The First Presidential Contest - 1796 and the Founding of American Democracy

At first glance, the first American presidential contest looks unfamiliar - parties were frowned upon, there was no national vote, and the candidates did not even participate (the political mores of the day forbade it). Yet for all that, Jeffrey L. Pasley contends, the election of 1796 was “absolutely seminal”, setting the stage for all of American politics to follow.