The Constitution ~ Lesson 4 The New Government

New powers included:

One of the first things the Congress did was tell George Washington he had been elected the first President of the United States of America. On April 30, 1789 Washington took the oath of office in New York City.
Today the President and Vice President are elected every four years on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November. Anyone over the age of 18 who is a U.S. citizen can vote in that election. The winner of the total vote is said to be the winner of the Popular vote. However the President and Vice President are really elected by a group of people called electors. Each state has the same number of electors as they have Senators and Representatives (535). After the Popular Vote in November, the electors vote. They give the electoral votes from their states to one candidate or the other. The one who has the most electoral votes wins the election. In most cases the electors vote for the same candidate that the people of their states voted for. There have been a few times in history when different candidates won the popular and the electoral votes.