> United States > U.S. Executive > Popular Vote
|Type|| General Election|
|Filing Deadline|| 00, 1788 - 12:00pm Central|
|Polls Open|| December 08, 1788 - 06:00am Central|
|Polls Close|| January 10, 1789 - 08:00pm Central|
|Term Start|| March 04, 1789 - 12:00pm|
|Term End|| March 04, 1793 - 12:00pm|
|Last Modified||TX DEM December 24, 2008 07:05pm|
|Data Sources||Dubin, pp. 2-3; First Federal Elections 2:83; Jerrold G. Rusk, A Statistical History of the American Electorate (DC: CQ Press, 2001), p. 171. Washington's vote is comprised of 35,866 votes for Federalist Electors and 2,952 votes for Anti-Federalist Electors. |
An excellent summary of the election is found in Richard McCormick, The Presidential Game (NYC: Oxford UP, 1982), pp. 27-40.
|Creation of the office of President
The head of the executive branch of the government was created during the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Gen. George Washington's even-handed presiding over the proceedings impressed the delegates, and many historians feel that the position of "president" was tailor-made for him.
New Hampshire notified the Continental Congress on 7/2/1788 that it had ratified the Constitution. It being the ninth state to do so, the Congress began a discussion of the creation of the new government. The major issue for the delegates was where the new government would assemble. They finally agreed on New York City, and on 9/13/1788 they approved a timeline for the installation of the new government. States were allowed to elect their U.S. Senate and U.S. House members whenever they desired. Presidential electors would be chosen on 1/7/1789, with each state granted freedom to legislate its own means of the selection of Electors. The Electors would meet on 2/4/1789 to cast the electoral votes in each state and forward a statement of their vote to the new Congress to be opened at its initial session on 3/4/1789.
Each state was required to pass its own act for carrying out the new voting. The only state legislature in session when the Continental Congress act was passed was PA, and it was about to depart for the winter. The legislators approved an act for the selection of the U.S