A census in the summer of 1791 showed the territory's population to be 35,691. There were 6,271 free adult white males, more than the 5,000 needed for the territory to organize a legislature. Blount, however, waited until 1793 to call for elections. Members of the territorial House of Representatives (the lower chamber of the legislature) were elected in December 1793, and the first House session convened on February 24, 1794. The representatives nominated ten individuals for appointment to the territorial council (the legislature's upper chamber), five of whom— Griffith Rutherford, John Sevier, James Winchester, Stockley Donelson and Parmenas Taylor— were eventually appointed by President Washington. Rutherford was chosen as the council's president.