Does anybody know how our first Congressional Elections were held and which system was used?
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Your best bet is to check two books by Congressional Quarterly:\nUnited States Congressional Elections, 1788–1997, and Congressional Quarterly’s Guide to U.S. Elections. \n\nThe first election was in 1790 and they elected members of Congress about the same way we do today. The group of people allowed to vote was much smaller - white males with property. \n\nHere is the list of the First Congress arranged by states. If some of the names seem familiar, it is because many signed the Constitution (several became president: Monroe and Madison)\n\nCONNECTICUT (5)\n- ELLSWORTH, Oliver 1745-1807 Senator Pro-Administration \n- JOHNSON, William Samuel 1727-1819 Senator Pro-Administration \nHUNTINGTON, Benjamin 1736-1800 Representative Pro-Administration \nSHERMAN, Roger 1721-1793 Representative   \nSTURGES, Jonathan 1740-1819 Representative   \nTRUMBULL, Jonathan, Jr. 1740-1809 Representative   \nWADSWORTH, Jeremiah 1743-1804 Representative   \n\nDELAWARE (1)\n- BASSETT, Richard 1745-1815 Senator Anti-Administration \n- READ, George 1733-1798 Senator Pro-Administration \nVINING, John 1758-1802 Representative   DE 1\n\nGEORGIA (3)\n- FEW, William 1748-1828 Senator Anti-Administration \n- GUNN, James 1753-1801 Senator Anti-Administration \nBALDWIN, Abraham 1754-1807 Representative Anti-Administration \nJACKSON, James 1757-1806 Representative Republican \nMATHEWS, George 1739-1812 Representative   \n\nMARYLAND (6)\n- CARROLL, Charles (of Carrollton) 1737-1832 Senator Pro-Administration \n- HENRY, John 1750-1798 Senator Pro-Administration \nCARROLL, Daniel 1730-1796 Representative Pro-Administration \nCONTEE, Benjamin 1755-1815 Representative Anti-Administration \nGALE, George 1756-1815 Representative Pro-Administration \nSENEY, Joshua 1756-1798 Representative  \nSMITH, William 1728-1814 Representative  \nSTONE, Michael Jenifer 1747-1812 Representative \n\nMASSACHUSETTS (8)\n- DALTON, Tristram 1738-1817 Senator Pro-Administration '\n- STRONG, Caleb 1745-1819 Senator Pro-Administration MA 1\nAMES, Fisher 1758-1808 Representative Pro-Administration \nGERRY, Elbridge 1744-1814 Representative Anti-Administration \nGOODHUE, Benjamin 1748-1814 Representative Federalist \nGROUT, Jonathan 1737-1807 Representative Anti-Administration \nLEONARD, George 1729-1819 Representative Federalist \nPARTRIDGE, George 1740-1828 Representative   \nSEDGWICK, Theodore 1746-1813 Representative Federalist MA 1\nTHATCHER, George 1754-1824 Representative Federalist MA 1\n\nNEW HAMPSHIRE (3)\n- LANGDON, John 1741-1819 Senator Pro-Administration \n- WINGATE, Paine 1739-1838 Senator Anti-Administration \nFOSTER, Abiel 1735-1806 Representative Pro-Administration \nGILMAN, Nicholas 1755-1814 Representative   \nLIVERMORE, Samuel 1732-1803 Representative Federalist \n \n\nNEW JERSEY (5)\n- DICKINSON, Philemon 1739-1809 Senator Pro-Administration \n- PATERSON, William 1745-1806 Senator Pro-Administration \nELMER, Jonathan 1745-1817 Senator Pro-Administration \nBOUDINOT, Elias 1740-1821 Representative Pro-Administration \nCADWALADER, Lambert 1742-1823 Representative Pro-Administration \nSCHUREMAN, James 1756-1824 Representative Federalist \nSINNICKSON, Thomas 1744-1817 Representative Federalist\n\n\nNEW YORK (6)\n- KING, Rufus 1755-1827 Senator Pro-Administration \n- SCHUYLER, Philip John 1733-1804 Senator Pro-Administration \nBENSON, Egbert 1746-1833 Representative Pro-Administration \nFLOYD, William 1734-1821 Representative Anti-Administration \nHATHORN, John 1749-1825 Representative Anti-Administration \nLAURANCE, John 1750-1810 Representative   \nSILVESTER, Peter 1734-1808 Representative \nVAN RENSSELAER, Jeremiah 1738-1810 Representative   \n\n\nNORTH CAROLINA (5)\n- HAWKINS, Benjamin 1754-1818 Senator Pro-Administration \n- JOHNSTON, Samuel 1733-1816 Senator Pro-Administration \nASHE, John Baptista 1748-1802 Representative Anti-Administration &#92;\nBLOODWORTH, Timothy 1736-1814 Representative   \nSEVIER, John 1745-1815 Representative Republican\nSTEELE, John 176
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it was a fixed election    \n \ni live in ohio and oh there was some real politicin here.. a county with a little less than 5000 people lived there and were registered voter.  over 5700 people voted for bush ...? im a little confused  and they said it was a glitch in the automatic voting system
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Fusion voting was tried in the past. In the 1860 elections groups ran slates of electors agreeing to proportion their vote.  It did not work, and was abandoned.  With the high cost of running, the major parties don't want to siphon off their strength.
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General George Washingtion was the first president to be elected. The U.S. of America was the country. All other countries were rule by Kings and Queens back then.
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The first president of the United States of America was George Washington, who took office on April 30, 1789, following the ratification of the United States Constitution.\n\nPrevious to this, the first presidents of the various congresses were:\n\nFirst Continental Congress: Peyton Randolph, September 5, 1774\n\nSecond Continental Congress: Peyton Randolph, May 10, 1775\n\nUnited States in Congress Assembled: Samuel Huntington, March 1, 1781
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Ouch, I'm not sure that I have the time nor you the attention span, but lets start somewhere.\n\nFirst divide the nation into virtual municipalities of 150,000 people each.   This is to counter a paradox in democracy first pointed out in the 1500s by a Scottish political theorist and historian.  The paradox is that once a populous is over 150,000 people the average voter will not personally know the candidate they are voting for.  \n\nThere is a pre-defined process by which municipalities will be divided when their number exceeds 150,000.\n\nEach municipality will elect a three person triumvirate to lead their municipality.  This triumvirate will vote for one of their 3 members to appear in the federal congress and represent their municipalities interests within the congress.\n\nThe federal congress, comprised of the elected members of the municipalities will elect three people to form a triumvirate that will serve as "president" to the congress.  The presidential triumvirate will require a two-thirds agreement on presidential actions.\n\nI do have the plans worked out for a technological system that would provide complete accountability for government actions, if nothing else we could pick apart a scandal after it happens and determine for sure what had happened.  Every conversation between government officials is stored and recorded, though classification levels of access would still exist to protect national security data.\n\nThe campaign budgets are small and paid by taxes, no advertisement is allowed.  Each candidate must use direct face to face contact to sway votes.\n\nA socialization system will be set up after we've analyzed the cost of our needs (meaning anything we NEED to survive, including food, cars, houses, a military)  After determining the cost per citizen of survival we need a tax bill that will be enacted to cover these needs first.   All other budgetary considerations will take a back seat to the needs of the populous.  The "free market" will still apply to any product, service or commodity that isn't defined as a "need".\n\nAfter that we can address how shared ownership of businesses has destroyed our chances of having a stable economy by giving the investors the power to force corporations into unethical behavior in order to provide the highest possible return on their investments.  This has left us in a position where we would have to legislate ethics to have ethical business, which is unacceptable because...\n\nlaws create criminals\nand too many laws creates too many criminals\n\nI would go on to address the necessary changes in our agriculture systems, our educational systems etc...  but I can sense that you are losing interest.   \n\nSo the short answer would be:\n\nBetter than these A-holes
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Election for President of the United States and Vice President of the United States is indirect, for which voting takes place every four years on Election Day. Although ballots typically list the names of the presidential candidates, voters within the 50 states and the District of Columbia actually choose electors when they vote for President and Vice President. These presidential electors in turn cast the official votes for those two offices.\n\nIn most states and in the District of Columbia, the plurality winner of the popular vote for President within that state receives all of the state's electors, while all other candidates receive none. Only in Maine and Nebraska does the election follow a model more closely based on Congressional Elections: For each congressional district in those two states, the plurality winner of that district receives one district elector ("Representative-like" elector, so to speak), while the two at-large electors ("Senator-like" electors) are given to the plurality winner of the whole state. This method has been used in Maine since 1972 and Nebraska since 1996, though neither has ever split its electoral votes.\n\nEach state's electors meet in their respective state capitals in December, 41 days following the election, at which time they cast their electoral votes. Thus the Electoral College never meets as one body. The electoral votes are then sealed and sent to the President of the Senate (i.e. the sitting Vice President of the United States), who retains them until the new Congress convenes in January. At that time, the votes are opened and counted in the presence of both houses of Congress. The candidate who receives a majority of electoral votes for President becomes President, and the candidate who receives a majority of electoral votes for Vice President becomes Vice President.\n\nIf no candidate for President receives an absolute electoral majority, then the new House of Representatives is required to go into session immediately to vote for President. In this case, the House of Representatives chooses from the three candidates who received the most electoral votes. The House votes en-bloc by state for this purpose (that is, one vote per state, which is determined by the majority decision of the delegation from that state; if a state delegation is evenly split that state is considered as abstaining). This vote would be repeated if necessary until one candidate receives the votes of more than half the state delegations—at least 26 state votes, given the current number, 50, of states in the union.\n\nIf no candidate for Vice President receives an absolute majority of electoral votes, then the United States Senate must do the same, with the top two vote getters for that office as candidates. The Senate votes in the normal manner in this case, not by States. It is unclear if the sitting Vice President would be entitled to cast his usual tie-breaking vote if the Senate should be evenly split on the matter.\n\nIf the House of Representatives has not chosen a winner in time for the inauguration (noon on January 20), then the Constitution of the United States specifies that the new Vice President becomes Acting President until the House selects a President. If the winner of the Vice Presidential election is not known by then either, then under the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, the Speaker of the House of Representatives would become Acting President until the House selects a President or the Senate selects a Vice President.\n\nIt is unclear what would happen if a President has been selected but the Senate remains deadlocked on a Vice President past Inauguration Day. On the one hand, the Twelfth Amendment specifies that the Senate should choose the Vice President, and it does not admit of a time limit on the selection process. On the other hand, the Twenty-Fifth Amendment allows the President to nominate a Vice President if a vacancy should occur.\n\nAs of 2006,
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1     When writing the constitution, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention ran into a problem. The states were in fierce disagreement over how to establish the Congress. The smaller states wanted equal division of representatives. The larger states wanted representatives based on population. In coming to a compromise – called The Great Compromise – the delegates divided the Congress into two houses, the Senate, and the House of Representatives.\n \n2     The Senate gives the small states an equal voice in the government. Each state has two Senators who serve six-year terms. In order to serve in the Senate, a person must be thirty years old, have been a U.S. citizen for nine years, and be a resident of the state where elected. The Senate is the more distinguished house in Congress. Members are older and usually have more experience in government. Of the one-hundred members, one-third of the Senate comes up for election every two years. The rotating elections help to maintain the stability of this house of Congress.\n \n3     The Senate has many important jobs of its own. In addition to working on bills, the Senate is responsible for approving many of the decisions of the president. Treaties and appointments of judges, department heads, ambassadors, and agency leaders receive final approval in the Senate. Treaties are given special consideration and must be approved by a two-thirds vote to become law.\n \n4     The leader of the Senate is the vice-president. As leader, the vice-president decides who will speak to the Senate and casts a deciding vote when a tie occurs. However, the vice-president is not a member of the Senate and does not participate in debates about bills.\n \n5     When the Senate discusses a bill, they do not have a strict set of rules to follow. Standard procedures allow debating and amending a bill to continue indefinitely. However, an agreement called "unanimous consent" can change the standard procedures followed. Under "unanimous consent," all of the Senators must agree to modify the procedures. If one individual Senator disagrees, that Senator has the power to stop the modification. When this happens, a bill becomes the victim of a filibuster. In a filibuster, the Senator in disagreement talks on and on about the bill to delay the final vote. In order to end this, sixty Senators must call for cloture, which sets a time limit for debate.\n \n6     The House of Representatives is called the lower house of Congress. There are four-hundred and thirty five members in the House. Every two years the entire House of Representatives is up for election. Representatives must be careful to be the voice of the people for their state. The shorter term gives the people the opportunity to choose someone else when a representative does not follow their wishes. To serve as a representative, a person must be twenty-five years old, a U.S. citizen for seven years, and a resident of the state where elected.\n \n7     Population determines the number of representatives allotted to a state. In order to determine allotment, the federal government takes a census every ten years. State leaders form districts in each state based on the census results. Each district gets one representative. Every state receives at least one representative no matter how small their population may be.\n \n8     In addition to working on laws with the Senate, the House of Representatives has other responsibilities. In a presidential election where a candidate does not receive a majority of the electoral votes, the House of Representatives meets to choose the next President.\n \n9     In addition, a bill concerning taxes must start in the House.
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Well, Charles Curtis of Kansas (of Osage descent on his mother's side) was elected to Congress in 1892 and served until 1907, when he became the first native-American elected to the US Senate. He was actually vice-president under Herbert Hoover in the late 1920s.  I dont' know that he was the first in the House of Representatives, though.\n\nThe problem was that, amazingly, American Indians were not legally considered US Citizens until 1924 (thanks to a law Curtis wrote), meaning they couldn't vote (and had a hard time voting even after that)--so running for office would have been incredibly difficult.
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go to\nhttp://www.politicalgraveyard.com\n\nthere is information there about that particular election.
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Prior to it, members of the US Congress were chosen by state legislators rather than election by the people. In the time leading up to its creation, several seats were empty because of partisan bickering in certain states. (Indiana had a seat sitting empty for two years.) Bribery and coersion were also problematic at times. By 1912, many states had begun electing their representatives by popular vote, and those selected in this way tended to be strong proponent of amending the US Constitution to make that federal law.\n\nIt was passed by Congress on May 13, 1912, and was ratified on April 8, 1913.
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20- read below\n\nCommittees are not mentioned in the Constitution, but they are an important part of our law-making process. The first Congress adopted a committee system to handle all of the many tasks given to the new American government by the Constitution.\n\nCommittees are like teams that study national problems. They help Congress organize its workload, report progress, and suggest solutions to the challenges that face the nation. They propose laws that are debated and voted on by the whole House.\n\nWhat are congressional standing committees and why are they necessary?\nStanding committees are permanent committees. When Congress was first formed, temporary committees helped legislators organize their work into different categories. As the number of laws proposed increased, standing committees replaced temporary ones. Today the congressional standing committees are permanent panels made up of Members of the House or Senate that make and debate laws for different areas of public policy. Each committee has jurisdiction over a certain area, for example health, education, the environment and foreign affairs. \nThe U.S. House of Representatives has 20 standing committees. In the 109th Congress, these committees were named: Agriculture, Appropriations, Armed Services, Budget, Education and the Workforce, Energy and Commerce, Financial Services, Government Reform, Homeland Security, House Administration, International Relations, Judiciary, Resources, Rules, Science, Small Business, Standards of Official Conduct, Transportation and Infrastructure, Veterans Affairs, and Ways and Means.
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A very important note is that the transfer of power between the parties was handled relatively peacefully and without a great deal of foot-dragging (except in the House, which deadlocked while trying to decide whether to elect Jefferson or Burr). It set the tone for the transfer of power between governments in America, which tend to transfer pretty cleanly, even after acrimonious and bitter campaigns.
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The Electoral College is a controversial mechanism of presidential elections that was created by the framers of the U.S. Constitution as a compromise for the presidential election process. At the time, some politicians believed a purely popular election was too reckless, while others objected to giving Congress the power to select the president. The compromise was to set up an Electoral College system that allowed voters to vote for electors, who would then cast their votes for candidates, a system described in Article II, section 1 of the Constitution.
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Elections are held every 2 years.  We elect all members of congress every 2 years which is an election cycle.  In order words every member of congress will have to run of election again in two years.  Senators have 6 years terms.  Each state has 2 senators.  Their terms are staggered (only one runs for re-election at a time).  And elect them every 3 election cycles.
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Parties realign politically to meet the changing electorate.  This year the Dems picked locally more conservative candidates in red states.  So their members in Congress will be slightly more conservative than in the previous sessions.  \n\nParty conventions are held every 4 years to officially nominate candidates.  Delegates are selected by primaries and caucuses.  A majority is required to win.  The convention also writes the party platform.
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The earliest recorded history of direct democrcay would be the one practiced by the Greeks. They would all asemble at the market place and would discuss and would vote on matters of state but as the population grow, it became evident that there would not only be logical concerns but peace and order as well. And so representative democracy was born.\n\nImagine in the US if every bill that will be passed, the entire US population would go to debate how the bill will be phrased, worded, revised and voted. Even the country you mentioned is no longer near the pure democracy espoused by the Greeks because someone crafts the bill before tossing it to the population for the vote.\n\nIn the end, a look at US Constitution would tell us that there is still traces of direct democracy in the U.S. During the last midterm election, we have seen states voting for different referendums and ammendments. Californias exercised direct democracy by calling for a re-call. And amendments were added to the US Consitution through direct democracy.