Yes. Believing that political parties were complicated, if not outright detrimental to society, America’s Founding Fathers were set on developing a system for electing presidents without the aid of political parties and national campaigns. When George Washington was elected president in early 1789, he was the first and last president to do so without the support of a political party. When the Constitution of the United States was ratified, the electoral college unanimously elected Washington president, an act they repeated in 1792. Although this method worked fine for Washington, its weaknesses were revealed with the development of political parties, and ultimately the original design of the electoral college system lasted only through four presidential elections.