A wide-ranging act of Congress passed on 2/21/1792, the day before Washington’s birthday. One of the key provisions was the establishment of presidential succession: President, Vice President, President pro tempore of the U.S. Senate, and then Speaker of the U.S. House. If the Speaker became the acting president, he would call a new presidential election. A second provision of the act regulated the presidential election and remained in force for 50 years. Instead of specifying the date for the selection of the Electors, the act provided a range of dates. After voting, the Electors would sign three copies of the certificate of vote: one to be forwarded to Philadelphia by a messenger, one to be mailed to Philadelphia, and one to be handed to a district judge for safekeeping.

During the debate in Congress, members of the U.S. House discussed the issue of directing the states on filling vacancies when the Electors met. Since the Constitution already stated that states were at liberty to provide for the selection of Electors as they saw fit, the House decided that no additional enabling legislation was necessary. Many states therefore passed such laws for the filling of vacancies by the Electors who attended.

Modes of Selecting the Electors

Legislative selection: CT, DE, GA, NJ, NY, NC, RI, SC, and VT

General Ticket (At Large): MD, NH, PA

Presidential Elector District: KY, MA, VA

The Electoral Vote

The Presidential Electors gathered in their respective state capitals on 12/5/1792. Although each state had been directed to pass legislation for filling vacancies among the Electors, not all did. As a result, three votes were lost in 1792: two in MD and one in VT.

Joint Session of Congress, 1793
Chairman	Senate Teller	House Teller	House Teller
Vice President John Adams MA	U.S. Senator Rufus King NY	U.S. Rep. John Laurance NY	U.S. Rep. William L. Smith SC

Joint Session of Congress

The electoral votes were counted before a joint session of Congress in the Senate chamber in Philadelphia at noon on 2/13/1793. VP Adams presided. Tellers were U.S. Senator Rufus King and U.S. Representatives William L. Smith and John Laurance. George Washington was re-elected President in 1792 with 132 electoral votes. Vice President Adams placed second with 77 votes and was re-elected. The opposition candidate, George Clinton, placed third with 50 votes. VP Adams declared George Washington to have been elected president and himself to have been elected vice president (Philadelphia Independent Gazetteer, 2/16/1793).

Popular vote of 1792