1812 United States House of Representatives elections in Pennsylvania explained

Election Name:United States House of Representatives elections in Pennsylvania, 1812
Country:Pennsylvania
Type:legislative
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:United States House of Representatives elections in Pennsylvania, 1810
Previous Year:1810
Next Election:United States House of Representatives elections in Pennsylvania, 1814
Next Year:1814
Seats For Election:All 23[1] Pennsylvania seats to the United States House of Representatives
Election Date:October 13, 1812
Party1:Democratic-Republican
Last Election1:17
Seats1:22
Seat Change1: 5
Party2:Federalist Party (United States)
Last Election2:1
Seats2:1

Elections to the United States House of Representatives were held in Pennsylvania on October 13, 1812, for the 13th Congress.

Background

In the previous election, 17 Democratic-Republicans and 1 Federalist had been elected to represent Pennsylvania.

Congressional districts

Pennsylvania was divided at this time into 15 districts, 9 of which were single-member districts, five of which had two members, and one of which had four members. Following the 1810 census, Pennsylvania underwent redistricting. Most of the new districts had little correspondence to the former districts, for example, the old 3rd district was divided between the new 2nd, 3rd, and 7th districts. The 1st, 9th and 10th districts were unaltered, except for renumbering of the old 9th and 10th to 13th and 12th respectively, and the addition of a 4th seat to the 1st district.

Election results

Sixteen incumbents (all Democratic-Republicans) ran for re-election, of whom 14 were re-elected. The incumbents James Milnor (F) of the and Joseph Lefever (DR) of the old did not run for re-election. The two incumbents who lost re-election lost to members of the same party, while six of the seven open seats were won by Democratic-Republicans, a net increase of 5 seats for the Democratic-Republicans and no change for the Federalists.

1812 United States House election results
District colspan="3" Democratic-Republican colspan="3" FederalistUnknown

4 seats
Adam Seybert (I)7,71213.7%Joseph Hopkinson6,42111.4%
William Anderson (I)7,69713.7%Joseph S. Lewis6,42011.4%
Charles J. Ingersoll7,68513.6%Samuel Harvey6,41511.4%
John Conard7,63713.5%William Pennock6,39311.3%

2 seats
Roger Davis (I)5,81526.2%Samuel Henderson5,29823.8%
Jonathan Roberts (I)5,81026.1%Francis Gardner5,29523.8%

2 seats
James Whitehill5,32027.6%John Gloninger5,03026.1%
Jacob Bucher4,60823.9%Amos Slaymaker[2] 4,32922.4%
Hugh Glasgow2,09858.6%Jacob Eichelberger1,48441.4%

2 seats
Robert Whitehill (I)4,86427.5%Edward Crawford4,05422.9%
William Crawford (I)4,76726.9%James Duncan4,01222.7%

2 seats
Robert Brown (I)5,94930.5%William Rodman (I[3])3,74419.2%
Samuel D. Ingham5,93830.4%William Lattimore3,57518.3%
Samuel Sitgreaves3281.7%
John M. Hyneman (I)2,65259.4%Daniel Rose1,81040.6%
William Piper (I)2,03363.5%Samuel Riddle1,17136.%
David Bard (I)3,77976.0%John Blair1,19124.0%

2 seats
Jared Irwin3,52623.4%Nathan Beach1,3038.6%
Isaac Smith3,34622.2%Enoch Smith1,3018.6%
George Smith (I)2,83118.8%
Daniel Montgomery2,76518.3%
William Findley (I)2,02455.3%Thomas Pollock1,63644.7%
Aaron Lyle (I)2,41073.5%Joseph Pentecost82325.1%
Thomas L. Burch481.5%
John Smilie (I)1,55060.4%Thomas Meason1,01739.6%
Adamson Tannehill1,41948.0%John Woods1,16239.3%John Wilson37412.7%
Abner Lacock2,16762.8%Roger Alden85524.8%
Robert Moore42712.4%

Special elections

Special elections for the first session

Three of the re-elected Representatives did not serve in the 13th Congress, two of whom did not finish their term in the 12th Congress either.[4] John Smilie (DR), re-elected to the, died on December 30, 1812, and Abner Lacock (DR), re-elected to the, resigned February 24, 1813, after being elected to the Senate. Smilie was replaced by Isaac Griffin in a special election held February 16, 1813. The only record of that election is a manuscript which indicates he won by a 779-vote majority, but does not record the name(s) of his opponent(s) nor the total number of votes cast. Robert Whitehill (DR) of the died April 8, 1813.[5] The election in the 5th district was held May 11, 1813, and in the 15th on May 4, 1813

May, 1813 Special election results
District colspan="3" Democratic-Republican colspan="3" FederalistUnknown
John Rea2,53455.7%Edward Crawford2,01144.3%
[6] Thomas Wilson69078.9%Robert Morse809.1%
Patrick Farrelly708.0%Others354.0%

Neither seat changed political parties, and both took their seats at the beginning of the 1st session of the 13th Congress, which lasted May 24 - August 2, 1813[5]

Special elections for the 2nd session

John Gloninger (F) of the and John M. Hyneman (DR) of the both resigned August 2, 1813, at the end of the 1st session. They were replaced in special elections held on October 12, 1813

October 12, 1813, special election results
District colspan="3" Democratic-Republican colspan="3" FederalistUnknown
Edward Crouch4,55062.0%William Wallace2,79038.0%
Daniel Udree2,01661.4%David Hottenstein82525.1%David Kirby44513.5%

Both took their seats December 6, 1813, at the start of the 2nd session. With Crouch's victory in the 3rd district, the sole Federalist-held seat in Pennsylvania changed to Democratic-Republican control, thus Pennsylvania's delegation was completely Democratic-Republican during the 2nd session, which lasted December 6, 1813 - April 18, 1814[5]

Special elections for the third session

Jonathan Roberts (DR) of the resigned February 24, 1814, upon being elected to the Senate and James Whitehill (DR) of the resigned September 1, 1814. Both were replaced in a special election held October 11, 1814, the same day as the 1814 congressional elections.

1814 Special election results
District colspan="3" Democratic-Republican colspan="3" Federalist
[7] John Hahn4,70249.6%Samuel Henderson4,77350.4%
John Whiteside2,42844.1%Amos Slaymaker3,07855.9%

Both seats changed from Democratic-Republican to Federalist control, so that for the 3rd session, Pennsylvania's delegation was 21 Democratic-Republicans and 2 Federalists.

References

  1. 5 seats gained in reapportionment
  2. Elected in subsequent special election
  3. Changed parties
  4. Web site: 12th Congress membership roster . 2012-12-15 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121213141136/http://artandhistory.house.gov/house_history/bioguide-front/12.pdf . 2012-12-13 . dead .
  5. Web site: 13th Congress membership roster . 2012-12-18 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121213140702/http://artandhistory.house.gov/house_history/bioguide-front/13.pdf . 2012-12-13 . dead .
  6. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=362931 Election details from Ourcampaigns.com
  7. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=362913 Election details from Ourcampaigns.com