who was the first president of the united states why was he the choice of all
United States presidential election, 1788–89 George Washington was enormously popular, and his agreement to serve as the first President of the United States ensured that he was listed first when the electors cast their votes on the appointed day. The only real question was the person who the electors would list as their second choice, which was the person who would be named "vice-president". Originally under the Article Two of the United States Constitution, each state chose a number of electors equal to its representation in Congress. Each elector then cast two votes for President, requiring at least one of the two votes being for candidates from a state other than the one represented by the elector. All 69 electors cast one vote for Washington, so that he received 69 of 69 possible votes, thus making his election unanimous. Eleven candidates received the electors' second votes, of which John Adams received the most votes. As the person who received the second largest number of votes overall, he was elected vice president. This procedure was changed by the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution due to issues with Presidential and Vice-Presidential contentions and incompatibility, under which the electors have been able to cast separate ballots for both president and vice president since 1804.