1836–37 United States House of Representatives elections explained

Election Name:	1836–37 United States House of Representatives elections
Country:	United States
Flag Year:	1836
Type:	legislative
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	1834–35 United States House of Representatives elections
Next Election:	1838–39 United States House of Representatives elections
Majority Seats:	122
Election Date:	July 4, 1836 – November 7, 1837
Party1:	Democratic Party (US)
Image1:	File:JKP.jpg
Last Election1:	143 seats
Seats1:	128
Seat Change1:	15
Popular Vote1:	801,767
Percentage1:	50.15%
Swing1:	1.26%
Party2:	Whig Party (US)
Last Election2:	75 seats
Seats2:	100
Seat Change2:	25
Popular Vote2:	731,627
Percentage2:	45.77%
Swing2:	2.89%
Party4:	Anti-Masonic Party
Last Election4:	16 seats
Seats4:	7
Seat Change4:	9
Popular Vote4:	48,329
Percentage4:	3.02%
Swing4:	0.05%
Party5:	Nullifier Party
Last Election5:	8 seats
Seats5:	6
Seat Change5:	2
Popular Vote5:	1,261
Percentage5:	0.08%
Swing5:	1.11%
Party7:	Independent (US)
Last Election7:	1 seat
Seats7:	1
Popular Vote7:	15,606
Percentage7:	0.98%
Swing7:	2.23%

Before Party:	Democratic Party (US)
After Party:	Democratic Party (US)

The 1836–37 United States House of Representatives elections were held on various dates in various states between July 4, 1836, and November 7, 1837. Each state set its own date for its elections to the House of Representatives, either before or after the first session of the 25th United States Congress convened on September 4, 1837. With Arkansas and Michigan officially achieving statehood in 1836 and 1837, respectively, the size of the House was set at 242 seats.

Though Democrat Martin Van Buren was elected president in November 1836, Democrats lost seats. The newly organizing Whigs benefited from regional candidacies and issues and voter fatigue with outgoing two-term President Andrew Jackson. Jackson, a flamboyant public personality with a record of high-profile leadership and historic military success, often clashed with Congress and the Supreme Court. By comparison, Van Buren, a brilliant partisan organizer and political operative, was less charismatic in looks and demeanor. Voter support for the minor Anti-Masonic and Nullifier parties ebbed, but remained significant. One Independent, John Pope, was elected from Kentucky.

Election summaries

↓
128	7	1	6	100
Democratic	AM	I	N	Whig

State	Type	↑ Date	Total seats	Anti-Masonic	Democratic	Independent	Nullifier	Whig
State	Type	↑ Date	Total seats	Seats	Change	Seats	Change	Seats	Change	Seats	Change	Seats	Change
Louisiana	Districts	nowrap	August 1, 1836	3		0				1				0				0				2
Illinois	Districts	nowrap	August 1, 1836	3		0				3				0				0				0
Missouri	At-large	nowrap	August 1, 1836	2		0				2		1		0				0				0		1
Vermont	Districts	nowrap	September 6, 1836	5		0		2		1		1		0				0				4		1
Maine	Districts	nowrap	September 12, 1836	8		0				6				0				0				2
Georgia	At-large	nowrap	October 3, 1836	9		0				8		1		0				0				1		1
South Carolina	Districts	nowrap data-sort-value="October 11, 1836"	October 10–11, 1836	9		0				2				0				6		1		1		1
Ohio	Districts	nowrap	October 11, 1836	19		0		1		8		1		0				0				11		2
Pennsylvania	Districts	nowrap	October 11, 1836	28		7		1		18		1		0				0				3
Delaware	At-large	nowrap	November 8, 1836	1		0				0				0				0				1
New York	Districts	nowrap data-sort-value="November 9, 1836"	November 7–9, 1836	40		0				30		1		0				0				10		1
Massachusetts	Districts	nowrap	November 14, 1836	12		0		3		2		1		0				0				10		2
New Jersey	At-large	nowrap	November 16, 1836	6		0				0		6		0				0				6		6
Late elections (after the March 4, 1837, beginning of the term)
New Hampshire	At-large	nowrap	March 14, 1837	5		0				5				0				0				0
Connecticut	Districts	nowrap	April 3, 1837	6		0				6				0				0				0
Virginia	Districts	nowrap	April 27, 1837	21		0				15		1		0				0				6		1
Maryland	Districts	nowrap	July 26, 1837	8		0				4				0				0				4
Tennessee	Districts	nowrap	August 3, 1837	13		0				3		1		0				0				10		1
Indiana	Districts	nowrap	August 7, 1837	7		0				1		5		0				0				6		5
Kentucky	Districts	nowrap	August 7, 1837	13		0				1		3		1		1		0				11		2
Alabama	Districts	nowrap	August 8, 1837	5		0				3				0				0		1		2		1
North Carolina	Districts	nowrap	August 10, 1837	13		0				5		2		0				0				8		2
Michigan	At-large	nowrap	August 22, 1837	1		0				1				0				0				0
Rhode Island	At-large	nowrap	August 29, 1837	2		0		2		0				0				0				2		2
Later elections (after the September 4, 1837, beginning of special session)
Arkansas	At-large	nowrap	October 2, 1837	1		0				1				0				0				0
Mississippi	At-large	nowrap data-sort-value="November 7, 1837"	November 6–7, 1837	2		0				0		2		0				0				2		2
Total			242		7		9		128		15		1		1		6		2		100		25

Special elections

There were special elections in 1836 and 1837 to the 24th United States Congress and 25th United States Congress.

Special elections are sorted by date then district.

24th Congress

Note: In some sources, parties are listed as "Democrats" and "Whigs." However, they are listed here as "Jacksonian" and "Anti-Jacksonian" (respectively) to conform to the party names as they were regarded during the 24th United States Congress.

|-! | Andrew T. Judson| | Jacksonian| 1835| | Incumbent resigned July 4, 1836, to become judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.
New member elected in mid-to-late 1836 and seated December 5, 1836.
Jacksonian hold.
Winner later elected to the next term; see below.| nowrap |

|-! | Philemon Dickerson| | Jacksonian| 1832| | Incumbent resigned November 3, 1836, to become Governor of New Jersey.
New member elected November 15–16, 1836 and seated December 5, 1836.
National Republican gain.
Winner was not a candidate for the next term; see below.| nowrap |

25th Congress

|-! rowspan=2 | | John F. H. Claiborne| | Democratic| 1835| rowspan=2 | Mississippi elected its members in November of odd numbered years (after the beginning of the term). As Congress had been called to meet in September, the governor ordered a special election to fill vacancies until the regular election.
Incumbents re-elected July 18, 1837 and seated September 4, 1837.^[3]
Democratic hold.
At their request the question of the validity of their election was referred to the Committee on Elections. The House decided October 3, 1837, they had been elected for the full term.| rowspan=2 nowrap |

|-| Samuel J. Gholson| | Democratic| 1836

Alabama

|-!

Arkansas

24th Congress

The new state of Arkansas was admitted to the Union on June 15, 1836, and elected its sole at-large member August 1, 1836. He was seated December 5, 1836, to finish the term that would end the following March.

25th Congress

Arkansas elected its member October 2, 1837, this time for a full term.

Connecticut

See also: List of United States representatives from Connecticut. Connecticut went from six at-large seats to six districts for the first time. Elections were held April 3, 1837, after the new term began but before the Congress convened. All incumbents from the were re-elected in districts.

Delaware

|-!

Florida Territory

See Non-voting delegates, below.

Georgia

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Illinois

Illinois elected its three members on August 1, 1834.

Adam W. Snyder (Democratic) 40.4%
John Reynolds (Democratic) 39.4%
William J. Gatewood (Whig) 20.2%^[4]

Zadok Casey (Democratic) 65.8%
Alexander P. Field (Whig) 32.9%
Nathaniel Harmison (Independent) 1.3%^[5]

William L. May (Democratic) 54.0%
John T. Stuart (Whig) 46.0%^[6]

Indiana

|-!

Kentucky

|-!

Louisiana

|-!

Maine

Maine elected its members September 12, 1836, except one district went to multiple ballots later in the year.

|-!

|-! | Gorham Parks| | Democratic | 1833| | Unknown if incumbent retired or lost renomination.
New member elected after two ballots.
Democratic hold.| nowrap | Second ballot |}

Maryland

|-!

|-! rowspan=2 |
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|-!

Massachusetts

Elections were held November 14, 1836.

Michigan

Michigan elected its sole member late on August 22, 1837.

Isaac E. Crary (Democratic) 52.6%
Hezekiah Wells (Whig) 47.4%^[7]

Mississippi

See also: List of United States representatives from Mississippi. A special election was held in Mississippi on July 17–18, 1837. Its winners were Democrats John F. H. Claiborne and Samuel J. Gholson. The first session of the 25th Congress was a special session beginning on September 4, 1837, extending to October 16. In November, Mississippi, held the regular election. Seargent Smith Prentiss, a Vicksburg lawyer and Whig, unexpectedly launched a vigorous, partisan campaign. He and fellow Whig Thomas J. Word won in an upset. Claiborne and Gholson then argued that the July result entitled them to serve full terms. With the Whig Party newly organizing, the closely divided House, in which Anti-Masons, Nullifiers, and the Independent tended to align more with Whigs and to oppose Democrats, agreed to hear Prentiss. He spoke for nine hours over three days, packing the gallery, drawing Senators, and earning a national reputation for oratory and public admiration from leading Whigs including Senators Clay and Webster. The Elections Committee then required a third election. Scheduled for April 1838, it confirmed the November result. Both Whigs were seated in May late in the second session, also serving for the third session.

Missouri

|-! rowspan=2 |
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New Hampshire

|-! rowspan=5 |
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New Jersey

|-! rowspan=6 |
|William Chetwood| | Whig|1836 (special)| | Incumbent retired.
Whig hold.| nowrap rowspan=6 | |-|Samuel Fowler| | Jacksonian|1832| | Incumbent retired.
Whig gain.|-|Thomas Lee| | Jacksonian|1832| | Incumbent retired.
Whig gain.|-|James Parker| | Jacksonian|1832| | Incumbent retired.
Whig gain.|-|Ferdinand S. Schenck| | Jacksonian|1832| | Incumbent retired.
Whig gain.|-|William Norton Shinn| | Jacksonian|1832| | Incumbent retired.
Whig gain.|}

New York

|-!

North Carolina

|-!

Ohio

|-!

Pennsylvania

District	Incumbent			This race
District	Member	Party	First elected	Results	Candidates^[8]
	Joel B. Sutherland		Jacksonian	1826		Incumbent lost re-election as a Whig. Democratic hold.	nowrap
	Joseph R. Ingersoll		Anti-Jacksonian	1834		Incumbent retired. Whig hold.
	James Harper		Anti-Jacksonian	1832		Incumbent retired. Whig hold.
	Michael W. Ash		Jacksonian	1834		Incumbent retired. Democratic hold. Harper died March 18, 1837, leading to a special election, which was won by Naylor.	nowrap
	William Hiester		Anti-Masonic	1830		Incumbent retired. Anti-Masonic hold.
	Edward Darlington		Anti-Masonic	1832	Incumbent re-elected.
	David Potts Jr.		Anti-Masonic	1830	Incumbent re-elected.
	Jacob Fry Jr.		Jacksonian	1834		Incumbent re-elected as a Democrat.	nowrap
	Mathias Morris		Anti-Jacksonian	1834		Incumbent re-elected as a Whig.	nowrap
	David D. Wagener		Jacksonian	1832		Incumbent re-elected as a Democrat.	nowrap
	Edward B. Hubley		Jacksonian	1834		Incumbent re-elected as a Democrat.	nowrap
	Henry A. P. Muhlenberg		Jacksonian	1828		Incumbent re-elected as a Democrat.	nowrap
	William Clark		Anti-Masonic	1832		Incumbent retired. Democratic gain.	nowrap
	Henry Logan		Jacksonian	1834		Incumbent re-elected as a Democrat.	nowrap
	George Chambers		Anti-Masonic	1832		Incumbent retired. Democratic gain.	nowrap
	Jesse Miller		Jacksonian	1832		Incumbent retired. Democratic hold.	nowrap
	Joseph Henderson		Jacksonian	1832		Incumbent retired. Democratic hold.	nowrap
	Andrew Beaumont		Jacksonian	1832		Incumbent retired. Democratic hold.	nowrap
	Joseph B. Anthony		Jacksonian	1832		Incumbent retired. Democratic hold.	nowrap
	John Laporte		Jacksonian	1832		Incumbent retired. Democratic hold.	nowrap
	Job Mann		Jacksonian	1832		Incumbent lost re-election. Anti-Masonic gain.	nowrap
	John Klingensmith Jr.		Jacksonian	1832		Incumbent re-elected as a Democrat.	nowrap
	Andrew Buchanan		Jacksonian	1832		Incumbent re-elected as a Democrat.	nowrap
	Thomas M. T. McKennan		Anti-Masonic	1830	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap
	Harmar Denny		Anti-Masonic	1829		Incumbent retired. Anti-Masonic hold.	nowrap
	Samuel S. Harrison		Jacksonian	1832		Incumbent retired. Democratic hold.	nowrap
	John Banks		Anti-Masonic	1830		Incumbent resigned April 2, 1836. Anti-Masonic hold.	nowrap
	John Galbraith		Jacksonian	1832		Incumbent retired. Democratic hold.	nowrap

Rhode Island

|-! rowspan=2 |
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South Carolina

|-!

|-!

Tennessee

Elections held late, on August 3, 1837

Vermont

Virginia

Francis Mallory (Whig) 50.3%
Joel Holleman (Democratic) 47.5%

Francis E. Rives (Democratic) 72.1%
William B. Goodwyn (Whig) 27.9%

John Winston Jones (Democratic) 100%

George Dromgoole (Democratic) 100%

James Bouldin (Democratic) 100%

Walter Coles (Democratic) 65.0%
John Kerr (Whig) 35.0%

Archibald Stuart (Democratic) 51.3%
Nathaniel Claiborne (Whig) 48.7%

Henry A. Wise (Whig) 64.1%
William C. Jones (Democratic) 35.9%

John Taliaferro (Whig) 54.0%
John Gibson (Democratic) 46.0%

John Robertson (Whig) 100%

James Garland (Democratic) 100%

John M. Patton (Democratic) 100%

Charles F. Mercer (Whig) 66.0%
William T. T. Mason (Democratic) 34.0%

James M. Mason (Democratic) 62.2%
John D. B. Smith (Whig) 37.8%

Isaac S. Pennybacker (Democratic) 63.0%
David Steele (Whig) 37.0%

Robert Craig (Democratic) 67.6%
E. Johnson (Whig) 32.4%

George W. Hopkins (Democratic) 64.6%
John N. Humes (Whig) 35.4%

Andrew Beirne (Democratic) 64.3%
Andrew Donnally (Whig) 35.7%

Joseph Johnson (Democratic) 63.1%
John J. Jackson (Whig) 36.9%

William S. Morgan (Democratic) 100%

Wisconsin Territory

See Non-voting delegates, below.

Non-voting delegates

Bibliography

Book: Dubin, Michael J. . United States Congressional Elections, 1788-1997: The Official Results of the Elections of the 1st Through 105th Congresses . March 1, 1998 . McFarland and Company . 978-0786402830 . .
Book: Martis, Kenneth C. . The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress, 1789-1989 . January 1, 1989 . Macmillan Publishing Company . 978-0029201701 . .
Book: Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections . 1994 . Congressional Quarterly Inc. . 978-0871879967 . Moore . John L. . Third . .
Web site: Party Divisions of the House of Representatives* 1789–Present . January 21, 2015 . Office of the Historian, House of United States House of Representatives.

External links

Office of the Historian (Office of Art & Archives, Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)

Notes and References

Web site: Twenty-Fourth Congress March 4, 1835, to March 3, 1837 . August 12, 2019 . . March 16, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200316110419/https://historycms2.house.gov/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=40884 . dead .
Web site: Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress - Retro Member details . bioguideretro.congress.gov.
Web site: Twenty-fifth Congress March 4, 1837, to March 3, 1839 . April 9, 2019 . . December 23, 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181223011415/https://historycms2.house.gov/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=40885 . dead .
Web site: IL District 1 Race - Aug 01, 1836 . Our Campaigns . March 23, 2010 . April 13, 2022 .
Web site: IL District 02 Race - Aug 01, 1836 . Our Campaigns . March 23, 2010 . April 13, 2022 .
Web site: IL District 03 Race - Aug 01, 1836 . Our Campaigns . March 23, 2010 . April 13, 2022 .
Web site: MI - District 01 Race - Aug 21, 1837 . Our Campaigns . January 11, 2010 . June 27, 2022 .
Web site: Cox . Harold E. . 25th Congress 18371839 . Wilkes University Election Statistics Project . January 13, 2007.