The Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides the procedure for electing the president and vice president. It replaced the procedure in Article II, Section 1, Clause 3, under which the Electoral College originally functioned. The amendment was proposed by Congress on December 9, 1803, and was ratified by the requisite three-fourths of state legislatures on June 15, 1804. The new rules took effect for the 1804 presidential election and have governed all subsequent presidential elections.
Presidential elections were first held in the United States from December 15, 1788 to January 7, 1789, under the new Constitution ratified in 1788. George Washington was unanimously elected for the first of his two terms as president and John Adams became the first vice president. This was the only U.S. presidential election that spanned two calendar years without a contingent election and the first national presidential election in American history.
Presidential elections were held in the United States from November 2 to December 5, 1792. Incumbent President George Washington was elected to a second term by a unanimous vote in the electoral college, while John Adams was reelected as vice president. Washington was essentially unopposed, but Adams faced a competitive re-election against Governor George Clinton of New York.
Presidential elections were held in the United States from November 4 to December 7, 1796, when electors throughout the United States cast their ballots. It was the first contested American presidential election, the first presidential election in which political parties played a dominant role, and the only presidential election in which a president and vice president were elected from opposing tickets. Incumbent vice president John Adams of the Federalist Party defeated former secretary of state Thomas Jefferson of the Democratic-Republican Party.
Presidential elections were held in the United States from October 31 to December 3, 1800. In what is sometimes called the "Revolution of 1800", the Democratic-Republican Party candidate, Vice President Thomas Jefferson, defeated the Federalist Party candidate and incumbent, President John Adams. The election was a political realignment that ushered in a generation of Democratic-Republican leadership. This was the first presidential election in American history to be a rematch. It was also the first election in American history where an incumbent president did not win re-election.
Presidential elections were held in the United States from November 4 to December 7, 1808. The Democratic-Republican candidate James Madison defeated Federalist candidate Charles Cotesworth Pinckney decisively.
Presidential elections were held in the United States from November 1 to December 6, 1820. Taking place at the height of the Era of Good Feelings, the election saw incumbent Democratic-Republican President James Monroe win reelection without a major opponent. It was the third and the most recent United States presidential election in which a presidential candidate ran effectively unopposed. James Monroe's re-election marked the first time in U.S. history that a third consecutive president won a second election.
Presidential elections were held in the United States from November 3 to December 7, 1836. Incumbent Vice President Martin Van Buren, candidate of the Democratic Party, defeated four candidates fielded by the nascent Whig Party.
In the United States, the Electoral College is the group of presidential electors that is formed every four years during the presidential election for the sole purpose of voting for the president and vice president. This process is described in Article Two of the Constitution. The number of electoral votes exercised by each state is equal to that state's congressional delegation which is the number of Senators (two) plus the number of Representatives for that state. Each state appoints electors using legal procedures determined by its legislature. Federal office holders, including senators and representatives, cannot be electors. Additionally, the Twenty-third Amendment granted the federal District of Columbia three electors. A simple majority of electoral votes is required to elect the president and vice president. If no candidate achieves a majority, a contingent election is held by the House of Representatives, to elect the president, and by the Senate, to elect the vice president.
In the United States Electoral College, a faithless elector is an elector who does not vote for the candidates for U.S. President and U.S. Vice President for whom the elector had pledged to vote, and instead votes for another person for one or both offices or abstains from voting. As part of United States presidential elections, each state legislates the method by which its electors are to be selected. Many states require electors to have pledged to vote for the candidates of their party if appointed. The consequences of an elector voting in a way inconsistent with their pledge vary from state to state.
The election of the president and for vice president of the United States is an indirect election in which citizens of the United States who are registered to vote in one of the fifty U.S. states or in Washington, D.C., cast ballots not directly for those offices, but instead for members of the Electoral College. These electors then cast direct votes, known as electoral votes, for president and for vice president. The candidate who receives an absolute majority of electoral votes is then elected to that office. If no candidate receives an absolute majority of the votes for president, the House of Representatives elects the president; likewise if no one receives an absolute majority of the votes for vice president, then the Senate elects the vice president.
The United States elections of 1788–1789 were the first federal elections in the United States following the ratification of the United States Constitution in 1788. In the elections, George Washington was elected as the first president and the members of the 1st United States Congress were selected.
The 1796 United States presidential election in Vermont took place between November 4 and December 7, 1796, as part of the 1796 United States presidential election. The state legislature chose four representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.
The 1788–89 United States presidential election in Massachusetts took place on January 7, 1789, as part of the 1788–1789 United States presidential election to elect the first President. Massachusetts was entitled to 10 electors, with two being appointed by the state legislature and the rest being chosen by state legislature from the two most popular candidates in each U.S. House district. Each elector voted once for President and again for Vice President.
The 1796 United States presidential election in New York took place between November 4 and December 7, 1796, as part of the 1796 United States presidential election. The state legislature chose 12 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.
The 1796 United States presidential election in Virginia took place as part of the 1796 United States presidential election. Voters chose 21 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.
Electoral history of John Adams, who had served as the second president of the United States (1797–1801) and the first vice president of the United States (1789–1797). Prior to being president, he had diplomatic experience as the second United States envoy to France (1777–1779), the first United States minister to the Netherlands (1782–1788), and the first United States minister to the United Kingdom (1785–1788). After losing the 1800 presidential election to Thomas Jefferson, he would mostly retire from political life, with his second youngest son, John Quincy Adams (1767–1848), being elected as the sixth president of the United States (1825–1829) in the 1824 presidential election against Senator Andrew Jackson of Tennessee.
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