Charles Oscar Paullin

“ How foolish people are when so many are together and all good natured! They were so happy to get a piece of Federal ox as ever superstitious Christians or anti-Christians were to get relics from Jerusalem." [28] This occasion was more social and festive than are election days now.
In Maryland twenty-two men were voted for as electors. The eight men receiving the most votes were elected, and were all Federalists. One elector apparently received every vote cast, the total number of votes being, about 7,656; another fell less than one hundred votes behind the first. ”

“ The election in the five States that chose electors by a popular vote will be first considered. The legislature of Pennsylvania was in session when Congress passed the resolution of September 13, and before it adjourned, October 4, it made provision for a popular election of electors and representatives, both on a general ticket. [4] Some months before this action the Anti-Federalists, who were quite active in Pennsylvania, took steps towards nominating a ticket for the State. ”

“ In Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, South Carolina, and Georgia the electors were chosen by the legislature. New York was not represented in the first electoral colleges. In all the States the election of representatives was by the people, and of senators, of course, by the legislatures. Massachusetts, New York, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina were divided into districts, each of which chose one representative—the method thati snow followed in all the States except South Dakota and Washington. ”

“ The remaining county, Essex, continued to hold open the polls—the New Jersey law being silent as to the length of the election—until they were closed on April 27 by a proclamation of the Governor. Both the Governor and the people of Essex county had acted irregularly; the one in determining the result of the election before all the votes were in, and the other in not closing the polls at a proper time. Petitions for and against the validity of the election were sent to the House of Representatives, which body referred them, April and May, 1789, to the committee on elections. ”

“ A better test is the complexion of the first House of Representatives, which contained ten Anti-Federalists, distributed among the States as follows: Massachusetts, one; New York, two; Virginia, three; North Carolina, two; and South Carolina, two. It is barely possible that fuller information may add to this number, but not more than four at the most. The number of Federalists reduces to about fifty-five. There were but two avowed Anti-Federalists in the Senate.
The members of the first Congress were generally moderate men. Candidates of the type of Hamilton or Henry did not run well. ”

“ Caleb Strong was the first choice of the House, and the Senate at once concurred. After two or three days of disagreement between the two houses over the second choice, a nominee of the Senate, Tristram Dalton, was selected. Strong had been a member of the Federal Convention. Of Massachusetts' ten members in the first Congress, eight were graduates of Harvard, and one had all but completed the course at Yale.
All the electors were Federalists. They met on the first Wednesday in February at the Boston state house, and cast ten votes each for Washington and Adams. ”

“ In the presidential election of 1880 the ratio of population to voters was 18.6 (total population, [64] 49,400,000, total vote, 9,200,000) , or a little more than five times that in Maryland. The percentage for New Hampshire in the congressional election of 1788 is the same as for Maryland—3.6 (free population 142,000; voters, 5,126.) [65] The percentage in Massachusetts is 3, (free population, 379,000; voters, 11,460) ; and in Pennsylvania, leaving out Fayette county, 3.5. ”

“ In his annual address he said nothing about putting the Constitution into operation—one indication of the apathy with which it was regarded in New York. On first assembling the Anti-Federalists were chiefly interested in calling a new convention to revise the Constitution. Sometime in December the Senate passed bills for choosing electors and senators by a concurrent vote, and a few days later the Assembly provided for their election by joint ballot. Neither party would accept the other's work. Each naturally favored the method which was the most to its own interest. ”

“ The Anti-Federalists, who had a decided ascendency in the Assembly could carry all on a joint vote, and the Federalist Senate by insisting on a concurrent vote could create a deadlock, and then bargain for one half of the offices as the price for breaking it. ”

“ As many as 25 senators and 52 representatives had been members of either Federal Convention, the Continental Congress, or a State legislature. In addition to seeing service in these bodies, many members had taken part in State constitutional conventions.
The first Congress makes a very favorable showing in the amount of college training which its members had received. [59] There were 11 senators and 19 representatives who were graduates of colleges, and in addition to these, 12 senators and 19 representatives who had had more or less of academic training. ”

“ The votes for electors were to be returned to the legislature, which, on the first Wednesday in January, the date fixed by Congress for the choice of electors, was to ascertain and declare appointed the five electors having the highest number of votes, provided such number was a majority. In case one or more electors of the five highest failed of a majority, the legislature was ordered to choose as many as might be wanting from double the number of candidates having the highest number of votes. ”