1792–93 United States House of Representatives elections

August 27, 1792 – September 6, 1793
All 105 seats in the United States House of Representatives 53 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Frederick Muhlenberg[1] Theodore Sedgwick Party Anti-Administration Pro-Administration Leader's seat Pennsylvania at-large Massachusetts 2nd Last election 30 seats 39 seats Seats won 54 51 Seat change 24 12
Results:      Pro-Administration hold      Pro-Administration gain      Anti-Administration hold      Anti-Administration gain      Undistricted
Speaker before election Jonathan Trumbull Pro-Administration Elected Speaker Frederick Muhlenberg Anti-Administration

The 1792–93 United States House of Representatives elections were held on various dates in various states between August 27, 1792 and September 6, 1793. Each state set its own date for its elections to the House of Representatives before the first session of the 3rd United States Congress convened on December 2, 1793. With the addition of the new state of Kentucky's representatives, and the congressional reapportionment based on the 1790 United States census, the size of the House increased to 105 seats.

They coincided with the re-election of President George Washington. While Washington ran for president as an independent, his followers (more specifically, the supporters of Alexander Hamilton) formed the nation's first organized political party, the Federalist Party, whose members and sympathizers are identified as pro-Administration on this page. In response, followers of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison created the opposition Democratic-Republican Party, who are identified as anti-Administration on this page. The Federalists promoted urbanization, industrialization, mercantilism, centralized government, and a broad interpretation of the United States Constitution. In contrast, Democratic-Republicans supported the ideal of an agrarian republic made up of self-sufficient farmers and small, localized governments with limited power.

Despite nearly unanimous support for Washington as a presidential candidate, Jeffersonian ideas edged out Hamiltonian principles at the ballot box for congressional candidates, with the Democratic-Republicans taking 24 seats more than they had prior to the organization of their political movement. Most of the increase was due to the addition of new seats in Western regions as a result of the 1790 census. Dominated by agrarian culture, these Western territories offered strong support to Democratic-Republican congressional candidates. As a result, they secured a thin majority in the legislature.

Election summaries

In this period, each state fixed its own date for its congressional election as early as August 1792 (in New Hampshire and Rhode Island) and as late as September 1793 (in Kentucky). 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), but as the first session of Congress typically began in November or December, the elections took place before Congress actually met. The 3rd Congress first met on December 2, 1793.

These were the first elections held after reapportionment following the first census. Thirty-six new seats were added,^[2] with 1 state losing 1 seat, 3 states having no change, and the remaining 11 states gaining between 1 and 9 seats. This was the first apportionment based on actual census data, the apportionment for the 1st and 2nd Congresses being set by the Constitution using estimated populations.

State	Type	Date	Total seats		Anti- Administration		Pro-Administration
			Seats	Change	Seats	Change	Seats	Change
General elections
New Hampshire	At-large	August 27, 1792	4	1	1	1	3
Rhode Island	At-large	August 28, 1792	2	1	0	1	2
Connecticut	At-large	September 17, 1792	7	2	0		7	2
Georgia	At-large	October 1, 1792	2	1	2	1	0
Maryland	Districts	October 1, 1792	8	2	4	1	4	1
Delaware	At-large	October 2, 1792	1		1	1	0	1
New Jersey	At-large	October 9, 1792	5	1	0		5	1
Pennsylvania	At-large	October 9, 1792	13	5	8	4	5	1
Massachusetts	Mixed	November 2, 1792[lower-alpha 1]	14	6	3	2	11	4
New York	Districts	January 2, 1793	10	4	3	1	7	3
Vermont	Districts	January 7, 1793[lower-alpha 2]	2		2		0
South Carolina	Districts	February 5, 1793	6	1	5	3	1	2
North Carolina	Districts	February 15, 1793	10	5	9	6	1	1
Late elections (after the March 4, 1793 beginning of the 3rd Congress)
Virginia	Districts	March 18, 1793	19	9	15	7	4	2
Kentucky	Districts	September 6, 1793	2		2		0
Total			105	36	54 51.4%	24	51 48.6%	12

Change in composition

Special elections

There were special elections in 1792 and 1793 during the 2nd and 3rd United States Congresses.

Elections are sorted here by state then district.

Connecticut

Connecticut gained two seats in reapportionment following the 1790 census.

Three special elections followed the 1792 elections in Connecticut after Representatives-elect Sturges and Huntington resigned before the start of Congress and Mitchell was elected to the Senate.

Delaware

Delaware's apportionment did not change following the 1790 census. As in the 1st and 2nd Congresses, each voter cast votes for two separate candidates, at least one of whom had to be from a different county as the voter.

Georgia

Following the 1790 census, Georgia's apportionment was decreased from 3 seats to 2 (the only state whose representation decreased after the census). Georgia switched from separate districts to at-large seats.

Kentucky

Maryland

Maryland increased from 6 to 8 representatives after the 1790 census. The previous mixed district/at-large system was replaced with a conventional district system.

Massachusetts

Following the 1790 census, Massachusetts's representation increased from eight to fourteen Representatives and was redistricted into four plural districts, plus a single at-large district. The 4th district covered the District of Maine (the modern-day State of Maine). The plural districts were concurrent tickets rather than a single general ticket, though the 1st and 2nd districts appeared to have also had a general ticket alongside the more specific tickets.

As before, a majority was required for election, in those districts where a majority was not achieved, additional ballots were required.

New Hampshire

New Hampshire increased from 3 seats to 4 seats after the 1790 census.

New Jersey

Following the 1790 census, New Jersey's apportionment increased from 4 to 5 seats.

New York

Due to re-apportionment following the 1790 census, New York's congressional delegation grew from 6 to 10. Three incumbents ran for re-election, two of whom won, and the other three incumbents retired. With the increase following re-apportionment, this left seven open seats.

North Carolina

Following the 1790 census, North Carolina's apportionment increased from 5 to 10 seats.

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania switched from using districts to electing its representatives on an at-large basis for the 3rd Congress, just as it had done for the 1st Congress. This would be the last time that Pennsylvania would elect all of its Representatives at-large. Due to re-apportionment following the 1790 census, Pennsylvania's delegation increased from 8 representatives to 13.

Rhode Island

Rhode Island gained a second representative from the results of the 1790 census. Rhode Island did not divide itself into districts, but elected two at-large representatives.

South Carolina

South Carolina gained one representative as a result of the 1790 census, increasing from 5 to 6.

Vermont

Vermont had no apportionment in the House of Representatives before 1790 census because it was not admitted to the Union until 1791. Vermont's election laws at the time required a majority to win election to the House of Representatives. If no candidate won a majority, a runoff election was held, which happened in the 1st district.

Virginia

Virginia gained nine representatives from the 1790 census, and in addition, the old 2nd district was lost after its territory became the new State of Kentucky. There were, therefore, ten new districts created for the 3rd Congress.

See also

• 1792 United States elections
  • List of United States House of Representatives elections (1789–1822)
  • 1792–93 United States Senate elections
  • 1792 United States presidential election
• 2nd United States Congress
• 3rd 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). 1788 United States Congressional Elections-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)