Since 1845 -- the First Tuesday of November

from Old Farmer's Almanac listserv (e-newsletter):

November 6—Election Day (U.S.)By an act of Congress in 1845, the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November was designated Election Day. This year, as Americans elect their next president, we thought we’d share this interesting fact about the title of “President”:

It seems impossible to think of our chief executive as anything but “the President,” but in 1789 John Adams had other ideas. After George Washington was unanimously elected to be the nation’s first leader, Congress had to decide on his title. When “The President of the United States” was suggested, Vice President–Elect John Adams disagreed, saying that the title was not dignified enough—after all, he argued, even fire companies and cricket clubs had presidents. Instead, he believed that the leader of the United States needed a grander title, and humbly suggested “His Most Benign Highness.” His peers, including George Washington himself, no doubt thought that Adams’s grandiose suggestion was too reminiscent of the titles of English royalty, and insisted on the more down-to-earth “The President of the United States of America."

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