Presidential election in the United States in 1792

‹  1789  •   •  1796 ›
2nd presidential election
November 2 - December 5, 1792
			Independently
			George Washington / John Adams
			electors					132
			be right				13,332
									100%
Election results by state
15 states   Washington / Adams
President of the United States
Before the election George Washington Independent						Elected George Washington Independent

The second election of the President of the United States of America took place in 1792. In the election, the incumbent George Washington was re-elected, remaining President of the United States.

Electoral system

→ Main Article : 12th Amendment to the United States Constitution

The electoral system of that time gave each elector two votes. Each elector had to vote for at least one candidate outside of his home state. To become president, the candidate had to get an absolute majority of the electorate, the candidate with the second highest number of votes became vice-president, no absolute majority was necessary for him.

Incumbent Washington, who was about to retire, was persuaded by figures like James Madison and Thomas Jefferson to run for a second run for president. The 1792 election was the first for which political parties began to form. The Federalist Party , led by Alexander Hamilton , advocated a strong, economic government. The Democratic Republican Party , led by Thomas Jefferson, advocated a decentralized government, a strict interpretation of the constitution and an agricultural nation. Washington itself was not part of any party.

The candidates

• 

  John Adams

• 

  Aaron Burr

• 

  George Clinton

• 

  Thomas Jefferson

• 

  George Washington

• John Adams , Acting Vice President of the United States, of Massachusetts
• Aaron Burr , Senator for New York
• George Clinton , Governor of New York
• Thomas Jefferson , United States Secretary of State , of Virginia
• George Washington , Acting President of the United States, of Virginia

The vote

candidate	Political party	Home state	Popular election		electors
			number	percent
George Washington	independent	Virginia	13,332	100.0%	132
John Adams	federalist	Massachusetts	-	-	77
George Clinton	Anti-federalist	new York	-	-	50
Thomas Jefferson	Anti-federalist	Virginia	-	-	4th
Aaron Burr	Anti-federalist	new York	-	-	1

Like the previous one, Washington won the election without a dissenting vote. George Clinton (Democratic Republican Party) and incumbent John Adams (Federalist Party) vied for the office of Vice President , who won the election with 77 votes, Clinton with 50 votes, Jefferson with four votes and Aaron Burr with one vote .

literature

• Donald Richard Deskins, Hanes Walton, Sherman C. Puckett: Presidential Elections, 1789-2008: County, State, and National Mapping of Election Data. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 2010, ISBN 978-0-472-11697-3 , pp. 18-24 (= Chapter 4: George Washington's Reelection. ).

Web links

Commons : US Presidential Election 1792  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files