- When
- 1789
In one line: the first presidential election under the Constitution had no party tickets and no campaign in the later sense; the electors chose Washington unanimously, and no campaign literature for any candidate is catalogued in this archive.
Context
Under the Constitution as ratified in 1788, each elector cast two votes, with no separate ballot for vice president. George Washington received all 69 electoral votes cast. John Adams came second with 34 and became vice president. Ten other men shared the remaining votes: John Jay (9), Robert H. Harrison (6), John Rutledge (6), John Hancock (4), George Clinton (3), Samuel Huntington (2), John Milton (2), and James Armstrong, Benjamin Lincoln and Edward Telfair (1 each). The National Archives notes that Washington was, for all intents and purposes, unopposed [1]. The American Presidency Project lists him as "unofficially Federalist" and records 69 votes, 100 per cent [2]; the archive's list of elections gives no party for 1789.
The question before the electors was who should hold the new office, not which program should govern. No popular vote total is recorded on the sources consulted, and they do not describe campaign media for this year [1][2].
Campaign literature
| Candidate (party) | Objects in the archive |
|---|---|
| George Washington (none) | 0 |
| John Adams (none) | 0 |
No campaign literature for 1789 is catalogued in this archive. A search of the Library of Congress catalogue for 1789 was not completed because of access errors, so a full survey has not been made. This does not show that nothing survives. No side has fewer items than another: both listed candidates have none.
George Washington (none)
No objects catalogued.
John Adams (none)
No objects catalogued.
Techniques visible
None, because no objects for this year are catalogued. The first election with objects in the archive is 1800.
Sources
- National Archives, "1789 Electoral College Results", https://www.archives.gov/electoral-college/1789
- American Presidency Project, "1789", https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/statistics/elections/1789
- Wikipedia, "1788-89 United States presidential election" (cross-check only): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1789_United_States_presidential_election