United States presidential election, 1792

November 2 – December 5, 1792

132 electoral votes of the Electoral College 67 electoral votes needed to win


Nominee	George Washington
Party	Nonpartisan
Home state	Virginia
Electoral vote	132
States carried	15
Popular vote	28,579
Percentage	100%

Presidential election results map. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state.

President before election

George Washington
Nonpartisan

Elected President

George Washington
Nonpartisan

The United States presidential election of 1792 was the second quadrennial presidential election. It was held from Friday, November 2 to Wednesday, December 5, 1792. Incumbent President George Washington was elected to a second term by a unanimous vote in the electoral college. As in the first presidential election, Washington is considered to have run unopposed. Electoral rules of the time, however, required each presidential elector to cast two votes without distinguishing which was for president and which for vice president. The recipient of the most votes would then become president, and the runner-up vice president. Incumbent Vice President John Adams received 77 votes and was also re-elected (Washington received 132 votes, or one from each elector).

This election was the first in which each of the original 13 states appointed electors (in addition to newly added states of Kentucky and Vermont). It was also the only presidential election that was not held exactly four years after the previous election, although part of the previous election was technically held four years prior. The second inauguration was on March 4, 1793 at the Senate Chamber Congress Hall in Philadelphia.

Candidates

In 1792, presidential elections were still conducted according to the original method established under the U.S. Constitution. Under this system, each elector cast two votes for president: the candidate who received the greatest number of votes (so long as they won a majority) became president, while the runner-up became vice president. The Twelfth Amendment would eventually replace this system, requiring electors to cast one vote for president and one vote for vice president, but this change did not take effect until 1804. Because of this, it is difficult to use modern-day terminology to describe the relationship between the candidates in this election.

Washington is generally held by historians to have run unopposed. Indeed, the incumbent president enjoyed bipartisan support and received one vote from every elector. The choice for vice president was more divisive. The Federalist Party threw its support behind the incumbent vice president, John Adams of Massachusetts, while the Democratic-Republican Party backed the candidacy of New York Governor George Clinton. Because few doubted that Washington would receive the greatest number of votes, Adams and Clinton were effectively competing for the vice presidency; under the letter of the law, however, they were technically candidates for president competing against Washington.

Federalist nomination

George Washington, President of the United States from Virginia
John Adams, Vice President of the United States from Massachusetts

Democratic-Republican nomination

George Washington, President of the United States from Virginia
George Clinton, Governor of New York

Born out of the Anti-Federalist faction that had opposed the Constitution in 1788, the Democratic-Republican Party (sometimes simply called "Republicans", although there was no connection to the modern-day Republican Party) was the main opposition to the agenda of Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton. They had no chance of unseating Washington, but hoped to win the vice presidency by defeating the incumbent, Adams. The Republicans would have preferred to nominate Thomas Jefferson, their ideological leader and Washington's Secretary of State. However, this would have cost them the state of Virginia, as electors were not permitted to vote for two candidates from their home state and Washington was also a Virginian. Instead, they settled on Governor George Clinton, though Jefferson would receive the votes of four Kentucky electors.

President
George Washington
of Virginia
Vice President
John Adams
of Massachusetts
Governor
George Clinton
of New York

Campaign

By 1792, a party division had emerged between Federalists led by Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, who desired a stronger federal government with a leading role in the economy, and the Democratic-Republicans led by Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and Representative James Madison of Virginia, who favored states' rights and opposed Hamilton's economic program. Madison was at first a Federalist until he opposed the establishment of Hamilton's First Bank of the United States in 1791. He formed the Democratic-Republican Party along with Anti-Federalist Thomas Jefferson in 1792.

The elections of 1792 were the first ones in the United States to be contested on anything resembling a partisan basis. In most states, the congressional elections were recognized in some sense as a "struggle between the Treasury department and the republican interest," to use the words of Jefferson strategist John Beckley. In New York, the race for governor was fought along these lines. The candidates were Chief Justice John Jay, a Hamiltonian, and incumbent George Clinton, who was allied with Jefferson and the Democratic-Republicans.

Although Washington had been considering retiring, both sides encouraged him to remain in office to bridge factional differences. Washington was supported by practically all sides throughout his presidency and gained more popularity with the passage of the Bill of Rights. However, the Democratic-Republicans and the Federalists contested the vice-presidency, with incumbent John Adams as the Federalist nominee and George Clinton as the Democratic-Republican nominee. With some Democratic-Republican electors voting against their nominee George Clinton – voting instead for Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr – Adams easily secured re-election.

Results

Results by county explicitly indicating the percentage of the winning candidate in each county. Shades of yellow are for the Federalists and shades of blue are for Anti-Federalists.

At the time, there were 15 states in the United States: the 13 original states and the two recently admitted states of Vermont (March 1791) and Kentucky (June 1792). The Electoral College consisted of 132 electors, with each elector having two votes.

The Electoral College chose Washington unanimously. John Adams was again elected vice-president as the runner-up, this time getting the vote of a majority of electors. George Clinton won the votes of only Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, his native New York, and a single elector in Pennsylvania. Thomas Jefferson won the votes of Kentucky, newly separated from Jefferson's home state of Virginia. A single South Carolina elector voted for Aaron Burr. All five of these candidates would eventually win election to the offices of president or vice president.

Only two states, Pennsylvania and Maryland, cast popular votes. Overall there were 28,579 popular votes cast for presidential electors, a record low turnout for a United States presidential election.

Popular vote

Slate	Popular Vote^{(a), (b), (c)}
Slate	Count	Percentage
Federalist electors	26,088	91.28%
Democratic-Republican electors	2,491	8.72%
Total	28,579	100.0%

Source: U.S. President National Vote. Our Campaigns. (February 11, 2006).

^(a) Only 6 of the 15 states chose electors by any form of popular vote.
^(b) About 0.88% of the population voted: the 1790 Census counted a total United States population of 3.9 million with 3.2 million free population and 700 thousand slaves
^(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)		Electoral vote^(b)
Presidential candidate	Party	Home state	Count	Percentage	Electoral vote^(b)
George Washington (Incumbent)	None	Virginia	28,579	100.0%	132
John Adams	Federalist	Massachusetts	—	—	77
George Clinton	Democratic-Republican	New York	—	—	50
Thomas Jefferson	Democratic-Republican	Virginia	—	—	4
Aaron Burr	Democratic-Republican	New York	—	—	1
Total			28,579	100.0%	264
Needed to win					67

Source: "Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996". National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved July 30, 2005.

^(a) Popular vote figures are suspect because (1) only 6 of the 15 states chose electors by any form of popular vote, (2) pre-Twelfth Amendment electoral vote rules obscure the intentions of the voters, and (3) those states that did choose electors by popular vote often restricted the vote via property requirements.
^(b) Two electors from Maryland and one elector from Vermont did not cast votes.

Electoral college selection

The Constitution, in Article II, Section 1, provided that the state legislatures should decide the manner in which their Electors were chosen. Different state legislatures chose different methods:^[1]

Method of choosing Electors	State(s)
state is divided into electoral districts, with one elector chosen per district by the voters of that district	Kentucky Virginia
each elector chosen by voters statewide	Maryland Pennsylvania
two Congressional districts chose five electors each; the remaining two districts chose three electors each elector chosen by majority vote of voters in Congressional district if an insufficient number of electors are chosen by majority vote from a Congressional district, remaining electors would be appointed by the state legislature	Massachusetts
each elector chosen by majority vote of voters statewide if an insufficient number of electors are chosen by majority vote, runoff is held between the top 2n vote-getters, where n is the number of vacancies remaining	New Hampshire
each elector appointed by the state legislature	(all other states)

References

↑ "The Electoral Count for the Presidential Election of 1789". The Papers of George Washington. Archived from the original on 14 Sep 2013. Retrieved May 4, 2005.

Bibliography

Berg-Andersson, Richard (September 17, 2000). "A Historical Analysis of the Electoral College". The Green Papers. Retrieved March 20, 2005.
Elkins, Stanley; McKitrick, Eric (1995). The Age of Federalism. Oxford University Press.
A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns, 1787-1825

External links

Presidential Election of 1792: A Resource Guide from the Library of Congress
Election of 1792 in Counting the Votes

George Washington

1st President of the United States, 1789–1797 Senior Officer of the Army, 1798–1799 Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, 1775–1783 Second Continental Congress, 1775 First Continental Congress, 1774

Military career Revolutionary War	Military career French and Indian War Jumonville Glen Battle of Fort Necessity Forbes Expedition Washington and the American Revolution Commander-in-chief, Continental Army Boston campaign Siege of Boston New York and New Jersey campaign Delaware River crossing Battle of Trenton Philadelphia campaign Valley Forge Battle of Saratoga Yorktown campaign Siege of Yorktown Culper spy ring Newburgh Conspiracy Newburgh letter Established, Badge of Military Merit Purple Heart Aides-de-Camp Commander-in-Chief's headquarters Morristown and Ford Mansion Horses: Nelson and Blueskin

Other U.S. founding events	1769 Virginia Association Continental Association 1774 Fairfax Resolves Court of Appeals in Cases of Capture 1785 Mount Vernon Conference Chairman, 1787 Constitutional Convention

Presidency	United States presidential election, 1788–89 1792 First inauguration inaugural bible Second inauguration Title of "Mr. President" United States Cabinet Secretary of State Attorney General Secretary of the Treasury Secretary of War Judiciary Act of 1789 Nonintercourse Act Whiskey Rebellion Militia Act of 1792 Coinage Act of 1792 United States Mint Proclamation of Neutrality Neutrality Act of 1794 Jay Treaty Pinckney's Treaty Slave Trade Act of 1794 Residence Act Thanksgiving Proclamation Farewell Address State of the Union Address 1790 1791 1792 1793 1796 Cabinet Federal judicial appointments

Views and public image	Presidential library The Papers of George Washington Religious views Washington and slavery Town Destroyer Legacy

Life and homes	Early life Birthplace Ferry Farm boyhood home Mount Vernon Gristmill Woodlawn Plantation Samuel Osgood House, First Presidential Mansion Alexander Macomb House, Second Presidential Mansion President's House, Philadelphia Germantown White House Custis estate Potomac Company James River and Kanawha Canal Mountain Road Lottery Congressional Gold Medal Thanks of Congress President General, Society of the Cincinnati Washington College Washington and Lee University

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Related	Bibliography Founding Fathers of the United States Republicanism Federalist Party Federalist Era Virginia dynasty Coat of arms Cherry-tree anecdote River Farm Washington's Crossing 1751 Barbados trip Category Syng inkstand General of the Armies American Philosophical Society American Revolution patriots Mount Vernon Ladies' Association

Ancestry and family	Martha Washington (wife) John Parke Custis (stepson) George Washington Parke Custis (step-grandson, adopted son) Eleanor Parke Custis (step-granddaughter, adopted daughter) Augustine Washington (father) Mary Ball (mother) Lawrence Washington (half-brother) Augustine Washington, Jr. (half-brother) Betty Washington Lewis (sister) Samuel Washington (brother) John A. Washington (brother) Charles Washington (brother) Lawrence Washington (grandfather) John Washington (great-grandfather) Bushrod Washington (nephew)

John Adams → Category

John Adams

2nd President of the United States, 1797–1801 1st Vice President of the United States, 1789–1797 U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, 1785–1788 U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands, 1782–1788 Delegate, Second Continental Congress, 1775–1778 Delegate, First Continental Congress, 1774

Founding of the United States	Braintree Instructions (1765) Boston Massacre defense Continental Association Novanglus; A History of the Dispute with America, From Its Origin in 1754 to the Present Time (1775) Thoughts on Government (1776) Declaration of Independence May 15 preamble Committee of Five Model Treaty Treaty of Amity and Commerce Treaty of Alliance Board of War Chairman of the Marine Committee, 1775-1779 Continental Navy Staten Island Peace Conference Conference House Constitution of Massachusetts (1780) Treaty of Paris, 1783

Presidency	Inauguration Quasi War with France XYZ Affair Commerce Protection Act United States Marine Corps Convention of 1800 Alien and Sedition Acts Naturalization Act of 1798 Navy Department Library Treaty of Tellico Treaty of Tripoli Midnight Judges Act Marbury v. Madison State of the Union Address (1797 1798 1799 1800) Cabinet Federal judiciary appointments

Other writings	Massachusetts Historical Society holdings

Life and homes	Early life and education Adams National Historical Park John Adams Birthplace Family home and John Quincy Adams birthplace Peacefield Presidential Library Massachusetts Hall, Harvard University Presidents House, Philadelphia Co-founder and second president, American Academy of Arts and Sciences United First Parish Church and gravesite

Elections	United States presidential election 1788–1789 1792 1796 1800

Legacy	Adams House at Harvard University John Adams Building Postage stamps Adams Memorial

Popular culture	Profiles in Courage (1964 series) American Primitive (1969 play) 1776 (1969 musical 1972 film) The Adams Chronicles (1976 miniseries) Liberty! (1997 documentary series) Liberty's Kids (2002 animated series) John Adams (2001 book 2008 miniseries) Sons of Liberty (2015 miniseries)

Related	Adams and Liberty campaign song Adams' personal library American Enlightenment Congress Hall Federalist Party Federalist Era First Party System republicanism American Philosophical Society Gazette of the United States The American Museum American Revolution patriots

Family	Abigail Adams wife Quincy family Abigail Adams Smith (daughter) John Quincy Adams son presidency Charles Adams (son) Thomas Boylston Adams (son) George W. Adams (grandson) Charles Adams Sr. (grandson) John Adams II (grandson) John Q. Adams (great-grandson) Henry Adams (great-grandson) Brooks Adams (great-grandson) John Adams Sr. (father) Susanna Boylston (mother) Elihu Adams (brother) Samuel Adams (second cousin) Louisa Adams daughter-in-law First Lady

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