1816–17 United States House of Representatives elections explained

Election Name:	1816–17 United States House of Representatives elections
Country:	United States
Flag Year:	1795
Type:	legislative
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	1814–15 United States House of Representatives elections
Next Election:	1818–19 United States House of Representatives elections
Majority Seats:	93
Election Date:	April 30, 1816 – August 14, 1817
Party1:	Democratic-Republican Party
Image1:	Henry Clay.JPG
Last Election1:	119 seats
Seats1:	144
Seat Change1:	25
Party2:	Federalist Party
Last Election2:	64 seats
Seats2:	40
Seat Change2:	24
Speaker
Before Party:	Democratic-Republican Party
After Party:	Democratic-Republican Party

The 1816–17 United States House of Representatives elections were held on various dates in various states between April 30, 1816 and August 14, 1817. Each state set its own date for its elections to the House of Representatives before the first session of the 15th United States Congress convened on December 1, 1817. The size of the House increased to 184 after Indiana and Mississippi achieved statehood.

The Democratic-Republican Party entered the election with a large majority, yet made sizable gains, helping trigger the virtually nonpartisan Era of Good Feelings under new President James Monroe, elected in 1816.

Two major events combined to help eliminate the declining Federalist Party from meaningful contention. First, the War of 1812 had concluded in 1815 with a feeling of national pride and relief, with the small American military fighting the much more powerful British forces to a draw punctuated by General Andrew Jackson's dramatic victory at the Battle of New Orleans. Federalists had opposed the risky but ultimately successful war, with some New England Federalists advocating radical measures at the Hartford Convention. Second, the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora in present-day Indonesia, itself the most powerful in recorded history and following other major eruptions, temporarily disrupted global climate. The effects severely damaged the agricultural economy of New England, where Federalist support was strongest, causing privation, popular discontent, and mass emigration westward.

Election summaries

Mississippi was admitted as a state in 1817 during the 15th Congress, adding one seat.

↓
144	40
Democratic-Republican	Federalist

State	Type	Date	Total seats	Federalist
State	Type	Date	Total seats	Seats	Change	Seats	Change
New York	Districts	April 30 – May 2, 1816	27	22	1	5	1
Louisiana	At-large	July 1–3, 1816	1	1		0
Kentucky	Districts	August 5, 1816	10	10		0
New Hampshire	At-large	August 26, 1816	6	6	6	0	6
Rhode Island	At-large	August 27, 1816	2	0		2
Vermont	At-large	September 3, 1816	6	6	6	0	6
Connecticut	At-large	September 16, 1816	7	0		7
Maryland	Districts	October 6, 1816	9	5	1	4	1
Delaware	At-large	October 7, 1816	2	1	1	1	1
Georgia	At-large	October 7, 1816	6	6		0
Ohio	Districts	October 8, 1816	6	5	1	1	1
Pennsylvania	Districts	October 8, 1816	23	19	1	4	1
South Carolina	Districts	October 14–15, 1816	9	9	1	0	1
Massachusetts	Districts	November 4, 1816	20	9	7	11	7
New Jersey	At-large	November 4–5, 1816	6	6		0
Late elections (after the March 4, 1817 beginning of the term)
Virginia	Districts	April 1817	23	20	1	3	1
Indiana	At-large	August 4, 1817	1	1		0
Mississippi	At-large	August 4–5, 1817	1	1	1	0
Tennessee	Districts	August 7–8, 1817	6	6		0
North Carolina	Districts	August 14, 1817	13	11		2
Total	184		144	25	40	24

Special elections

There were special elections in 1816 and 1817 to the 14th United States Congress and 15th United States Congress.

Special elections are sorted by date then district.

14th Congress

|-! | Nathaniel Macon| | Democratic-Republican| 1791| | Incumbent resigned December 15, 1815 when elected U.S. Senator.
New member elected January 22, 1816.
Democratic-Republican hold.
Successor seated February 7, 1816.
Winner was later re-elected to the next term; see below.| nowrap |

|-!
(Seat A)| Nicholas R. Moore| | Democratic-Republican| 1803
1810
1812| | Incumbent resigned in 1815.
New member elected January 27, 1816.
Democratic-Republican hold.
Successor seated February 4, 1816.
Successor was later re-elected to the next term; see below.| nowrap |

|-! | Peter B. Porter| | Democratic-Republican| 1808
1812
1814| | Incumbent resigned January 23, 1816
New member elected April 30 – May 2, 1816.
Democratic-Republican hold.
Successor seated December 2, 1816.
Winner was not elected to the next term; see below.| nowrap |

|-! | William R. King| | Democratic-Republican| 1810| | Incumbent resigned, effective November 4, 1816.
New member elected before August 16, 1816.
Democratic-Republican hold.
Successor seated December 2, 1816.
Winner later lost re-election to the next term; see below.| nowrap |

|-! | Richard Stanford| | Democratic-Republican| 1796| | Incumbent died April 16, 1816.
New member elected before August 22, 1816.
Democratic-Republican hold.
Successor seated December 2, 1816.
Winner later lost re-election to the next term; see below.| nowrap |

|-! | Enos T. Throop| | Democratic-Republican| 1814| | Incumbent resigned June 4, 1816 after losing re-election.
New member elected August 27–29, 1816.
Democratic-Republican hold.
Successor seated December 3, 1816.
Winner was not elected to the next term; see below.| nowrap |

|-!
(Seat B)| William Pinkney| | Democratic-Republican| 1790
1791
1814| | Incumbent resigned April 18, 1816 to become Minister to Russia.
New member elected September 3, 1816.
Democratic-Republican hold.
Successor seated December 2, 1816.
Successor was later re-elected to the next term; see below.| nowrap |

|-! | Alexander C. Hanson| | Federalist| 1812| | Incumbent resigned after being elected to the Senate.
New member elected October 6, 1816.
Federalist hold.
Successor seated December 2, 1816.
Successor also elected the same day to the next term; see below.| nowrap |

|-! | John McLean| | Democratic-Republican| 1812| | Incumbent resigned in April 1816 after being appointed to the Supreme Court of Ohio.
New member elected October 8, 1816.
Democratic-Republican hold.
Successor seated December 2, 1816.
Winner also elected, the same day, to the next term; see below.| nowrap |

|-! | Thomas Burnside| | Democratic-Republican| 1815 | | Incumbent resigned in April 1816 to accept judicial appointment.
New member elected October 8, 1816.
Democratic-Republican hold.
Successor seated December 3, 1816.
Successor also elected, the same day, to the next term; see below.| nowrap |

|-!
| William Mayrant| | Democratic-Republican| 1814| | Incumbent resigned October 21, 1816, having just lost re-election.
New member elected November 25 & 26, 1816, who had also won the general election, see below.
Democratic-Republican hold.
Successor seated January 2, 1817.| nowrap |

|-! | James Clark| | Democratic-Republican| 1812| | Incumbent resigned April 8, 1816 when appointed circuit court judge.
New member elected in 1816.
Democratic-Republican hold.
Successor seated December 2, 1816.
Successor was not elected to the next term; see below.| nowrap |

15th Congress

|-! | David Scott| | Democratic-Republican| 1816| Incumbent resigned to become president and judge of the court of common pleas.
New member elected October 14, 1817.
Democratic-Republican hold.
Successor seated with the rest of the House December 1, 1817.| nowrap |

Connecticut

See main article: 1816 United States House of Representatives election in Connecticut.

Connecticut elected its members September 16, 1816.

Delaware

See main article: 1816 United States House of Representatives election in Delaware.

Delaware elected its members October 7, 1816.

Georgia

See main article: 1816 United States House of Representatives election in Georgia.

Georgia elected its members October 7, 1816.

Illinois Territory

See Non-voting delegates, below.

Indiana

See main article: 1817 United States House of Representatives election in Indiana.

Indiana elected its member August 4, 1817, having just elected him just the year before to the new seat.

14th Congress

|-! | colspan=3 | None (District created)| | Indiana was admitted as a state of the Union on December 11, 1816.^[1]
New member elected in 1816.
Democratic-Republican gain.
New member seated December 11, 1816.^[1] | nowrap |

15th Congress

Kentucky

See main article: 1816 United States House of Representatives elections in Kentucky.

Kentucky elected its members August 5, 1816.

Louisiana

See main article: 1816 United States House of Representatives election in Louisiana.

Louisiana elected its members July 1–3, 1816.

Maryland

See main article: 1816 United States House of Representatives elections in Maryland.

Maryland elected its members October 6, 1816.

Massachusetts

See main article: 1816–1817 United States House of Representatives elections in Massachusetts.

See also: List of United States representatives from Massachusetts. Massachusetts's electoral law required a majority for election. In five districts this was not met on the first election, requiring additional trials to be held.

Massachusetts elected its members November 4, 1816.

District numbers differed between source used and elsewhere on Wikipedia; district numbers used elsewhere on Wikipedia used here.

|-!
| Jeremiah Nelson| | Federalist| 1804
1806
1814| Incumbent re-elected.| :
:
:

|-!
| William Baylies| | Federalist| 1812| | Incumbent retired.
New member elected.
Democratic-Republican gain.| :
:

|-!
| John Reed Jr.| | Federalist| 1812| | Incumbent lost-re-election.
New member elected.
Democratic-Republican gain.| :
:
:

Mississippi

See main article: 1817 United States House of Representatives election in Mississippi.

See also: List of United States representatives from Mississippi. Mississippi was admitted as a state on December 10, 1817^[2] from the western half of the former Mississippi Territory (the eastern half became Alabama Territory) It elected its first representative to Congress August 4–5, 1817.

Missouri Territory

See Non-voting delegates, below.

New Hampshire

See main article: 1816 United States House of Representatives election in New Hampshire.

New Hampshire elected its members August 26, 1816.

New Jersey

See main article: 1816 United States House of Representatives election in New Jersey.

See also: List of United States representatives from New Jersey. In 1816, the Democratic-Republican candidates ran unopposed.

New Jersey elected its members November 4–5, 1816.

New York

See main article: 1816 United States House of Representatives elections in New York.

New York elected its members April 23 to 25, 1816.

North Carolina

See main article: 1817 United States House of Representatives elections in North Carolina.

North Carolina elected its members August 14, 1817.

Ohio

See main article: 1816 United States House of Representatives elections in Ohio.

Ohio elected its members October 8, 1816.

Pennsylvania

See main article: 1816 United States House of Representatives elections in Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania elected its members October 8, 1816.

Rhode Island

See main article: 1816 United States House of Representatives election in Rhode Island.

Rhode Island elected its members August 27, 1816.

South Carolina

See main article: 1816 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina.

South Carolina elected its members October 14–15, 1816.

Tennessee

See main article: 1817 United States House of Representatives elections in Tennessee.

Tennessee elected its members August 7–8, 1817.

Vermont

See main article: 1816 United States House of Representatives election in Vermont.

Vermont elected its members September 3, 1816, replacing its six Federalists with six Democratic-Republicans.

Virginia

See main article: 1817 United States House of Representatives elections in Virginia.

Virginia elected its members in April 1817.

Non-voting delegates

There were three territories with the right to send delegates during at least part of the 15th Congress.

Illinois Territory also only existed during the 1st Session, as it was admitted to the Union as the State of Illinois on December 3, 1818.

Mississippi Territory only existed during the first few months of the 15th Congress, but did not elect a delegate, since it was admitted to the Union as a state a few days into the 1st Session of the 15th Congress.

There were two elections held for the delegate from Missouri Territory. The first was contested by Rufus Easton on the grounds of electoral fraud. This election was declared void, and a second election was held on August 4, 1817.^[1] It was won without controversy by John Scott, who took his seat on December 8, 1817.

Bibliography

Web site: A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns 1787–1825 . Tufts Digital Library, Tufts University . January 17, 2015 . January 29, 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150129054451/http://elections.lib.tufts.edu/catalog/tufts:de.uscongress.1789 . dead .
Book: Dubin, Michael J. . 1788–1997 United States Congressional Elections: The Official Results of the Elections of the 1st Through 105th Congresses . McFarland and Company . March 1, 1998 . 978-0786402830.
Book: Martis, Kenneth C. . The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress, 1789–1989 . Macmillan Publishing Company . January 1, 1989 . 978-0029201701.
Web site: Party Divisions of the House of Representatives* 1789–Present . Office of the Historian, United States House of Representatives . January 21, 2015.

External links

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

Notes and References

Web site: Fourteenth Congress March 4, 1815, to March 3, 1817 . October 22, 2018 . Office of the Historian, United States House of Representatives.
Web site: Fifteenth Congress March 4, 1817, to March 3, 1819 . November 2, 2018 . Office of the Historian, United States House of Representatives . History.house.gov.
Web site: Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress - Retro Member details.