1789 - Who Could Vote

The first US presidential election was held in 1789, with ten of the thirteen states participating. Two states, Rhode Island and North Carolina, had not yet ratified the US Constitution, so citizens of those states had no influence in choosing the first President (it mattered little, as George Washington received 69 votes to John Adams' 34, making Adams the first Vice President). New York was also self-excluded because their state legislature failed to decide who should be electors for their state. See the previous article for an outline of the electoral process.

That left ten states, who were and still are generally free to determine how electors from their states are chosen. Here's how it happened in the first election:

State	No. of Electors	How the Electors were Chosen
Massachusetts	10	State legislature selected from 16 highest popular vote-getters, then added 2 more
Pennsylvania	10	Popular vote (statewide)
Virginia	10	Popular vote (by district)
Connecticut	7	State legislature
South Carolina	7	State legislature
New Jersey	6	Selected by the Governor and Privy Council
Maryland	6	Popular vote (statewide)
Georgia	5	State legislature
New Hampshire	5	State legislature selected from 16 highest popular vote-getters
Delaware	3	Popular vote (by district)

So 5 of 10 states did not use any popular voting process. Instead, their electors were chosen by members of the state government. This approach affected 30 of the 69 total votes (44%).

As stated above, the states decided who could vote, whether for Presidents/Vice Presidents, state legislatures, or anything else. One must look into the individual state constitutions to see who could vote.

State	Summary of Requirements to Vote (Original)
Massachusetts	Male, 21 years old, MA resident at least one year, must own a freehold estate and have an annual income of at least 3 pounds, or any estate worth at least 60 pounds
Pennsylvania	21 years old (male or female), US citizen for at least one month, PA resident for at least 90 days, resident of district in which he/she wants to vote for at least 60 days
Virginia	Male, with sufficient evidence of attachment to the community (generally, land)
Maryland	18 years old, MD resident at the close of the registration period prior to an election
Delaware	Hmmm... can't tell at this point as the 1776 Delaware Constitution reads "..right of suffrage.. shall remain as exercised by law at present.." and was not amended until 1792, after the first election.

Click the state name for the relevant text from their original state constitutions, as well as links to the full documents.

Recap
1. States had (and still have, within some boundaries, e.g. they cannot deny voting rights -- if any -- according to gender or race) the power to determine how their presidential electors are chosen.
2. Only half of the states selected their first electors based primarily on popular voting
3. The five states employing popular voting held to various standards regarding who could vote. We see a consistent requirement of residency and majority (18 or 21), and ownership of land was often required. In at least one case (Pennsylvania, although Maryland's constitution does not mention gender in this area), women could vote.

Recommended Resources

Best of Other Free Websites, Videos, etc.
Electoral Count for the Presidential Election of 1789	The US Constitution Online
Original State Constitutions: Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Connecticut, South Carolina, New Jersey, Maryland, Georgia, New Hampshire, Delaware More here.

Books and Other Media

Other Sites of Potential Interest (content selected automatically)

Test Your Knowledge
This test covers the information in this article. Read each question and decide in your head what the answer is. Click the empty cell in the Answers column to see the correct answer.

Who Could Vote in the First Presidential Election?	Which of the original 13 states were not represented in electoral vote counting in the first election?	New York, Rhode Island, and North Carolina
	How many of the 10 states who did submit electoral ballots chose electors solely by decision of state legislature	Five
	Which of these 10 states had a constitution specifically including women among those potentially eligible to vote?	Pennsylvania
	Who became President as a result of the first election?	George Washington
	Who became Vice President?	John Adams

Click Here to go to the "Test Your Knowledge" page covering all articles included in this week's theme on DailyUSHistory.com.

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