The electors were chosen by district. An avowed Adams candidate (William Martin) won PED 8, and Jefferson Electors carried the remaining eleven districts. No election returns have been located for this election.
The following men were chosen to serve as Presidential Electors: (1) Gabriel Ragsdale, (2) James Martin, (3) John Hamilton (Guilford Co.), (4) Evan S. Alexander, (5) Anton Browne, (6) Sterling Harwell, (7) John Bradley, (8) William Martin (F), (9) Richard D. Spaight, (10) John G. Blount, (11) William Edmunds, and (12) John Hamilton (Chowan County).
The Electors cast this vote:
Thomas Jefferson (VA) - 11
Aaron Burr (NY) - 6
James Iredell (NC) - 3
John Adams (MA) - 1
Thomas Pinckney (SC) - 1
George Washington (VA)* - 1
Charles C. Pinckney (SC) - 1
The electoral vote in NC reflected what the Constitutional Convention of 1787 expected would happen in each presidential election: the states would cast blocks of votes for some candidates and scatter the remainder - with lots of votes for what later would come to be called the 'favorite sons.' In this case, the three votes for Iredell were thrown away because he was ineligible to serve.
The electoral vote here indicates that North Carolina had a large segment of non-party politicians, who sometimes supported and sometimes opposed the Federalists. This would be the case throughout the coming two decades as men such as William Kennedy, Anton Browne, William Porter, Richard D. Spaight, Willis Alston, Thomas Wynns etal. floated back and forth between the two parties. In the 1796 race, note that the 'presidential' ballot was AF-11, F-1 while the 'VP' ballot was AF-6, F-6. |