1794 United States House of Representatives elections in Pennsylvania explained

Election Name:United States House of Representatives elections in Pennsylvania, 1794
Country:Pennsylvania
Type:legislative
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:United States House of Representatives election in Pennsylvania, 1792
Previous Year:1792
Next Election:United States House of Representatives elections in Pennsylvania, 1796
Next Year:1796
Seats For Election:All 13 Pennsylvania seats to the United States House of Representatives
Election Date:October 14, 1794
Party1:Democratic-Republican
Last Election1:8
Seats1:9
Seat Change1: 1
Party2:Federalist Party (United States)
Last Election2:5
Seats2:4
Seat Change2: 1
Map Size:250px

Elections to the House of Representatives were held in Pennsylvania on October 14, 1794, for the Fourth Congress.

Background

Thirteen Representatives, 8 Anti-Administration (Democratic-Republican) and 5 Pro-Administration (Federalist), had been elected in the previous election on an at-large basis, the last time that Pennsylvania elected all of its representatives at-large. Ten incumbents (6 Anti-Administration and 4 Pro-Administration) ran for re-election.

Congressional districts

For the 1794 elections, Pennsylvania divided itself into 12 districts, one of which (the) was a plural district, with 2 Representatives. These districts remained in use until redistricting after the census of 1800.

The counties that made up the 5th district did not border each other. That district was therefore made up of two separate pieces rather than being a single contiguous entity

Note: Many of these counties covered much larger areas in 1794 than they do today, having since been divided into numerous counties

Election returns

Ten incumbents (6 Democratic-Republicans and 4 Federalists) ran for re-election. The incumbents James Armstrong (F), from the 9th district, William Montgomery (DR) from the 11th district, and John Smilie (DR) from the 12th district did not run for re-election.[1] Smilie would later return to the House in 1798, where he would remain until his death in 1812. Of the ten who ran for re-election, 6 (4 Democratic-Republicans and 2 Federalists) were re-elected. A total of 9 Democratic-Republicans and 4 Federalists were elected, a net gain of one seat for the Democratic-Republicans over the previous election.

Election results are unavailable from the 5th, 7th, 8th, and 11th districts, and are incomplete for the 9th.

1794 United States House election results
District colspan="3" Democratic-Republican colspan="3" FederalistOther candidates
John Swanwick1,24051.2%Thomas Fitzsimons (I)1,18248.8%
Frederick Muhlenberg (I)65656.3%Samuel Miles51043.7%
Thomas Ross57131.8%Richard Thomas1,22268.2%

2 seats
James Morris1,648[2] 20.2%Samuel Sitgreaves2,59436.2%James Barclay (party unknown)1952.4%
John Richards1,63520.0%
Robert Lollar1,07213.1%
Peter Muhlenberg (I)6618.1%
colspan=3 Daniel Hiester (I)
Samuel Maclay1,88246.0%John Carson43810.7%
John A. Hanna1,72243.3%
colspan=3 John W. Kittera (I)
colspan=3 Thomas Hartley (I)
colspan=3 Andrew Gregg (I)James Wallace
William Irvine (I)
David Bard1,80852.9%James Chambers51915.2%
James McLane1,09031.9%
colspan=3 William Findley (I)
Albert Gallatin76933.1%Thomas Scott (I)64327.7%
Daniel Hamilton37716.2%Isaac Tichenor25611.0%
Hugh H. Brackenridge1406.0%John Woods1975.9%

In the, John Richards (DR) disputed the official returns (shown above) which showed himself in 3rd place and James Morris (DR) in 2nd. The Governor of Pennsylvania only issued certification for Samuel Sitgreaves (F). On July 10, 1795, before the House could act on the dispute, Morris died. The House voted Richards the legitimate winner of 2nd place, with the revised vote totals being 1,791 for Richards and 1,688 for Morris

Special elections

Daniel Hiester (DR), re-elected to the 5th district, resigned on July 1, 1796. A special election was held on October 11, 1796 (the same day as the 1796 general elections) to fill the resulting vacancy. Hiester would later be elected to in 1800

1796 Special election
District colspan="3" Democratic-Republican colspan="3" Federalist
Joseph Hiester1,55343.2%George Ege2,03956.8%

Joseph Hiester was a cousin of Daniel.

See also

References

  1. District assignments based on residence information given in the 1792 returns
  2. A dispute arose over whether James Morris or John Richards was in second place, see below for more details