Electoral Ticket, 1789

1789

This ballot names four men to serve as members of Maryland’s delegation to the Electoral College in the first presidential election under the U.S. Constitution, in 1789. The Constitution allowed state legislatures to choose their own preferred method of selecting members for the Electoral College that would in turn select the president. Five state legislatures directly appointed members, while others established various systems that allowed voters to have a voice. In Maryland the voters at large, nearly eight thousand men, voted for presidential electors in 1789. Every state’s electors voted for George Washington to be president.