| Election Name: | 1790–91 United States Senate elections |
| Country: | United States |
| Flag Year: | 1777 |
| Type: | legislative |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1788–89 United States Senate elections |
| Next Election: | 1792–93 United States Senate elections |
| Seats For Election: | 9 of the 26 seats in the United States Senate, plus special elections |
| Majority Seats: | 14 |
| Election Date: | Dates vary by state |
| 1Blank: | Seats up |
| 2Blank: | Races won |
| Party1: | Pro-Administration Party (US) |
| Last Election1: | 19 seats |
| Seats Before1: | 18 |
| Seats After1: | 17 |
| Seat Change1: | 1 |
| 1Data1: | 7 |
| 2Data1: | 8 |
| Party2: | Anti-Administration Party (US) |
| Last Election2: | 7 seats |
| Seats Before2: | 6 |
| Seats After2: | 8 |
| 1Data2: | 2 |
| 2Data2: | 2 |
| Majority Faction | |
| Before Party: | Pro-Administration Party |
| After Party: | Pro-Administration Party |
The 1790–91 United States Senate elections were held on various dates in various states. These U.S. Senate elections occurred during the first midterm election cycle, which took place in the middle of President George Washington's first term. As these elections were prior to the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, senators were chosen by state legislatures. Senators were elected over a wide range of time throughout 1790 and 1791, and a seat may have been filled months late or remained vacant due to legislative deadlock.[1] In these elections, terms were up for the nine senators in Class 1.
As of these elections, formal organized political parties had yet to form in the United States, but two political factions were present: The coalition of senators who supported President Washington's administration were known as the Pro-Administration Party, and the senators against him as the Anti-Administration Party.
Note: There were no political parties in this Congress. Members are informally grouped into factions of similar interest, based on an analysis of their voting record.[2]
After the June 25, 1790 elections in Rhode Island.
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Except if/when noted, the number following candidates is the whole number vote(s), not a percentage.
In these elections, the winners were seated before March 4, 1791; ordered by election date.
| State | Incumbent | Results | Candidates | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Senator | Party | First elected | |||||||
| Rhode Island (Class 1) | New seat | Rhode Island ratified the Constitution May 29, 1790. New senator elected June 7, 1790. Pro-Administration gain. | nowrap | ||||||
| Rhode Island (Class 2) | New seat | Rhode Island ratified the Constitution May 29, 1790. New senator elected June 7, 1790. Anti-Administration gain. | nowrap | ||||||
| Virginia (special: Class 1) | John Walker | Pro-Administration | 1790 | Interim appointee retired when successor elected. New senator elected November 9, 1790. Anti-Administration gain. | nowrap | ||||
| New Jersey (special: Class 2) | William Paterson | Pro-Administration | 1788 | Incumbent resigned November 13, 1790, to become Governor of New Jersey. New senator elected November 13, 1790. Pro-Administration hold. | nowrap | ||||
In these regular elections, the winners were seated March 4, 1791; ordered by state.
All of these elections involved the Class 1 seats.
| State | Incumbent | Results | Candidates | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Senator | Party | First elected | ||||||
| Connecticut | Oliver Ellsworth | Pro-Administration | 1788 | Incumbent re-elected on an unknown date. | nowrap | |||
| Delaware | George Read | Pro-Administration | 1788 | Incumbent re-elected October 23, 1790. | nowrap | |||
| Maryland | Charles Carroll | Pro-Administration | 1788 | Incumbent re-elected in 1791. | nowrap | |||
| Massachusetts | Tristram Dalton | Pro-Administration | 1788 | Incumbent lost re-election. New senator elected in 1790 on the third ballot. Pro-Administration hold. | nowrap | |||
| New Jersey | Jonathan Elmer | Pro-Administration | 1788 | Unknown if incumbent retired or lost re-election. New senator elected in 1790. Pro-Administration hold. | nowrap | |||
| New York | Philip Schuyler | Pro-Administration | 1789 | Incumbent lost re-election. New senator elected January 19, 1791. Anti-Administration gain. | nowrap | |||
| Pennsylvania | William Maclay | Anti-Administration | 1788 | Incumbent lost re-election. Legislature failed to elect a successor, leaving the seat vacant. Anti-Administration loss. | None. | |||
| Rhode Island | Theodore Foster | Pro-Administration | 1790 | Incumbent re-elected in 1791. | nowrap | |||
| Virginia | James Monroe | Anti-Administration | 1790 | Incumbent re-elected in 1791. | nowrap | |||
In these elections, the winners were seated after March 4, 1791, the beginning of the next Congress.
| State | Incumbent | Results | Candidates | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Senator | Party | First elected | ||||||
| Connecticut (Class 3) | William S. Johnson | Pro-Administration | 1788 | Resigned March 4, 1791. New senator elected June 13, 1791. Pro-Administration hold. | nowrap | |||
| Vermont (Class 1) | New seat | Vermont was admitted to the Union March 4, 1791. New senator elected October 17, 1791. Anti-Administration gain. | nowrap | |||||
| Vermont (Class 3) | New seat | Vermont was admitted to the Union March 4, 1791. New senator elected October 17, 1791. Anti-Administration gain. | nowrap | |||||
See also: List of United States senators from Connecticut.
All of the senators from Connecticut were Pro-Administration through 1795.
Oliver Ellsworth was re-elected in 1791.
William Samuel Johnson resigned March 3, 1791, at the end of the 1st Congress and Roger Sherman was elected June 13, 1791, to finish the term.
See main article: 1790 United States Senate election in Delaware.
See also: List of United States senators from Delaware.
See also: List of United States senators from Maryland.
| Election Name: | 1790 United States Senate election in Maryland |
| Popular Vote1: | 45 |
| Colour1: | F6D6C9 |
| Percentage1: | 60.00% |
| Party1: | Federalist Party |
| Candidate1: | Charles Carroll |
| Image1: | Charlescarrollofcarrollton.jpg |
| Popular Vote2: | 30 |
| Colour2: | F6D6C9 |
| Percentage2: | 40.00% |
| Party2: | Federalist Party |
| Candidate2: | Uriah Forrest |
| Next Year: | 1793 |
| Next Election: | 1793 United States Senate special election in Maryland |
| Previous Year: | 1788 |
| Previous Election: | 1788–89 United States Senate elections#Maryland |
| Votes For Election: | 80 members of the Maryland General Assembly |
| Vote Type: | Legislative |
| Election Date: | November 26, 1790 |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Type: | presidential |
Charles Carroll won re-election over Uriah Forrest by a margin of 20.00%, or 15 votes, for the Class 1 seat.[3]
See also: List of United States senators from Massachusetts. Incumbent U.S. Senator, Tristam Dalton sought re-election but was eliminated before the third ballot. The third ballot saw the election of George Cabot, who had been a member of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress. Cabot won 87 votes.[4]
| Election Name: | 1790 United States Senate election in Massachusetts |
| Party2: | Federalist |
| Flag Year: | 1775 |
| Country: | Massachusetts |
| Percentage3: | 13.6% |
| Party3: | Independent (politician) |
| Candidate3: | Charles Jarvis |
| Percentage2: | 24.5% |
| Image3: | P vip.svg |
| Candidate2: | Nathaniel Gorham |
| Type: | legislative |
| Candidate1: | George Cabot |
| Percentage1: | 59.2% |
| Party1: | Federalist |
| Image1: | George Cabot.jpg |
| Election Date: | June 23, 1790 |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Vote Type: | Legislative |
| Popular Vote1: | 87 |
| Popular Vote2: | 36 |
| Popular Vote3: | 20 |
| Party Name: | yes |
| Previous Year: | 1788 |
| Next Year: | 1796 (special) |
| Before Election: | Tristam DaltonFederalist |
| After Election: | George CabotFederalist |
See also: List of United States senators from New Jersey.
See main article: 1791 United States Senate election in New York.
See also: List of United States senators from New York. The election in New York was held January 19, 1791, by the New York State Legislature.
Incumbent Philip Schuyler's term would expire March 3, 1791.
At the State election in April 1790, nominal Federalist majorities were elected to both houses of the 14th New York State Legislature, but many Federalists were friendly to the Democratic-Republican Governor George Clinton, party lines not being drawn very strictly then.
The incumbent Philip Schuyler ran for re-election as the candidate of the Federalist Party. New York State Attorney General Aaron Burr was the candidate of the Democratic-Republican Party, but was at that time a rather moderate politician, opposing the ultras of both parties.
Burr was the choice of both the State Senate and the State Assembly, and was declared elected. Schuyler was defeated despite the nominal majority of his party. Many of the Federalists took the opportunity to show their disapproval of both Schuyler's haughtiness and the financial policies of Alexander Hamilton, the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and Schuyler's son-in-law. Besides, the Livingston faction of the Federalist Party felt betrayed after the election of Rufus King over their candidate James Duane in 1789, and now allied themselves with Clinton and later became Democratic-Republicans.
| Office | House | Democratic-Republican candidate | Federalist candidate | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. senator | State Senate (23 members) | nowrap | 12 | Philip Schuyler | 4 | ||
| State Assembly (65 members) | nowrap | Philip Schuyler | |||||
Obs.: Burr had a majority of 5 votes in the Assembly, but the exact number of votes is unclear.
See main article: 1791 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania.
See also: List of United States senators from Pennsylvania. In 1791, the legislature failed to elect due to a disagreement on procedure.[5] The seat would remain vacant until 1793.[5]
See also: List of United States senators from Rhode Island.
See also: List of United States senators from Vermont. Stephen R. Bradley and Moses Robinson were elected by the Vermont House of Representatives and Governor and Council in January 1791, anticipating Vermont's admission to the union.[6] Vermont was admitted as the 14th state on March 4, 1791. The Senate had adjourned on March 3, at the completion of the 1st United States Congress; the 2nd United States Congress held a one-day session on March 4, and was not scheduled to convene again until October 24.[7]
As a result of this congressional schedule Bradley and Robinson had not been seated when the Vermont House of Representatives convened in early October, 1791. At this legislative session, some members suggested that the January election of Bradley and Robinson had been premature, since Vermont had not yet been admitted to the union. Bradley and Robinson volunteered to resign the credentials of their January elections; on October 17, the Governor and Council voted again, and selected Bradley and Robinson. The House of Representatives then voted a second time, and also selected Bradley and Robinson. No vote totals were recorded.
Bradley was selected for the "short term" (Class 3), which expired on March 3, 1795.[8] Robinson received the "long term" (Class 1), which expired on March 3, 1797.
See also: List of United States senators from Virginia.
William Grayson died March 12, 1790, and John Walker was appointed to continue the term.
Future President James Monroe was elected in November 1790 to finish the term.
Monroe was re-elected in 1791 to the next term, as well.