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The U.S. House elections, 1789 were the first elections for the United States House of Representatives in 1789, which coincided with the election of President George Washington. Some candidates were chosen in 1788, others in 1789. Dates and manners of elections were set by the states. Actual political parties did not yet exist, but new members of Congress were informally categorized as either "pro-Administration" (i.e., pro-Washington and pro-Hamilton) or "anti-Administration."
The first session of the first House of Representatives came to order on March 4, 1789 with only thirteen members. The requisite quorum (thirty members out of fifty-nine) was not present until April 1, 1789. The first order of business was to elect a Speaker. On the first ballot, Frederick Muhlenberg was elected Speaker by a majority of votes. The business of the first session was largely a matter of procedure rather than policy.
In this period each state fixed its own date for a congressional general election. This article covers all such state elections to the 1st Congress. Elections to a Congress took place both in the even-numbered year before and in the odd-numbered year when the Congress convened. In some states the congressional delegation was not elected until after the legal start of the Congress (on the 4th day of March in the odd numbered year).
Contents |
| State | Type | Date | Total seats |
Pro- Administration |
Anti- Administration |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Carolina | District (5x1) | November 24–25, 1788 | 5 | 2 | 3 |
| Pennsylvania | At-large (x8) | November 26, 1788 | 8 | 6 | 2 |
| Massachusetts | District[1] (8x1) | December 18, 1788 | 8 | 6 | 2 |
| New Hampshire | At-large[2] (x3) | December 15, 1788 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Connecticut | At-large (x5) | December 22, 1788 | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| State | Type | Date | Total seats |
Pro- Administration |
Anti- Administration |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delaware | At-large (x1) | January 7, 1789 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Georgia | At-large/District[3] (3x1) | February 9, 1789 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Maryland | At-large/District[4] (6x1) | January 7–11, 1789 | 6 | 2 | 4 |
| New Jersey | At-large (x4) | February 11-April 27, 1789 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| New York | District (6x1) | March 3–5, 1789 | 6 | 3 | 3 |
| Virginia | District (10x1) | February 2, 1789 | 10 | 3 | 7 |
North Carolina and Rhode Island each ratified the constitution on November 21, 1789 and May 29, 1790 respectively. They didn't elect represntatives until 1790.
| Type | Total seats[5] |
Pro- Administration |
Anti- Administration |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| At-large | Combined | Districts | |||
| 22 | 9 | 34 | 65 | 37 | 28 |
| Party | Total seats[6] |
Change | Seat percentage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pro-Administration Party | 37 | N/A | 56.9% |
| Anti-Administration Party | 28 | N/A | 43.1% |
| Totals | 65 | N/A | 100% |
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