United States House of Representatives elections, 1814

United States House of Representatives elections, 1814

April 26, 1814 - August 10, 1815[Note 1]

All 183[Note 2] seats to the United States House of Representatives 92 seats were needed for a majority   Majority party Minority party   Leader Henry Clay Timothy Pitkin Party Democratic-Republican Federalist Leader's seat Kentucky-2nd Connecticut-AL Last election 114 seats 68 seats Seats won 119[Note 2] 64 Seat change 5 4

Speaker before election Langdon Cheves Democratic-Republican Elected Speaker Henry Clay Democratic-Republican

Elections to the United States House of Representatives for the 14th Congress were held at various dates in each state between April 1814 (in New York) and August 10, 1815 (in North Carolina). The Congress' first session began on December 4, 1815.

This election took place in the middle of the War of 1812. Although the war was extremely unpopular in certain portions of the country, particularly New England, the dominant Democratic-Republican Party made small gains. The failed American invasion of Upper Canada (Ontario) in 1812-13 and the Burning of Washington by the British in 1814 were embarrassing setbacks, but the war was viewed by many as reasonably successful. National morale was high because the small American military overall had been able to fight British forces to a draw in coastal and frontier conflict.

The election of 1814 was the last in which the declining Federalist Party was able to secure more than a third of the seats in the House of Representatives - and it was only barely able to do so.

Election summaries

One new seat was added with the admission of Indiana during the 2nd session of the 14th Congress^[1]

State	Type	Date	Total seats	Democratic- Republican	Federalist
				Seats	Change	Seats	Change
Connecticut	At-large	September 19, 1814	7	0		7
Delaware	At-large	October 4, 1814	2	0		2
Georgia	At-large	October 3, 1814	6	6		0
Kentucky	District (10)	August 3, 1814	10	10		0
Louisiana	At-large	July 4–6, 1814	1	1		0
Maryland	District (8[Note 3])	October 3, 1814	9	4	2	5	2
Massachusetts	District (20)	November 7, 1814[Note 4]	20	2	2	18	2
New Hampshire	At-large	August 29, 1814	6	0		6
New Jersey	At-large[Note 5]	October 10–11, 1814	6	6	4	0	4
New York	District (21[Note 6])	April 26–28, 1814	27	21	12	6	12
Ohio	District (6)	October 11, 1814	6	6		0
Pennsylvania	District (15[Note 6])	October 11, 1814	23	18	4	5	4
Rhode Island	At-large	August 30, 1814	2	0		2
South Carolina	District (9)	October 10–11, 1814	9	8	1	1	1
Vermont	At-large	September 6, 1814	6	0	6	6	6
1815 elections
North Carolina	District (13)	August 10, 1815	13	11	1	2	1
Tennessee	District (6)	August 3–4, 1815	6	6		0
Virginia	District (23)	April, 1815	23	19	2	4	2
1816 elections
Indiana	At-large	August 5, 1816	1	1	1	0
Total[Note 2]			183	119 65.0%	5	64 35.0%	4

Complete returns

Indiana held elections in 1816 for this Congress.

Connecticut

Delaware

Georgia

Alfred Cuthbert resigned November 9, 1816. The vacancy left was filled in a special election by Zadock Cook (DR)

Kentucky

Henry Clay was elected to the 2nd district, which he had represented in the 12th and 13th Congresses until he resigned to accept a position as diplomatic envoy to Great Britain. He was still out of the country at the time of the general election. Kentucky's governor, unsure of the implications of a situation in which Clay held the office of United States Representative and diplomatic envoy simultaneously, declared his seat vacant. A subsequent special election was held in 1815, which Clay won without opposition.^[2] Kentucky's 2nd district was thus officially considered to be vacant from the March 4, 1815 (the start of the 14th Congress), until October 30 of the same year. The 14th Congress did not meet until December 4,^[3] however, so there was no effective vacancy.

In the 1st district, James Clark (DR) resigned in 1816. A special election was held that elected Thomas Fletcher (DR) to fill the vacancy left by Clark's resignation.

Louisiana

Maryland

Alexander C. Hanson (F) of the 3rd district resigned in 1816 upon being elected to the Senate and was replaced in a special election by George Peter (F)

Nicholas R. Moore (DR) of the 5th district resigned in 1815, prior to the start of the 15th Congress. Also in the 5th district, William Pinkney (DR) resigned on April 18, 1816 after being named Minister to Russia. Two separate special elections were held to replace them which elected Samuel Smith (DR) and Peter Little (DR).

Massachusetts

Elijah Brigham (F) of the 11th district died on February 22, 1816. A special election was held to fill the resulting vacancy, electing Benjamin Adams (F) to fill the vacancy.

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Jersey returned to an at-large basis for electing its representatives, abolishing the short-lived districts of the previous election.

New York

There were four vacancies (three resignations and one death) in the New York congressional delegation during the 14th Congress that resulted in special elections.

In the 12th district, Benjamin Pond (DR) died on October 6, 1814, before the start of the 14th Congress. A special election was held which elected Asa Adgate (DR) to fill the resulting vacancy.

In the 6th district, Jonathan Fisk (DR) resigned in March, 1815, before the 1st session but after the term began, to accept a position as United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. He was replaced in a special election by James W. Wilkin (DR).

In the 20th district, Enos T. Throop (DR) resigned on June 4, 1816, after losing his re-election bid, and was replaced in a special election by Daniel Avery (DR).

Finally, in the 21st district, Peter B. Porter (DR) resigned January 23, 1816 after being appointed a Commissioner under the Treaty of Ghent and was replaced in a special election by Archibald S. Clarke (DR).

North Carolina

William R. King (DR) of the 5th district resigned November 4, 1816, upon being assigned to a diplomatic post in Russia and was replaced in a special election by Charles Hooks (DR).

Nathaniel Macon (DR) of the 6th district resigned December 15, 1815, upon being elected to the Senate and was replaced in a special election by Weldon N. Edwards.

Richard Stanford (DR) of the 8th district died April 16, 1815, and was replaced in a special election by Samuel Dickens (DR).

Ohio

In April 1816, John McLean (DR) of the 1st district resigned and was replaced in a special election by William Henry Harrison (DR).

Pennsylvania

Three vacancies appeared in Pennsylvania's representation before the start of the 15th Congress. On March 12, 1815, David Bard of the 9th district died and was replaced in a special election by Thomas Burnside (DR). On May 16 of the same year, Jonathan Williams (F) of the 1st district also died and was replaced in a special election by John Sergeant (DR). Finally, on July 3, Amos Ellmaker of the 3rd district resigned after being appointed and commissioned president judge of the Twelfth Judicial District of Pennsylvania and was replaced in a special election by James M. Wallace (DR).

A fourth special election was held in the 9th district on October 8, 1816, after Thomas Burnside resigned to accept a judicial position.

Rhode Island

South Carolina

In the 9th district, William Mayrant resigned on October 21, 1816,^[3] and was replaced in a special election by Stephen D. Miller (DR).

Tennessee

In the 2nd district, John Sevier (DR) died in office. A special election was held that led to the election of William G. Blount (DR) to fill that vacancy.

Vermont

Virginia

Matthew Clay (DR) of the 15th district died on May 27, 1815 and was replaced in a special election by John Kerr (DR).

Thomas Gholson, Jr. (DR) of the 18th district died July 4, 1816 and was replaced in a special election by Thomas M. Nelson (DR).

John Clopton (DR) of the 23rd district died September 11, 1816 and was replaced in a special election by future President John Tyler (DR).

Non-voting delegates

Four territories sent delegates to the 14th Congress. There was no election held in Illinois Territory

This was the last election for Indiana Territory, as it was admitted to the Union as a state in 1816. In Missouri Territory, Hempstead resigned and Easton also filled his seat for the remainder of the 13th Congress

See also

• List of United States House of Representatives elections, 1789–1822
• United States Senate elections, 1814
• 14th 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)