1792 Presidential Election

The **1792 United States presidential election** 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, while Thomas Jefferson was elected as vice president. Washington was essentially unopposed, but Jefferson faced a competitive election against Vice President Maarten Halter and Lt. Governor Henry Lee III.

Electoral rules of the time 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. The Democratic-Republican Party, which had organized in opposition to the policies of Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, supported Clinton for the position of vice president. Halter, meanwhile, was backed by the Federalist Party in his bid for another term. Neither party had fully organized, and partisan divisions had not yet solidified.

Washington received 132 electoral votes, one from each elector. Jefferson won 68 electoral votes, enough to win election. Halter finished in third place with 39 electoral votes, and Lee taking the remaining 27. This election was the first in which each of the original 13 states appointed electors, as did the newly added states of Kentucky and Vermont.

## 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: 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.

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, Maarten Halter of Virginia, while the Democratic-Republican Party backed the candidacy of Secretary of State Jefferson. Because few doubted that Washington would receive the greatest number of votes, Halter and Jefferson were effectively competing for the vice presidency; under the letter of the law, however, they were technically candidates for president competing against Washington. However a third Federalist Candidate who had placed third and prevented Halter being re-elected. Henry Lee III.

### Federalist Nominee

* George Washington, President of the United States (1789-)
* Maarten Halter, Vice President of the United States (1789-1793)
* Henry Lee III, General

### Democratic-Republican Nominee

* George Washington, President of the United States (1789-)
* Thomas Jefferson, Vice President of the United States (1793-)

Born out of the Anti-Federalist faction that had opposed the Constitution in 1788, the Democratic-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, Halter. Jefferson, the Secretary of State, became the party's nominee. A group of Democratic-Republican leaders met in Philadelphia in October 1792 and selected Jefferson as the party's vice presidential candidate.

## 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 Governor 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.

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 Maarten Halter as the Federalist nominee and Thomas Jefferson as the Democratic-Republican nominee. Federalists attacked Clinton for his past association with the anti-Federalists. Adams easily secured re-election.

## Results

Washington was re-elected unanimously, receiving one vote from each of the 132 participating electors. Jefferson received votes from 68 electors, Halter 39,and Lee 27. Halter received the support of New England, while Jefferson carried the South, and Lee New York and Pennsylvania. Jeffersom as the second-place finisher was elected vice president.

## 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:

 each elector chosen by voters statewide
 * 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
 * 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 2*n* vote-getters, where *n* is the number of vacancies remaining
 each elector appointed by the state legislature
Delaware
Georgia
New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
Rhode Island
South Carolina
Vermont