Election Day is observed on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, taking place on November 5 this year. This is the day we cast ballots to select public officials — from local to the national government.
Presidential elections are held every four years, in years divisible by four, while the elections to the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate are held every two years. Other state and local government elections can be held in any year that is designated by the state.
- 1845 – The first Tuesday following the first Monday in November was chosen as Election Day for future presidents on January 23, 1845. This date is aimed at being convenient for farmers. November was after the harvest but before the harsh winter weather
- 1848 – On November 7, 1848, the first Election Day took place. Whig Party candidate, Zachary Taylor, won out over Free-Soil candidate and former president, Martin Van Buren, and Democrat candidate, Lewis Cass. Millard Fillmore, who was Taylor’s running mate, became the nation’s 13th president on July 10, 1850, upon Taylor’s untimely death.
- 1848 – Frederick Douglass was the first African American to run for U.S. president. The famed abolitionist, orator, and writer became a presidential candidate in 1848.
- 1869 – Wyoming legislature passes a law allowing women to vote, Colorado follows in 1893.
- 1870 – In February 1870, the 15th Amendment granted African-American men the right to vote.
- 1872 – Victoria Woodhull became the first woman to run for president in 1872.
- 1872 – President Grant ran against a dead opponent, Horace Greeley, who died during the election process.
- 1874 – Cartoonist Thomas Nash is credited with creating both the Republican and Democratic symbols, the elephant and the donkey, respectively, when he lampooned the political parties in a cartoon in Harper’s Weekly magazine in 1874.
- 1892 – The first election to use a voting machine was in 1892.
- 1915 – 25,000 women marched in New York City demanding the right to vote.
- 1920 – The 19th Amendment of the United States Constitution grants women from every state the right to vote.
- 1960 – John F. Kennedy was 43 when he was elected to office.
- 1961 – Ratification of the 23rd amendment to the Constitution gave residents of Washington, D.C., the right to vote in presidential elections.
- 1965 – President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act to outlaw states’ discriminatory voting practices, especially in regard to those targeting African-Americans in the South.
- 1971 – The 26th Amendment reduces the voting age in the United States from 21 to 18 years.
- 1984 – In the 1984 election, Ronald Reagan won 525 out of 538 available electoral votes.
- 1993 – The “motor-voter” bill was signed by President Bill Clinton, allowing citizens to register to vote when applying for a driver’s license and ease voter registration.
- 1994 – The White House’s first website went online in October 1994 during President Bill Clinton’s administration.
- Votes were often counted by raising hands or speaking out loud in the 1700s and early 1800
- Article II of the U.S. The Constitution states that the president must be a natural-born citizen of the United States, be at least 35 years old, and have been a resident of the United States for 14 years.
- Jimmy Carter was the first president born in a hospital.
- George Washington was the only president who did not represent a political party.
- Herbert Hoover approved “The Star-Spangled Banner” as the national anthem.
- George Washington blew his entire campaign budget on 160 gallons of liquor to serve to potential voters.
- Abraham Lincoln was 6 feet, 4 inches (1.9 meters), making him the tallest U.S. president.
- The first left-handed president was James Garfield, the 20th president.
- Millard Fillmore, the 13th president, was the first president to have a stepmother.
- The only president who studied to become a medical doctor was William Henry Harrison, the ninth president.
- The 18th president of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant, was given a $20 speeding ticket for riding his horse and buggy too fast down a street in Washington, D.C.
- The first seven presidents were born as British subjects. George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, and Andrew Jackson had all been born before the United States gained independence from Great Britain. Martin Van Buren was the first natural-born American to become president in 1837.
Sources:
National Today
America 250
Wood County
Honest History
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