United States Presidential Election of 1792

Washington re-elected unanimously, 132 electoral votes, as the first party rivalry formed beneath him.

Overview

Washington again received every electoral vote, 132, while John Adams held the vice presidency with 77. Beneath the surface, Treasury Secretary Hamilton's financial program and Jefferson's opposition were organizing supporters into Federalists and Democratic-Republicans, the first American party system. Fifteen states participated, adding Kentucky. Washington's willingness to serve a second term held the new government together; his later refusal of a third set the two-term tradition later written into the Twenty-Second Amendment.