United States House of Representatives elections, 1808

United States House of Representatives elections, 1808

1806 ←
→ 1810

All 142 seats to the United States House of Representatives
72 seats were needed for a majority
  Majority party Minority party
 
Leader Joseph Bradley Varnum Timothy Pitkin
Party Democratic-Republican Federalist
Leader's seat Massachusetts-4th Connecticut-AL
Last election 116 26
Seats won 92 50
Seat change -24 +24

Speaker before election

Joseph Bradley Varnum
Democratic-Republican

Elected Speaker

Joseph Bradley Varnum
Democratic-Republican

The U.S. House election, 1808 was an election for the United States House of Representatives to the Eleventh United States Congress. Voting in the various states took place between April 1808 (New York) and May 1809 (Tennessee) with the Congress meeting on May 22, 1809.

Although Democratic-Republicans maintained control of the presidency (under James Madison) and Congress, Federalists made gains in the House, mainly due to the unpopularity of the Embargo Act of 1807. As a result, voters in New England, who often had ties to the shipping or manufacturing industries, overwhelmingly chose to send Federalists to Washington. Economic stagnation due to the closing of the export market and fears that Democratic-Republican policies had the potential for leading America into a naval war with France or Britain were key issues that allowed for a brief Federalist resurgence.

Overall results

Party Total seats (change) Seat percentage
Democratic-Republicans 92 -24 64.8%
Federalists 50 +24 35.2%
Totals 142 0 100%