Wednesday, February 8.
Election of President.
The Speaker informed the House that the hour was come at which they had appointed to meet the Senate, for the purpose of counting the votes for, and declaring the election of a President and Vice President of the United States, and that the Clerk would inform the Senate they were ready to receive them.
The Clerk accordingly waited upon the Senate, and the President and members of the Senate soon after entered and took their seats, the President on the right hand of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the members of the Senate on the same side of the Chamber; when the President of the Senate (Mr. Adams) thus addressed the two Houses:
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
The purpose for which we are assembled is expressed in the following resolutions. [Mr. Adams here read the resolutions which had been adopted by the two Houses relative to the subject.] I have received packets containing the certificates of the votes of the Electors for a President and Vice President of the United States from all the sixteen States of the Union: I have also received duplicates of the returns by post from fifteen of the States. No duplicate from the State of Kentucky is yet come to hand.
It has been the practice heretofore, on similar occasions, to begin with the returns from the State at one end of the United States, and to proceed to the other; I shall therefore do the same at this time.
Mr. Adams then took up the packet from the State of Tennessee, and after having read the superscription, broke the seal, and read the certificate of the election of the Electors. He then gave it to the Clerk of the Senate, requesting him to read the report of the Electors, which he accordingly did. All the papers were then handed to the tellers, viz: Mr. Sedgwick, on the part of the Senate, and Messrs. Sitgreaves and Parker on the part of the House of Representatives; and when they had noted the contents, the President of the Senate proceeded with the other States, in the following order:
All the returns having been gone through, Mr. Sedgwick reported that, according to order, the tellers appointed by the two Houses had performed the business assigned them, and reported the result to be as above stated.
The President of the Senate then thus addressed the two Houses:
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
By the report which has been made to me by the tellers appointed by the two Houses to examine the votes, there are 71 votes for John Adams, 68 for Thomas Jefferson, 59 for Thomas Pinckney, 30 for Aaron Burr, 15 for Samuel Adams, 11 for Oliver Ellsworth, 7 for George Clinton, 5 for John Jay, 3 for James Iredell, 2 for George Washington, 2 for John Henry, 2 for Samuel Johnston, and 1 for Charles C. Pinckney. The whole number of votes are 138; 70 votes, therefore, make a majority; so that the person who has 71 votes, which is the highest number, is elected President, and the person who has 68 votes, which is the next highest number, is elected Vice President.
The President of the Senate then sat down for a moment, and rising again, thus addressed the two Houses:
In obedience to the Constitution and law of the United States, and to the commands of both Houses of Congress, expressed in their resolution passed in the present session, I declare that
John Adams is elected President of the United States, for four years, to commence with the fourth day of March next; and that
Thomas Jefferson is elected Vice President of the United States, for four years, to commence with the fourth day of March next. And may the Sovereign of the Universe, the ordainer of civil government on earth, for the preservation of liberty, justice, and peace, among men, enable both to discharge the duties of these offices conformably to the Constitution of the United States, with conscientious diligence, punctuality, and perseverance.
The President and members of the Senate then retired, and the House came to order; when Mr. Sitgreaves made a report on the business, which was read and ordered to be entered on the journals.