The United States Constitution provides that the President shall be elected by a body of presidential electors chosen by the all the states. Every state has the same number of electors as it has members of the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives. The purpose was to make the election of the President indirect. George Washington was elected unanimously to both his terms. The results of the 1800 election was a tie in the Electoral College, with the United States House of Representatives deciding in favor of Thomas Jefferson. In 1824, no candidate received a majority, and the United States House of Representatives favored John Quincy Adams over Andrew Jackson, even though Jackson had received a plurality in the Electoral College. The Electoral Commission of 1877 decided on strict party lines to award all disputed votes and the Presidency to Rutherford B. Hayes, the Republican. The history of the college has been uneventful since.
