Contents

1800–01 United States House of Representatives elections

House elections for the 7th U.S. Congress

1800–01 United States House of Representatives elections

← 1798 & 1799 April 29, 1800 – August 1, 1801 1802 & 1803 →
All 106 seats in the United States House of Representatives 54 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Nathaniel Macon[1] Theodore Sedgwick Party Democratic-Republican Federalist Leader's seat North Carolina 5th Massachusetts 1st Last election 46 seats 60 seats Seats won 68 38 Seat change 22 22
Results:      Federalist hold      Federalist gain      Democratic-Republican hold      Democratic-Republican gain      Undistricted
Speaker before election Theodore Sedgwick Federalist Elected Speaker Nathaniel Macon Democratic-Republican

The 1800–01 United States House of Representatives elections were held on various dates in various states between April 29, 1800, and August 1, 1801. Each state set its own date for its elections to the House of Representatives before the first session of the 7th United States Congress convened on December 7, 1801. They were held at the same time as the 1800 presidential election, in which Vice President Thomas Jefferson, a Democratic Republican, defeated incumbent President John Adams, a Federalist. Elections were held for all 105 seats, representing 15 states.

These elections resulted in the Democratic-Republicans picking up 22 seats from the Federalists. This brought the Democratic-Republicans a solid majority of 68 seats, whereas the Federalists were only able to secure 38. Many state legislatures also changed to Democratic-Republican control, with the result that many new Democratic-Republicans were voted into the Senate. The Federalists never again succeeded in gaining a majority of seats in the House of Representatives, and the national Federalist Party disintegrated completely in the early 1820s.^[2]

The victory of Jefferson and the Democratic-Republicans can be attributed partially to unpopular policies pursued by the Adams administration, including the Alien and Sedition Acts, which sought to curtail guarantees of freedom of speech and freedom of the press spelled out in the Bill of Rights.

The difference between Federalist policies in support of a strong national government and the Democratic-Republican preference for states' rights played a prominent role in the election. Federal taxation became an issue as Southerners and Westerners rejected federal taxes levied on property.^{[citation needed]}

Election summaries[edit]

State	Type	Date	Total seats	Democratic- Republican		Federalist
				Seats	Change	Seats	Change
New York	Districts	April 29 – May 1, 1800	10	6		4
North Carolina	Districts	August 15, 1800	10	6		4
New Hampshire	At-large	August 25, 1800	4	0		4
Rhode Island	At-large	August 26, 1800[a]	2	2	2	0	2
Vermont	Districts	September 2, 1800[b]	2	1		1
Connecticut	At-large	September 22, 1800	7	0		7
Georgia	At-large	October 6, 1800	2	2	2	0	2
Delaware	At-large	October 7, 1800	1	0		1
Pennsylvania	Districts	October 14, 1800	13	10	2	3	2
South Carolina	Districts	October 24, 1800	6	3	2	3	2
Massachusetts	Districts	November 3, 1800[c]	14	7	5	7	5
New Jersey	At-large	December 24, 1800	5	5	2	0	2
Maryland	Districts	January 1, 1801	8	5	2	3	2
Late elections (After the March 4, 1801 beginning of the next Congress)
Virginia	Districts	April 23, 1801	19	18	5	1	5
Kentucky	Districts	August 3, 1801	2	2		0
Tennessee	At-large	August 4, 1801	1	1		0
Total			106	68 64.2%	22	38 35.8%	22

Special elections[edit]

There were special elections in 1800 and 1801 during the 6th United States Congress and 7th United States Congress.

Elections are sorted here by date then district.

6th Congress[edit]

7th Congress[edit]

Connecticut[edit]

Note: Between the two sources used, there is disagreement over the ordering of the candidates. Both sources have the same numbers of votes recorded, but disagree on which candidates received those votes, one source lists Goddard as 8th, Talmadge as 9th, etc., as listed here, while the other has them as 11th, 12th, etc., three places off for all of them until the bottom three listed here which are moved up to 8th-10th, suggesting that one of the two sources accidentally misplaced three names on the list. They are ordered here as Goddard and Talmadge in 8th and 9th place as it is more likely that they'd been at the top of the runners-up given that they were subsequently elected to fill vacancies in the 7th Congress.

District	Incumbent			This race
	Representative	Party	First elected	Results	Candidates
Connecticut at-large 7 seats on a general ticket	William Edmond	Federalist	1797 (Special)	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Samuel W. Dana (Federalist) 11.1% ▌Y Roger Griswold (Federalist) 10.9% ▌Y John Cotton Smith (Federalist) 10.8% ▌Y William Edmond (Federalist) 10.4% ▌Y Elizur Goodrich (Federalist) 10.2% ▌Y John Davenport (Federalist) 9.3% ▌Y Elias Perkins (Federalist) 8.6% ▌Calvin Goddard (Federalist) 5.7% ▌Benjamin Talmadge (Federalist) 5.3% ▌Simeon Baldwin (Federalist) 5.2% ▌Timothy Pitkin (Federalist) 3.8% ▌William Moseley (Federalist) 2.7% ▌Epaphroditus Champion (Federalist) 2.3% ▌Chauncey Goodrich (Federalist) 1.7% ▌Jonathan Brace (Federalist) 1.0% ▌William Hart (Democratic-Republican) 0.8% ▌Gideon Granger (Democratic-Republican) 0.4% ▌Sylvester Gilbert (Democratic-Republican) 0.1%
	Chauncey Goodrich	Federalist	1794	Incumbent lost re-election. Federalist hold. Winner (William Edmond) chose not to serve. Aspecial election was therefore held to replace him, see above.
	Jonathan Brace	Federalist	1798 (Special)	Incumbent resigned in May 1800. Federalist hold. Winner (John Cotton Smith) also elected to finish the term, see above.
	Roger Griswold	Federalist	1794	Incumbent re-elected.
	Elizur Goodrich	Federalist	1798	Incumbent re-elected. Winner (Elizur Goodrich) chose not to serve. Aspecial election was therefore held to replace him, see above.
	John Davenport	Federalist	1798	Incumbent re-elected.
	Samuel W. Dana	Federalist	1796	Incumbent re-elected.

Delaware[edit]

Georgia[edit]

District	Incumbent	Party	First elected	Result	Candidates
Georgia at-large 2 seats on a general ticket	James Jones	Federalist	1798	Incumbent re-elected to a different party. Democratic-Republican gain.	▌Y James Jones (Democratic-Republican) 47.9% ▌Y Benjamin Taliaferro (Democratic-Republican) 42.1% ▌Francis Willis (Democratic-Republican) 10.0%
	Benjamin Taliaferro	Federalist	1798	Incumbent re-elected to a different party. Democratic-Republican gain.

Kentucky[edit]

Maryland[edit]

Massachusetts[edit]

Massachusetts law required a majority for election, which was not met in the 1st and 6th districts, necessitating a second trial.

Mississippi Territory[edit]

See Non-voting delegates, below.

New Hampshire[edit]

District	Incumbent	Party	First elected	Result	Candidates
New Hampshire at-large 4 seats on a general ticket	James Sheafe	Federalist	1799 (special)	Incumbent retired. New member elected. Federalist hold.	▌Y Abiel Foster (Federalist) 19.3% ▌Y Samuel Tenney (Federalist) 17.7% ▌Y George B. Upham (Federalist) 16.5% ▌Y Joseph Peirce (Federalist) 14.9% ▌Nahum Parker (Democratic-Republican) 6.3% ▌John Goddard (Democratic-Republican) 5.5% ▌Joseph Badger (Democratic-Republican) 4.9% ▌Ezra Bartlett (Democratic-Republican) 4.1% Michael McClary 2.5% Thomas Cogswell 1.7% Scattering 6.7%
	Jonathan Freeman	Federalist	1796	Incumbent retired. New member elected. Federalist hold.
	William Gordon	Federalist	1796	Incumbent resigned June 12, 1800, to become N.H. Attorney General. New member elected. Federalist hold. Winner (Samuel Tenney) also elected to finish current term, see above.
	Abiel Foster	Federalist	1794	Incumbent re-elected.

New Jersey[edit]

In 1800, New Jersey returned to its traditional at-large district, continued to use this system to select representatives until it was abolished in 1842, with a single exception in 1813.

District	Incumbent	Party	First elected	Result	Candidates
New Jersey at-large 5 seats on a general ticket	John Condit Redistricted from the 1st district	Democratic-Republican	1798	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y James Mott (Democratic-Republican) 10.3% ▌Y Ebenezer Elmer (Democratic-Republican) 10.2% ▌Y John Condit (Democratic-Republican) 10.2% ▌Y William Helms (Democratic-Republican) 10.2% ▌Y Henry Southard (Democratic-Republican) 10.1% ▌Aaron Ogden (Federalist) 9.9% ▌Peter DeVroom (Federalist) 9.8% ▌James H. Imlay (Federalist) 9.8% ▌Franklin Davenport (Federalist) 9.8% ▌William Coxe (Federalist) 9.8%
	Aaron Kitchell Redistricted from the 2nd district	Democratic-Republican	1798	Incumbent retired. New member elected. Democratic-Republican hold.
	James Linn Redistricted from the 3rd district	Democratic-Republican	1798	Incumbent retired. New member elected. Democratic-Republican hold.
	James H. Imlay Redistricted from the 4th district	Federalist	1797	Incumbent lost re-election. New member elected. Democratic-Republican gain.
	Franklin Davenport Redistricted from the 5th district	Federalist	1798	Incumbent lost re-election. New member elected. Democratic-Republican gain.

New York[edit]

North Carolina[edit]

Northwest Territory[edit]

See Non-voting delegates, below.

Pennsylvania[edit]

District	Incumbent	Party	First elected	Result	Candidates[23]
Pennsylvania 1	Robert Waln	Federalist	1798 (Special)	Incumbent retired. New member elected. Democratic-Republican gain.	▌Y William Jones (Democratic-Republican) 50.2% ▌Francis Gurney (Federalist) 49.8%
Pennsylvania 2	Michael Leib	Democratic-Republican	1798	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Michael Leib (Democratic-Republican) 77.8% ▌John Lardner (Federalist) 22.2%
Pennsylvania 3	Richard Thomas	Federalist	1794	Incumbent retired. New member elected. Federalist hold.	▌Y Joseph Hemphill (Federalist) 53.3% ▌Joseph Shallcroft (Democratic-Republican) 46.7%
Pennsylvania 4 Plural district with 2 seats	Peter Muhlenberg	Democratic-Republican	1798	Incumbent re-elected. Incumbent/winner was then elected U.S. Senator February 19, 1801, leading to a special election, see above.	▌Y Peter Muhlenberg (Democratic-Republican) 34.4% ▌Y Robert Brown (Democratic-Republican) 34.4% ▌Cawallader C. Evans (Federalist) 15.6% ▌John Arndt (Federalist) 15.5%
	Robert Brown	Democratic-Republican	1798 (Special)	Incumbent re-elected.
Pennsylvania 5	Joseph Hiester	Democratic-Republican	1797 (Special)	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Joseph Hiester (Democratic-Republican) 83.2% ▌Roswell Wells (Federalist) 16.8%
Pennsylvania 6	John A. Hanna	Democratic-Republican	1796	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y John A. Hanna (Democratic-Republican) 74.6% ▌Samuel Maclay (Federalist) 25.4%
Pennsylvania 7	John W. Kittera	Federalist	1791	Incumbent retired. New member elected. Federalist hold.	▌Y Thomas Boude (Federalist) 54.1% ▌John Whitehill (Democratic-Republican) 45.9%
Pennsylvania 8	Thomas Hartley	Federalist	1788	Incumbent retired. New member elected. Democratic-Republican gain. Incumbent died December 21, 1800, and winner was then elected to finish the current term, see above.	▌Y John Stewart (Democratic-Republican) 54.8% ▌John Eddie (Federalist) 45.2%
Pennsylvania 9	Andrew Gregg	Democratic-Republican	1791	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Andrew Gregg (Democratic-Republican) 72.6% ▌David Mitchell (Federalist) 27.4%
Pennsylvania 10	Henry Woods	Federalist	1798	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Henry Woods (Federalist) 53.6% ▌David Bard (Democratic-Republican) 46.4%
Pennsylvania 11	John Smilie	Democratic-Republican	1792 1798	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y John Smilie (Democratic-Republican) 100%
Pennsylvania 12	Albert Gallatin	Democratic-Republican	1794	Incumbent re-elected. Incumbent/winner was later appointed U.S. Treasury May 14, 1801, during the 7th Congress but before that congress formally convened, leading to a special election, see above.	▌Y Albert Gallatin (Democratic-Republican) 72.9% ▌Presley Neville (Federalist) 27.1%

Rhode Island[edit]

Rhode Island switched to a general ticket for its two seats, instead of electing each one separately. Only one candidate received a majority in the 1800 election, requiring an 1801 run-off election to choose a Representative for the second seat.

South Carolina[edit]

Tennessee[edit]

Claiborne did not serve in the 7th Congress as he was appointed Governor of Mississippi Territory and was replaced in a special election by William Dickson (Democratic-Republican)

Vermont[edit]

Vermont law required a candidate to win a majority to take office, necessitating a run-off election in the 2nd (Eastern) district.

Virginia[edit]

Non-voting delegates[edit]

See also[edit]

• 1800 United States elections
  • List of United States House of Representatives elections (1789–1822)
  • 1800–01 United States Senate elections
  • 1800 United States presidential election
• 6th United States Congress
• 7th United States Congress

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

• "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[edit]

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