Here’s how the first presidential election of 2024 was different – Daily News

A different kind of vote

The first US presidential election took place 235 years ago, in 1789. It was a small election (about 28,000 voters) with no attack ads, noisy political conventions, assassinations, and vice presidents taking over the campaign a few months before voters decided.

Could you have voted for George Washington?

In 1789, only white men who owned property had the right to vote. Thirteen years after the start of the American Revolution in 1776, the nation held 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, where a candidate nominated by his or her political party for the presidential nomination can choose a vice presidential candidate, the vice president was chosen by who came second in the election. Between December 15, 1788 and January 10, 1789, states held elections and elected presidential electors, who, according to the constitution at the time, had two votes. The Electoral College met on February 4, 1789 and the election results were determined. Washington took the presidential oath of office on April 30 at Federal Hall in New York City, the first U.S. capital.

The first candidates

John Adams came second in 1789 with 34 electoral votes and became the nation’s first vice president.

There were no Republicans or Democrats, just Federalists who supported the Constitution, Anti-Federalists who opposed it, and Washington who ran as an Independent. Washington presided over the Constitutional Convention that formed the federal government.

North Carolina and Rhode Island had not ratified the Constitution and did not participate; Due to an internal dispute, New York did not elect electors.

Washington received all 69 electoral votes. No other president has come into office with a universal leadership mandate.

In 2024, there are 54 electoral votes in California, more than any state.

Washington was both a national hero and the favorite son of Virginia, the largest state at the time. Washington rose to the presidency with the practical leadership experience of his roles in the Continental Army and the Constitutional Convention.

The inauguration for this year’s election will take place on January 20th in Washington, DC, but Washington was sworn in in the spring. On April 30, 1789, Washington took the presidential oath of office. New York State Chancellor Robert Livingston administered the oath to the first head of government and proclaimed, “Long live George Washington, President of the United States!”

The 12th Amendment (ratified in 1804) required that presidents and vice presidents be elected jointly. Thomas Jefferson was the first president to be sworn in in Washington, DC. Jefferson simply went to the Capitol to take the oath and then returned to his boarding house for dinner. After his second inauguration, he rode on horseback from the Capitol to the White House, accompanied by music and an impromptu gathering of workers from the nearby Navy Yard – a procession that evolved into today’s inaugural parade.

Sources: National Archives, Mountvernon.org, Virginia Museum of History and Culture, electproject.org, Vital Statistics of American Politics