Did you know George Washington was a Freemason? (Gasp). It's true. I'm a little surprised so many of you didn't know that. Anyway, even if you didn't know that you probably know he was the first President of the US; and history tells us he ran virtually unopposed in the election of 1788. Well, the key word is… I guess… "virtually." You see, the constitution stipulated the presidency would go to the person getting the most electoral votes and the vice-presidency would go to the runner up. So the question is, if Washington was the unanimous winner of the election, how could there be a runner up? And if there was a runner up, just how did Washington get all the votes, and doesn't that mean he had an opponent in that election?
AND, if your head isn't spinning by now, get this: Technically, you could say George Washington had ELEVEN opponents in that race. Eleven. See, the key to this puzzle is the fact that each of the 69 electors back then got TWO votes. So the first 69 votes went to Washington and he won a unanimous victory. Then the second set of 69 votes went to a variety of men, with the one garnering the most votes becoming Vice President.
So who were these guys? You can probably guess one of them was John Adams, who received 34 of the remaining 69 votes and became our first Vice President, going on to become the second President.
Robert Harrison (no relation that we know of), Washington's personal military secretary, received six votes.
Also receiving six votes was John Rutledge, who became the second Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court.
John Milton, first Secretary of State of Georgia received two votes. James Armstrong, a Georgia state representative and Edward Telfair, Governor of Georgia, both got a single vote. Georgia was well-represented.
So, Adams, Harrison, Rutledge, Milton, Armstrong, and Telfair account for six of the men receiving electoral votes.
The remaining six, including Washington – half the field – were Freemasons.
John Jay, received nine votes and came in a distant second to Adams for the Vice Presidency. His Masonic status is, in fact, somewhat vague, but it is likely he was a member.
John Hancock, first signer of the Declaration of Independence and first Governor of Massachusetts received four votes.
George Clinton, Governor of New York and Later Vice President got three votes.
Samuel Huntington, 2nd Grand Master of Ohio and also a Governor of Ohio, received two votes.
Finally, Benjamin Lincoln, ex-officio Secretary of War during the American Revolution, got a single vote.
There was not much of a campaign in that election. It was a foregone conclusion George Washington would win. It is likely each of the 11 also-rans we've talked about had his sights set on the Vice Presidency. Also, although there were no political parties per se, most of the candidates were like-minded Fedralists, favoring a strong federal government. Only Clinton and Telfair were Anti-Federalists, who not only opposed a strong federal government, but also opposed ratification of the constitution. In addition to that, back then it was considered rather undignified for a gentleman to campaign for an office. Some might say that's the opposite of our situation today where being undignified seems seems to be a requirement for public office. One wonders if the aversion to campaigning has something to do with the fact electioneering is frowned upon if not outright banned in many Masonic elections.
Our nation's first election, with a president elected unanimously and votes left over for eleven runners-up. Interestingly, in the inconceivable scenario they would have been elected president or maybe a bit more likely vice president, Harrison, Rutledge, Armstrong, and Brother John Hancock would have died in office.
