when a candidate nominated to run for president by their political party can select a vice presidential running mate, the vice president was determined by who came in second in the electoral vote. Between Dec. 15, 1788, and Jan. 10, 1789, states held elections and chose presidential electors, who according to the Constitution at the time had two votes. The Electoral College convened Feb. 4, 1789, and the election results were determined. Washington took the presidential oath of office April 30 at Federal Hall in New York City, the first U.S. capital.
The first candidates
John Adams finished second with 34 electoral votes in 1789 and became the first vice president of the nation.
There were no Republicans or Democrats, only Federalists who favored the Constitution, Anti-Federalists who opposed it and Washington, who ran as an independent. Washington presided over the Constitutional Convention, which devised the federal government.
North Carolina and Rhode Island had not ratified the Constitution and did not participate; New York did not choose electors due to an internal dispute.
Washington received all 69 electoral votes. No other president has come into office with a universal mandate to lead.
There are 54 electoral votes in California in 2024, the most of any state.
Washington was both a national hero and the favorite son of Virginia, the largest state at the time. Washington ascended to the presidency with the practical leadership experience of his Continental Army and Constitutional Convention roles.
The inauguration for this year’s election will be in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, but Washington was sworn in during the spring. On April 30, 1789, Washington took the presidential oath of office. The chancellor of the state of New York, Robert Livingston, administered the oath to the first chief executive and exclaimed, “Long live George Washington, president of the United States!”
The 12th Amendment to the Constitution (ratified in 1804) mandated that presidents and vice presidents be elected together. Thomas Jefferson was the first president to be inaugurated in Washington, D.C. Jefferson simply walked to the Capitol for the oath-taking and returned to his boardinghouse afterward for dinner. After his second inauguration, he rode on horseback from the Capitol to the White House amid music and a spontaneous gathering of workers from the nearby Navy Yard – a procession that grew into today’s Inaugural Parade.
Sources: National Archives, Mountvernon.org, Virginia Museum of History and Culture, electproject.org, Vital Statistics of American Politics
