The president of the United States is elected every four years by way of the electoral college, a system devised by the creators of the Constitution that today requires a candidate to secure at least 270 electoral votes from the states to win. That means the history of presidential elections is one best told through maps.
Election of 1789
American presidential election, 1789Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. On February 4, 1789, George Washington was unanimously chosen to be the first president of the United States.
Election of 1792
American presidential election, 1792Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. In December 1792, electors from 15 states voted George Washington to his second term as president.
Election of 1796
American presidential election, 1796Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. John Adams narrowly defeated Thomas Jefferson in 1796.
Election of 1800
American presidential election, 1800Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Incumbent John Adams once again ran against Thomas Jefferson in 1800. Electoral voters tied, which meant that the House of Representatives would decide the election; it chose Jefferson.
Election of 1804
American presidential election, 1804Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. In 1804 Thomas Jefferson, the incumbent, won decisively over Charles Cotesworth Pinckney.
Election of 1808
American presidential election, 1808Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. After Thomas Jefferson chose not to run for a third term, his fellow Democratic-Republican James Madison defeated Charles Cotesworth Pinckney in 1808.
Election of 1812
American presidential election, 1812Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. In the midst of war James Madison was reelected in 1812, defeating DeWitt Clinton.
Election of 1816
American presidential election, 1816Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. James Monroe was elected by a wide margin over Rufus King in 1816.
Election of 1820
American presidential election, 1820Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. James Monroe had no opponents in 1820; he was thus elected to a second term.
Election of 1824
American presidential election, 1824Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Although Andrew Jackson received the most electoral votes in 1824, John Quincy Adams was chosen president by the House of Representatives.
Election of 1828
American presidential election, 1828Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. In 1828 Andrew Jackson defeated the incumbent, John Quincy Adams.
Election of 1832
American presidential election, 1832Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Andrew Jackson easily won reelection over Henry Clay in 1832.
Election of 1836
American presidential election, 1836Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. In 1836 Martin Van Buren defeated several Whig candidates.
Election of 1840
American presidential election, 1840Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. In 1840 William Henry Harrison prevented Martin Van Buren from winning a second term.
Election of 1844
American presidential election, 1844Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. James K. Polk defeated Henry Clay in 1844.
Election of 1848
American presidential election, 1848Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. As the United States continued to expand westward, Zachary Taylor defeated Lewis Cass in 1848.
Election of 1852
American presidential election, 1852Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. In 1852 Franklin Pierce defeated Winfield Scott, the last Whig Party nominee to run for president.
Election of 1856
American presidential election, 1856Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. In 1856 James Buchanan defeated John C. Frémont and, by a much wider margin, former president Millard Fillmore.
Election of 1860
American presidential election, 1860Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Abraham Lincoln defeated three other candidates in 1860; seven Southern states seceded between his election and his inauguration, in January 1861.
Election of 1864
American presidential election, 1864Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Abraham Lincoln won reelection over George B. McClellan in 1864 as the Civil War continued; only the states that had remained in the Union voted.
Election of 1868
American presidential election, 1868Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. In 1868 Ulysses S. Grant defeated Horatio Seymour.
Election of 1872
American presidential election, 1872Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. In 1872 Ulysses S. Grant won reelection; he defeated Horace Greeley.
Election of 1876
American presidential election, 1876Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. In one of the most disputed presidential elections in American history, Rutherford B. Hayes won by one electoral vote in 1876; Samuel J. Tilden lost.
Election of 1880
American presidential election, 1880Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. In 1880 James A. Garfield defeated Winfield Scott Hancock.
Election of 1884
American presidential election, 1884Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. In 1884 Grover Cleveland defeated James G. Blaine.
Election of 1888
American presidential election, 1888Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. In 1888 Benjamin Harrison defeated the incumbent, Grover Cleveland.
Election of 1892
American presidential election, 1892Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. In 1892 Grover Cleveland defeated the incumbent, Benjamin Harrison, thereby becoming the first president to serve discontinuous terms.
Election of 1896
American presidential election, 1896 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Results of the American presidential election, 1896
William McKinley defeated William Jennings Bryan in 1896; it would be the first of Bryan’s three losses in presidential elections.
Election of 1900
American presidential election, 1900 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Results of the American presidential election, 1900
In 1900 the incumbent, William McKinley, defeated William Jennings Bryan.
Election of 1904
American presidential election, 1904Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Theodore Roosevelt, who had become president in 1901 after William McKinley’s death, defeated Alton B. Parker in 1904.
Election of 1908
American presidential election, 1908 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Results of the American presidential election, 1908
In 1908 William Howard Taft defeated William Jennings Bryan.
Election of 1912
American presidential election, 1912Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Woodrow Wilson defeated two major candidates in 1912: Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft, the incumbent.
Election of 1916
American presidential election, 1916Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Woodrow Wilson won reelection by defeating Charles Evans Hughes in 1916.
Election of 1920
American presidential election, 1920Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. In 1920 Warren G. Harding defeated James M. Cox.
Election of 1924
American presidential election, 1924Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. In 1924 Calvin Coolidge defeated John W. Davis and Robert M. La Follette.
Election of 1928
American presidential election, 1928Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Herbert Hoover defeated Al Smith by a substantial margin in 1928.
Election of 1932
American presidential election, 1932Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. In 1932, during the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated Herbert Hoover, the incumbent.
Election of 1936
American presidential election, 1936Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. In 1936 Franklin D. Roosevelt was reelected by a large margin, defeating Alf Landon.
Election of 1940
American presidential election, 1940Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected to an unprecedented third term in 1940, defeating Wendell Willkie.
Election of 1944
American presidential election, 1944Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Franklin D. Roosevelt secured his fourth term in 1944, during World War II, when he defeated Thomas E. Dewey.
Election of 1948
American presidential election, 1948 Results of the American presidential election, 1948.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.In 1948 Harry S. Truman, who had become president after the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945, defeated Thomas E. Dewey.
Election of 1952
American presidential election, 1952Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. In 1952 Dwight D. Eisenhower defeated Adlai E. Stevenson.
Election of 1956
American presidential election, 1956Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. As he had done in 1952, Dwight D. Eisenhower defeated Adlai E. Stevenson in 1956.
Election of 1960
American presidential election, 1960 Results of the American presidential election, 1960. Sources: Electoral and popular vote totals based on data from the Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives and Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections, 4th ed. (2001).Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.In 1960 John F. Kennedy defeated Richard Nixon.
Election of 1964
American presidential election, 1964 Results of the American presidential election, 1964. Sources: Electoral and popular vote totals based on data from the Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives and Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections, 4th ed. (2001).Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Lyndon B. Johnson, who had become president after John F. Kennedy died in 1963, decisively defeated Barry Goldwater in 1964.
Election of 1968
American presidential election, 1968 Results of the American presidential election, 1968. Sources: Electoral and popular vote totals based on data from the Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives and Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections, 4th ed. (2001).Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.In 1968 Richard Nixon defeated Hubert Humphrey and George Wallace.
Election of 1972
American presidential election, 1972 Results of the American presidential election, 1972. Sources: Electoral and popular vote totals based on data from the Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives and Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections, 4th ed. (2001).Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.In 1972 Richard Nixon, the incumbent, won a massive victory over George McGovern.
Election of 1976
American presidential election, 1976 Results of the American presidential election, 1976. Source: Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.In 1976 Jimmy Carter defeated Gerald Ford, who had become president after Richard Nixon’s resignation in 1974.
Election of 1980
American presidential election, 1980 Results of the American presidential election, 1980. Sources: Electoral and popular vote totals based on data from the Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives; United States Office of the Federal Register; and Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections, 4th ed. (2001).Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.In 1980 Ronald Reagan defeated incumbent president Jimmy Carter.
Election of 1984
American presidential election, 1984Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. In 1984 Ronald Reagan defeated Walter Mondale by a vast margin.
Election of 1988
American presidential election, 1988Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. George H.W. Bush defeated Michael Dukakis in 1988.
Election of 1992
American presidential election, 1992Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. In 1992 Bill Clinton defeated George H.W. Bush, the incumbent.
Election of 1996
American presidential election, 1996Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Bill Clinton won reelection by defeating Bob Dole in 1996.
Election of 2000
American presidential election, 2000Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. In 2000 George W. Bush defeated Al Gore in a closely contested election.
Election of 2004
American presidential election, 2004Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. In 2004 George W. Bush won a second term by defeating John Kerry.
Election of 2008
results of the American presidential election, 2008Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. In 2008 Barack Obama defeated John McCain; he became the first Black president.
Election of 2012
results of the 2012 United States presidential election Results of the United States presidential election, 2012.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.In 2012 Barack Obama was elected to a second term, defeating Mitt Romney.
Election of 2016
United States presidential election of 2016 Results of the U.S. presidential election, 2016.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Election of 2020
United States presidential election of 2020 Results of the U.S. presidential election, 2020.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.In 2020 Joe Biden defeated the incumbent, Donald Trump.