United States presidential election, 1789
Nominee
George Washington
John Adams
(became VP)
Home state
Virginia
Massachusetts

The United States presidential election of 1789 was the first presidential election in the United States of America. Elections held in this manner were described by Article II, Sec. 1, Clause 3 of the newly established Constitution. Before this time, the United States had no Presidential office but instead invested limited power in the unelected office of President of the United States in Congress Assembled under the Articles of Confederation. This position was the chair of the United States Congress and can be best compared to the current position of the Speaker of the House or the President of the Senate.

For all intents and purposes, George Washington ran unopposed for election as President. Under the system then in place, each voting elector cast two votes, and the recipient of the greatest number of votes was elected President, providing they equaled or exceeded half the total number of electors. The runner-up became Vice President. At that time, the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution had not been passed and thus the electoral system for that era differs from most elections. Washington was now very popular, as he successfully presided over the Philadelphia Convention and made the US, which was weakened by the Articles of Confederation, much stronger through the new US Constitution.

The recipient of 34 electoral votes, John Adams of Massachusetts, finished second in voting and as such was elected Vice President of the United States.
The Candidates
Adams, former Minister to Great Britain from Massachusetts
James Armstrong, politician from Georgia
George Clinton, Governor of New York
Robert H. Harrison, judge from Maryland
John Hancock, Governor of Massachusetts and former President of Congress Samuel Huntington, Governor of Connecticut
John Jay, Secretary of Foreign Affairs from New York
Benjamin Lincoln, Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts
John Milton, Secretary of State of Georgia
John Rutledge, former Governor of South Carolina
Edward Telfair, former governor of Georgia
George Washington, retired Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army from Virginia

General election
In the absence of conventions, there was no formal nomination process. The framers of the Constitution had presumed that Washington would be the first President, and once he agreed to come out of retirement to accept the office, there was no opposition to him. Individual states chose their electors, who voted all together for Washington when they met.

Electors used their second vote to cast a scattering of votes, many voting for someone besides Adams (a carefully organized scheme originating in New York) less out of opposition to him than to prevent Adams from matching Washington's total.[citation needed}

Only ten states out of the original thirteen cast electoral votes in this election. North Carolina and Rhode Island were ineligible to participate as they had not yet ratified the United States Constitution. New York failed to appoint its allotment of eight electors because of a deadlock in the state legislature.

Results
Popular vote
Slate
Popular Vote(a), (b), (c)
Count
Percentage
Federalist electors
35,866
92.4%
Anti-Federalist electors
2,952
7.6%
Total
38,818
100.0%
(a) Only 6 of the 10 states casting electoral votes chose electors by any form of popular vote.(b) Less than 1.3% of the population voted: the 1790 Census would count a total population of 3.0 million with a free population of 2.4 million and 600,000 slaves in those states casting electoral votes in this election.(c) Those states that did choose electors by popular vote had widely varying restrictions on suffrage via property requirements.

Electoral vote
Presidential Candidate
Party
Home State
Popular Vote(a), (b), (c)
Electoral Vote(d), (e), (f)
Count
Percentage
George Washington
(None)
Virginia
38,818
100.0%
69
John Adams
(Federalist)
Massachusetts
34
John Jay
(Federalist)
New York
9
Robert H. Harrison
(Federalist)
Maryland
6
John Rutledge
(Federalist)
South Carolina
6
John Hancock
(Federalist)
Massachusetts
4
George Clinton
(Anti-Federalist)
New York
3
Samuel Huntington
(Federalist)
Connecticut
2
John Milton
(Federalist)
Georgia
2
James Armstrong(g)
(Federalist)
Georgia(g)
1
Benjamin Lincoln
(Federalist)
Massachusetts
1
Edward Telfair
(Anti-Federalist)
Georgia
1
Total
38,818
100.0%
138
Needed to win
35