Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-10-03

The constitution h3Q DSen agreed 10
by the convention on September II.
1887, but ratification by the States was
slow, and it was not until September
III. 1888. that the first election of a
President was called for. BY that time
IL of the original States had ratified
the Constitution. Rhode Island and
North Carolina had not yet ratified, and
took no part in the first election.
The ii States were advised to choose
electors, who should meet the following
January in their respective States and
cast their electoral ballots. There would
have been 81 electors if ell States ha'i
been in the Union. AS finally developed.
New York did not choose any electors,
and two electors each in Virginia and
Marvland we're absent when the cleo
toral colleges met These absences. with
the two missing States, left 50 electors
who actually voted.
No Doubt Of Candidate.
There was no doubt from the start
who would be the first President. The
knowledge that George washington
would b. chosen. and the faith Of all
the Colonies in his ability and fairness.
was a guiding factor in making the
! Union possible and in convincing re-
Iuctant States to ratify the Constitution.
! The members of the constitutional con-
vcntion a year earlier had practically
agreed OH WaShingron's election, and
every State YVES in accord with the plan.
Regarding the choice of the first Vice
/ President there was a similar though
not unanimous preference for John
Adams of Massachusetts,. The begin
nings of political parties had been in
i herited by the new Nation from the
| earlier debates over the formation OF
! Union and adoption of Constitution.
, Those who had been strongly in favor OF
powerful Federal Union OF the Colo
nies became the Federalists These who
had first opposed any Union except the
| loose confederation against England,
and who had thought of the l3 Colonies
as separate. sovereign nations, gradually
modified those views. but adhered to
their opposition to a strongly centralized
, government They were soon known as
Anti Federalists. Their first expression
of political sentiment under the new
government was in opposition to Adams
| for Vice President.
In New York the Anti-Federallsts
controlled one branch of the Legisia-
/ ture, the FederalistS the other. Ihey
could not agree on choosing electors.
and New York cast no vote IN the tirst
! election. In New Hampshire the same
sort of split occurred but the Lower
House at the last moment filed pro-
| test and then agreed TO the Senate list
: of electors.
Three Have Popular Vote.
In only three States was there any
!, effort to have a popular election, Fr-
giilia. Pennsylvania and Maryland
| adopting the popular method of choos-
ing electors. In Massachusetts eacn
congressional district was allowed 10
nominate two electors, from whom the
| legislature chose one. The Legislature
named two electors at Large. In other
States the Legislature maze the choice
of electors The States which had
popular elections chose two electors at
! large and the others by districts.
Alexander Hamilton, who had made a
| great fight to secure adoption OF the
! Constitution by New York and was a
leader of the Federalists in much Of
| the early work of organization, took an
active hand in the election and was
later accused Of intriguing to keep down
| the vote for Adams for second place.
! There was no telegraph, no railroad,
and the mails were very slow. Hamll-
| ton and his friends used rapid post
riders to communicate with the various
Legislatures. To Connecticut on the
day before the electors met he sent a
dispatch rider with message urging
| that two electors vote against Adams.
He pointed out that there was danger
of Adams winning the presidency
over Washington, and some writer's de-
clare that Adams actually wanted a
free race of it. Probably Hamilton also
had a hand in persuading five New
Jersey electors to give their second
choice to John Hay. Jonathan Trum-
bull of Connecticut suspected the sound
, ness of Hamilton's message, but wrote
later that his single opinion was + no
avail against Hamilton's express rider,
armed with arguments and calculations
and intelligences from other States.
When the results were added up 1t
was found that Washington received
/ every electoral vote, total of GO, but
Adams had only 81. and the remain
ing IS were widely scattered among 10
prominent men. 1t must be remem-
bered that each elector cast two votes
which had equal value. They were not
| first and second choice votes as such
/ The person getting the largest total was
President, the man with the second
highest total was Vice President. A
majority was necessary to elect the
| President, but not the Vice President
and Adams won that Office with one less
than a majority of the electors favoring
him.
| Jefferson Then in France.
The Anti-Federalists had won a few
scattering votes, but were not yet really
an organized party. jefferson, destined
| to lead them to victory, was then in
France as our first Ambassador. Madi-
son was in the First Congress. Hamil-
ton was running the first semblance Of
a national political organization and
| he was the most stalwart of the Fed
eralists. Washington leaned somewhat
to the Federalist views, but not in any
extreme degree. He named Jefferson
Secretary of State and Hamilton Sec
rotary of the Treasury, and used the
abilities of each while they fought out
their differences before the Congress
and watched public opinion take shape
Before the next election, in 1892
party lines had grown materially
stronger, although Washington's con-
tinued leadership prevented the con-
flict from taking its most vigorous form
Meanwhile Rhode Island and North
Carolina had ratified the Constitution
and Joined the Union, and two new
States, Vermont and Kentucky. had
been admitted The first census was
taken, resulting in new apportion-
ment of Representatives among the
States, and there would be twice as
many votes in the electoral colleges
when they met for the second election
Washington's reelection was not
contested. and again he was to have
one vote from every elector. The IS