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32. Virginia 1796 Electoral College, District 1
33. Virginia 1796 Electoral College, District 10
34. Virginia 1796 Electoral College, District 11
35. Virginia 1796 Electoral College, District 12
36. Virginia 1796 Electoral College, District 13
37. Virginia 1796 Electoral College, District 14
38. Virginia 1796 Electoral College, District 15
39. Virginia 1796 Electoral College, District 16
40. Virginia 1796 Electoral College, District 17
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The Commonwealth of Virginia rebelled from England and created its own constitution in 1776 as an independent state. This document was written primarily by James Mason and was basically a bill of rights rather than a detailed framework of government. When Virginia joined first other colonies, under the Articles of Confederation, and then the United States, under our present Constitution, its government functioned much as it had as a colony. It had a legislature, but that body and the county courts were dominated by an elite of what one historian has called "Gentlemen Freeholders." This colonial gentry was made up of men who had a good deal of land and twenty or more slaves. Yet the right to vote was much more widely enjoyed than in England. Although governors were appointed by the imperial government before the Revolution, there were popular elections for the House of Burgesses.
Thus colonial Virginians (at least, many of the white landholding men) were used to elections, and these were several-day events that were quite public and rather intensely social. From 1776 until 1850, the government of Virginia continued to function on its original principles, and the Virginia constitution was not significantly changed. Thomas Jefferson early had called for a revision of the constitution of the commonwealth. His most extensive analysis was in “Notes on the State of Virginia,” published in the 1780s. Most historians are also familiar with a well-known letter written just a year before his death when constitutional reform was being debated.
The Old Dominion (as Virginia was often called) during the period of the elections being presented here had a governor and his counsel elected by the legislature. The legislature was bicameral, and both houses were popularly elected by the freeholders—essentially white men who held a respectable amount of land or, after the legislature changed the law in 1785, lived in town and owned a house.
In the 1820s the movement for reform grew. There were a number of demands to democratize the government, by electing the governor popularly, for example, or by building a hierarchy of republics from the local level up (Jefferson’s favorite idea). Even so, the famous collection of prominent Virginian statesmen, including ex-presidents, senators, congressmen and even the chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, made very little change in the suffrage, admitting only "householders." The governor's council was eliminated, but the number of elective offices was not expanded. The unequal system of representation in the legislature was addressed by a compromise giving more seats to the west—mostly the Shenandoah Valley—without creating a rational plan for the future.
During this period, Virginians could vote for their legislators, congressmen, and electors in the presidential elections. They voted yearly in the spring for legislators, every two years for their members of Congress, and every four years for presidential electors. At first they voted for the electors themselves, because they were not willing to say whom they might vote for. The freeholders voted at the polling place closest to their home—a polling place that was often a court house but sometimes a local store. These Virginians voted viva voce, so we have poll books in some counties for some elections to supplement the statistics taken mostly from newspapers.
Bibliography
- Dabney, Virginius.
Virginia: The New Dominion (1971) - Heinemann, Ronald L., John G. Kolp, Anthony S. Parent Jr., and William G. Shade,
Old Dominion, New Commonwealth: A History of Virginia, 1607-2007 (2007). - Salmon, Emily J., and Edward D.C. Campbell, Jr., eds.
The Hornbook of Virginia history: A Ready-Reference Guide to the Old Dominion's People, Places, and Past 4th edition. (1994) - Official State of Virginia Site
- Library of Virginia
- Virginia Historical Society
Electoral College
Elector: A member of the Electoral College chosen by the several States to elect the President and Vice-President.
Oxford English Dictionary
See President of the United States for the votes cast by the Electoral College for President.
Historical Note: These elections were vastly different from modern day Presidential elections. The actual Presidential candidates were rarely mentioned on tickets and voters were voting for particular electors who were pledged to a particular candidate. There was sometimes confusion as to who the particular elector was actually pledged to. Prior to the 12th Amendment, electors were pledged to two candidates as there was no distinction made in the Electoral College between President and Vice-President.
1789 - 1824: Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia
State Breakdown for Election of Members to the Electoral College:
Alabama: Legislature (1820), Popular Vote (1824)
Connecticut: Legislature (1789-1816), Popular Vote (1820, 1824)
Delaware: Popular Vote (1789), Legislature (1796-1824)
Georgia: Legislature (1789, 1792, 1800-1824), Popular Vote (1796)
Illinois: Popular Vote by District
Indiana: Legislature (1816, 1820), Popular Vote by District (1824)
Kentucky: Popular Vote by District
Louisiana: Legislature
Maine: Popular Vote by District
Maryland: Popular Vote (1789, 1792), Popular Vote by District (1796-1824)
Massachusetts: Popular Vote (1789-1796, 1804, 1824), Legislature (1800, 1808, 1816), Popular Vote by District (1812, 1820)
Mississippi: Popular Vote
Missouri: Legislature (1820), Popular Vote by District (1824)
New Hampshire: Popular Vote (1789-1796, 1804-1824), Legislature (1800)
New Jersey: Legislature (1789-1800, 1812), Popular Vote (1804, 1808, 1816-1824)
New York: Legislature
North Carolina: Legislature (1792, 1812), Popular Vote by District (1796-1808), Popular Vote (1816-1824)
Ohio: Popular Vote
Pennsylvania: Popular Vote (1789-1796, 1804-1824), Legislature (1800)
Rhode Island: Legislature (1792, 1796), Popular Vote (1800-1824)
South Carolina: Legislature
Tennessee: Popular Vote by District
Vermont: Legislature
Virginia: Popular Vote by District (1789-1796), Popular Vote (1800-1824)
Office Scope: Federal
Role Scope: State / District