1788–89 United States presidential election in New Hampshire

none June 2025 September 2023 1788–89 United States presidential election 1788–89 United States presidential election in New Hampshire New Hampshire File:Flag of the United States (1777–1795).svg presidential no 1792 United States presidential election in New Hampshire 1792 December 15, 1788 (popular vote)January 7, 1789 (legislature) 200x200px File:George Washington Painting (3x4 close cropped).jpg George Washington Independent (United States) Virginia 5 1,922 100.00% File:Official Presidential portrait of John Adams (by John Trumbull, circa 1792) (farther 3x4 cropped) (cropped).jpg John Adams Federalists (United States) Massachusetts 5 — — File:1788–89 United States presidential election in New Hampshire results map by county.svg 150px County results Federalists #51a626 60–70% #2f8e00 70–80% #257000 80–90% #1c5300 90–100% Anti-Federalists #bcc836 50–60% President Office established George Washington Independent (United States) A presidential election was held in New Hampshire on December 15, 1788, and January 7, 1789, as part of the 1788–89 United States presidential election. Federalists outpolled their competitors in the first round of voting. The New Hampshire General Court subsequently chose five electors from among the 10 leading candidates, who voted for George Washington and John Adams.Jensen Becker 1976 770 Washington was widely expected to be the first choice of the Electoral College in the first elections held under the Constitution of the United States. Some uncertainty persisted concerning the choice of the first vice president, however, due partly to the electoral system established by Article II of the Constitution. Under this system, each elector voted for two candidates; the candidate with the largest majority was elected president, and the runner-up vice president. With Washington likely to become president, many observers expected Adams to receive the other vote of most of the electors. Some, such as Alexander Hamilton, feared Adams's popularity would be so great as to result in a tied vote, throwing the election to the United States House of Representatives. Hamilton believed this event would be deeply embarrassing to the new government and personally intervened with the electors to urge them not to vote for Adams.Cunliffe 2002 7, 12–13 The leaders of the state's major political factions had declared a temporary truce in 1788 in order to jointly support ratifying the Constitution.Daniell 1970 213 In the absence of organized parties, the election was in effect a local contest between favorite sons.Turner 1983 113 Several tickets were proposed including the names of prominent citizens, without indicating for whom the candidates would vote if elected. None of the candidates won a majority in the first round, sending the election to the General Court.Jensen Becker 1976 799–801 Following a lengthy standoff with the upper chamber, the House of Representatives dropped its demand to choose the electors on a joint ballot of both houses. Voting proceeded separately in the Senate and the House of Representatives; the five candidates with the most popular votes were appointed by the legislature.Cunliffe 2002 16 The electors met subsequently on February 4 and voted unanimously for Washington and Adams.Jensen Becker 1976 773 General election Summary New Hampshire chose five electors on a statewide general ticket. Early election laws required voters to elect each member of the Electoral College individually, rather than as a block.Lampi n.d. The following table compares the sum of the votes for the leading Federalist and Anti-Federalist electors to give an approximate sense of the statewide popular vote. 1788–89 United States presidential election in New HampshireLampi 2012 Federalists (United States) George Washington 1,759 91.52 Anti-Federalists George Washington 163 8.48 Total George Washington 1,922 100.00 1,922 100.00 Results by county Complete returns are missing for most townships. This table compares the votes for the leading Federalist and Anti-Federalist electors in each county based on partial returns. + 1788–89 United States presidential election in New HampshireLampi 2012 County George WashingtonFederalists George WashingtonAnti-Federalists Margin Total Votes % Votes % Votes % Cheshire2160.00%1440.00%720.00%35 Grafton9690.57%109.43%8681.14%106 Hillsborough9565.97%4934.03%4631.94%144 Rockingham30894.48%185.52%29088.96%326 Strafford6848.57%7251.43%-4-2.86%140 TOTAL 588 78.30% 163 21.70% 425 56.60% 751 Electors Complete returns are missing for most townships. The joint committee of the Senate and the House of Representatives reported a total of 20,142 votes between all the candidates.Jensen Becker 1976 816 Phil Lampi identifies 80 candidates who received at least one vote in any of the 21 townships with surviving returns, in addition to 9,527 scattering votes. Between five and 10 candidates received votes in the majority of townships surveyed; in no township was the number of candidates greater than 25.Lampi 2012 The following table shows the statewide totals for the 10 leading candidates as recorded in the published proceedings of the General Court; the votes for the remaining candidates are based on the incomplete township returns. 1788-89 United States presidential election in New HampshireLampi 2012 Center for the Study of the American Constitution n.d.Vote totals in italics are based on partial returns from 21 townships. Benjamin Bellows Federalists (United States) 1,759 8.73% John Pickering Federalists (United States) 1,364 6.77% Ebenezer Thompson Federalists (United States) 1,063 5.28% John Sullivan Federalists (United States) 872 4.33% John Parker Federalists (United States) 851 4.23% John Dudley Unknown 718 3.56% Joshua Wentworth"senate" Federalist candidate for the New Hampshire Senate in 1788.Kaminski John P. Schoenleber Charles H. Reid Jonathan M. Saladino Gaspare J. Flamingo Margaret R. Moore Timothy D. Fields David P. The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution XXVIII The State Historical Society of Wisconsin 2017 315 https://asset.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/IBNMSX3DKM3V38U/R/file-03f2f.pdf asset.library.wisc.edu 2026-05-12 Federalists (United States) 667 3.31% Nathaniel Folsom Unknown 589 2.92% Ebenezer Smith Unknown 543 2.70% Joseph CilleyAnti-Federalist partisan during Washington's second term.Scales 1921 57 Unknown 528 2.62% Christopher Toppan Federalists (United States) 164 0.81% Joseph Badger Jr. Anti-Federalists 96 0.48% Robert Wallace Unknown 94 0.47% Timothy Farrar Federalists (United States) 75 0.37% John Bell"senate" Federalists (United States) 65 0.32% Woodbury Langdon Unknown 60 0.30% Abiel Foster Federalists (United States) 47 0.23% Pierce Long"senate" Federalists (United States) 47 0.23% Benjamin Fellows Unknown 46 0.23% Ebenezer Flanders Unknown 46 0.23% Timothy Walker Unknown 46 0.23% John MacCleary Unknown 45 0.22% Thomas Bartlett Federalists (United States) 44 0.22% John Calfe Federalists (United States) 43 0.21% John McDuffee Unknown 33 0.16% George Reed Unknown 32 0.16% Stark Unknown 31 0.15% Charles Johnston Unknown 29 0.14% Decan James Hosley Unknown 28 0.14% Francis Worster Federalists (United States) 28 0.14% Samuel Livermore Federalists (United States) 28 0.14% Bezaleel Woodward Unknown 27 0.13% John Woodbury Unknown 27 0.13% Phillips White Unknown 27 0.13% Jacob Abbott Unknown 25 0.12% Moses Dow Unknown 25 0.12% Nathaniel Adams Unknown 23 0.11% Nathaniel PeabodyAnti-Federalist candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1788.Jensen Becker 1976 857 Anti-Federalists 23 0.11% Charles Barrett Anti-Federalists 22 0.11% John Dailey Unknown 21 0.10% Moses Chase Unknown 21 0.10% John S. Sherburne Unknown 21 0.10% Jonathan Freeman Federalists (United States) 19 0.09% Bartlet Unknown 19 0.09% Archebald MacMurphey Anti-Federalists 16 0.08% Joshua Atherton Anti-Federalists 16 0.08% Ebenezer Freeman Unknown 13 0.06% Elisha Payne Federalists (United States) 13 0.06% Peter Green Unknown 13 0.06% Benjamin West Federalists (United States) 12 0.06% John Stark Unknown 12 0.06% Amos Shepard Federalists (United States) 11 0.05% Dame Unknown 10 0.05% Daniel Tilton Unknown 9 0.04% John Duncan Unknown 9 0.04% William Simpson Federalists (United States) 9 0.04% Scilly Unknown 8 0.04% Matthew Thornton Unknown 8 0.04% John Stevens Unknown 7 0.03% John Bellows Unknown 6 0.03% Buckminster Unknown 6 0.03% D. Langdon Unknown 6 0.03% Samuel McClintock Unknown 6 0.03% Merrill Unknown 6 0.03% Jonathan Gove Unknown 5 0.02% Richard Bartlett Unknown 5 0.02% McConnell Unknown 5 0.02% Paine Wingate Federalists (United States) 5 0.02% Runnels Unknown 3 0.01% Francis Smith Unknown 2 0.01% Robert Means Unknown 2 0.01% Simeon Olcott Federalists (United States) 2 0.01% T. Adams Unknown 2 0.01% Ammi Ruhamah Cutter Unknown 1 0.00% Daniel Rindge Unknown 1 0.00% John Bradley Unknown 1 0.00% John Duncan Unknown 1 0.00% John Taylor Gilman Federalists (United States) 1 0.00% Richard M. Hogg Unknown 1 0.00% Simeon Alcott Unknown 1 0.00% Jeremiah Smith Federalists (United States) — — John Stephens Unknown — — 9,527 47.30% 20,142 100.00% Electoral College Presidential candidate Party Home state ElectoralvoteEach elector voted for two candidates. George Washington Independent Virginia 5 John Adams Federalists Massachusetts 5 Total votes 5 Source: A New Nation Votes: American Election Results, 1787–1825. American Antiquarian Society.Lampi 2012a See also United States presidential elections in New Hampshire Notes References Bibliography Center for the Study of the American Constitution Alphabetical List of State Convention Delegates https://csac.history.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/281/2024/09/Alpha-list-of-delegates.pdf University of Wisconsin–Madison April 19, 2026 n.d. Cunliffe Marcus Schlesinger Arthur M. Jr. Israel Fred L. History of American Presidential Elections, 1789–2001 1 Chelsea House Publishers Philadelphia 2002 Elections of 1789 and 1792 1–56 https://archive.org/details/historyofamerica01schl/page/1/mode/2up Daniell Jere R. Experiment in Republicanism; New Hampshire Politics and the American Revolution, 1741–1794 1970 Harvard University Press Cambridge https://archive.org/details/experimentinrepu0000dani Jensen Merrill Becker Robert A. The Documentary History of the First Federal Elections, 1788–1790 1 1976 University of Wisconsin Press Madison https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Documentary_History_of_the_First_Fed/sxS00wE2l5kC Lampi Philip J. Electoral College https://elections.lib.tufts.edu/?f%5Boffice_id_ssim%5D%5B%5D=ON056 A New Nation Votes American Antiquarian Society April 19, 2026 n.d. Lampi Philip J. 1789 President of the United States, Electoral College https://elections.lib.tufts.edu/catalog/zp38wf06k A New Nation Votes American Antiquarian Society April 18, 2026 2012a Lampi Philip J. New Hampshire 1788 Electoral College A New Nation Votes American Antiquarian Society 2012 https://elections.lib.tufts.edu/catalog/f1881n287 Scales John Life of Gen. Joseph Cilley 1921 Standard Book Company Manchester, NH https://archive.org/details/lifeofgenjosephc00scaliala Turner Lynn Warren The Ninth State: New Hampshire's Formative Years 1983 University of North Carolina Press Chapel Hill https://archive.org/details/ninthstatenewham00turn New Hampshire 1789 presidential Category:Long stubs with short prose