United States House of Representatives elections, 1794

United States House of Representatives elections, 1794

August 24, 1794 - September 5, 1795[Note 1]

All 105[Note 2] seats to the United States House of Representatives 53 seats were needed for a majority   Majority party Minority party   Leader Frederick Muhlenberg Jonathan Dayton[1][Note 3] Party Democratic-Republican Federalist Leader's seat Pennsylvania-2nd New Jersey-AL Last election 54 seats 51 seats Seats won 59[Note 4] 47 Seat change 5 4

Results:   Federalist majority   Anti-Federalist majority   Even split

Speaker before election Frederick Muhlenberg Democratic-Republican Elected Speaker Jonathan Dayton Federalist

Elections to the United States House of Representatives for the 4th Congress were held on various dates in each state between August 25, 1794 (New Hampshire) and September 5, 1795 (Kentucky). The election was held during President George Washington's second term. The voters of Tennessee elected their first congressional representative (Andrew Jackson) on October 7, 1796.

In the second election for the House of Representatives with organized political parties, the Democratic-Republican Party, led by Thomas Jefferson, once again defeated the Federalist Party, led by Alexander Hamilton, and slightly increased their majority. These new wins by the Democratic-Republicans can mostly be attributed to the popularity of Jeffersonian ideas of agrarian democracy in the Western territories of the United States.

Election summaries

During this period, each state fixed its own date for a congressional general election. Elections took place both in the even-numbered year before and in the odd-numbered year when a 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).

One new seat was added during the 4th Congress upon the admission of Tennessee on June 1, 1796.^[2] Tennessee was not represented in the 1st session.

State	Type	Date	Total seats	Democratic- Republican[Note 5]	Federalist[Note 6]
				Seats	Change	Seats	Change
Connecticut	At-large	September 15, 1794	7	0		7
Delaware	At-large	October 5, 1794	1	1	1	0	1
Georgia	At-large	October 6, 1794	2	2		0
Maryland	District (8)	October 6, 1794	8	4		4
Massachusetts	District (14)[Note 7]	November 3, 1794[Note 8]	14	4	1	10	1
New Hampshire	At-large	August 25, 1794[Note 9]	4	1		3
New Jersey	At-large	December 30, 1794	5	0		5
New York	District (10)	December 12, 1794	10	6	3	4	3
Pennsylvania	District[Note 10] (12[Note 11])	October 14, 1794	13	9	1	4	1
Rhode Island	At-large	August 26, 1794	2	0		2
South Carolina	District (6)	October 14, 1794	6	4	1	2	1
Vermont	District (2)	December 30, 1794[Note 12]	2	1	1	1	1
1795 elections
North Carolina	District (10)	February 13, 1795	10	9		1
Kentucky	District (2)	September 5, 1795	2	2		0
Virginia	District (19)	March 16, 1795	19	17	2	2	2
1796 election
Tennessee	At-large	October 7, 1796	1	1	1[Note 13]	0
Total[Note 4]			106	59 55.7%	5	47 44.3%	4

Late elections to 3rd Congress

Non-voting delegates

On September 3, 1796, the 3rd Congress admitted the first Delegate after some debate. The individual elected, James White, represented voters in the Southwest Territory. He also served during the 4th Congress. The delegate was elected by the Territorial legislature.

Complete returns

Tennessee elected its first representative in 1796 for this Congress.

Connecticut

There were three subsequent vacancies in Connecticut's representation. The first occurred before the start of the 4th Congress when Trumbull was elected to the Senate and was filled by Nathaniel Smith. Then, on July 1, 1796, Hillhouse resigned, having also been elected to the Senate, and was replaced by James Davenport (F). The third occurred when Uriah Tracy resigned on October 13, 1796, having been elected to the Senate to replace Trumbull. Tracy, in turn, was replaced by Samuel W. Dana (F)

Delaware

Only two candidates are recorded for Delaware's congressional election in 1794, suggesting that the voting procedure in place for the first three Congresses for two candidates had been changed.

Georgia

Kentucky

Maryland

Gabriel Duvall (DR) of the 2nd district resigned on March 28, 1796 to become Chief Justice of the Maryland General Court and was replaced in a special election by Richard Sprigg, Jr. (DR).

Jeremiah Crabb (F) of the 3rd district resigned on June 1, 1796 and was replaced in a special election by William Craik (F)

Massachusetts

Massachusetts redistricted between the 3rd and 4th Congress, dividing itself into 14 districts. The 12th-14th districts were in the District of Maine (the modern State of Maine). A majority was required for election. Additional ballots were required in five districts due to the majority requirement not being met on the first ballot.

Theodore Sedgwick (F) of the 1st district resigned upon being elected to the Senate and was replaced in a special election by Thomson J. Skinner (DR).

In the 9th district, a petition by various citizens of Massachusetts contested the election of Varnum. The Committee on Elections ruled in Varnum's favor and added "that the attempt to deprive him of his seat was rather the act of malevolence than a desire to promote the public good." On January 25, 1797, these words were stricken out and expressions of compliment to the sitting Member were substituted, and the report was agreed to.^[1]

Benjamin Goodhue (F) of the 10th district resigned upon being elected to the Senate and was replaced in a special election by Samuel Sewall (F).

New Hampshire

Under New Hampshire's electoral laws, a majority of voters (12.5% of votes) was required for election. Only three candidates achieved a majority, and so a run-off election was held for the fourth seat.

New Jersey

New York

New York's districts were not numbered at the time, but were later numbered retroactively.

North Carolina

There were two special elections in the 4th district. The first was held to fill a vacancy left by the death of Alexander Mebane (DR) on July 5, 1795, before the first meeting of the 4th Congress, which elected Absalom Tatom (DR). Tatom, in turn, resigned June 1, 1796 and a special election was held to fill that vacancy, won by William F. Strudwick (F)

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania once again divided itself into districts instead of electing representatives at-large, as it had for the 3rd Congress. The state divided intself into 12 districts, one of which (the 4th) had two seats. Pennsylvania would continue to use one or more plural districts until 1842.

The 2nd seat in the 4th district was disputed between John Richards and James Morris. The original returns showed Morris in 2nd place and Richards in a close 3rd place, but Richards disputed it, and the Governor of Pennsylvania only issued certification for Samuel Sitgreaves (F) leaving the other seat undecided. Morris died on July 10, 1795, before the House could act. The House Committee on Elections ruled in favor of Richards on January 10, 1798.

In the 5th district, Daniel Hiester (DR) resigned on July 1, 1796. A special election was held to fill the resulting vacancy which elected George Ege (F).

Rhode Island

Benjamin Bourne (F) resigned in 1796, and was replaced in a special election by Elisha Potter (F)

South Carolina

Electoral data are only available for the 1st and 5th district of South Carolina's 6 districts at the time of the elections of 1794.

Representative-elect Barnwell of the 2nd district declined to serve. A special election was held to fill the resulting vacancy, electing Wade Hampton (DR).

Vermont

Vermont's laws required a majority for election to Congress, with a second election to be held if the first did not return a majority. Run-off elections were required in both districts.

In the 1st district, Lyon unsuccessfully contested Smith's election^[1]

Virginia

In the 13th district, Burwell unsuccessfully contested Clopton's election^[1]

See also

• List of United States House of Representatives elections, 1789–1822
• United States Senate elections, 1794
• 3rd United States Congress
• 4th United States Congress

Notes

References

Bibliography

• "A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns 1787-1825". Tufts Digital Library, Tufts University. Retrieved January 17, 2015. 
• Dubin, Michael J. (March 1, 1998). United States Congressional Elections, 1788-1997: The Official Results of the Elections of the 1st Through 105th Congresses. McFarland and Company. ISBN 978-0786402830. 
• Martis, Kenneth C. (January 1, 1989). The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress, 1789-1989. Macmillan Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0029201701. 
• "Party Divisions of the House of Representatives* 1789–Present". Office of the Historian, United States House of Representatives. Retrieved January 21, 2015. 

External links

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