United States House of Representatives elections, 1812 and 1813

United States House of Representatives elections, 1812 and 1813

August 3, 1812 – April 30, 1813
All 182 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives 92 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Henry Clay Timothy Pitkin Party Democratic-Republican Federalist Leader's seat Kentucky-2nd Connecticut at-large Last election 107 seats 36 seats Seats won 114 68 Seat change 7 32
Speaker before election Henry Clay Democratic-Republican Elected Speaker Henry Clay Democratic-Republican

Elections to the United States House of Representatives for the 13th Congress were held at different dates in the various states between August 3, 1812 (in Kentucky) and April 30, 1813 (in North Carolina) as James Madison was re-elected to a second term as President. The Congress convened on May 24, 1813.

A significant expansion in the size of the House occurred as a result of population increases revealed in the 1810 Census. The largest number of new seats were created to accommodate the rapid settlement of Western territories. After America's entry into the War of 1812 against Britain, the Democratic-Republican and Federalist Parties effectively served as pro-war and anti-war camps. Democratic-Republican representatives from Southern and Western states had been the primary leaders in the push to declare war, asserting that the British had violated America's sovereign rights. High levels of support for the conflict in agrarian regions resulted in the Democratic-Republicans taking many newly created rural districts. In contrast, the Federalists and their key supporters in New England opposed the war from the start, citing its potential for damaging American trade and infrastructure. This position found widespread support in the country. The 1812 elections were indeed marked by massive Federalist gains, with many coming in the mid-Atlantic States, where support for the war became lukewarm after the initial shots were fired. Nonetheless, the Federalists were unable to secure anywhere near enough seats to secure a majority in the House of Representatives.

Election summaries

Following the 1810 Census, the House was reapportioned, adding 39 new seats,^[1] with 13 States gaining between 1 and 10 seats, 5 States having no change, and no States losing seats.

State	Type	↑ Date	Total seats		Democratic- Republican		Federalist
			Seats	Change	Seats	Change	Seats	Change
Kentucky	District	August 3, 1812	10	4	10	4	0
Rhode Island	At-large	August 25, 1812	2		0		2
New Hampshire	At-large	August 31, 1812	6	1	0	4	6	5
Vermont	At-large	September 1, 1812	6	2	6	3	0	1
Connecticut	At-large	September 21, 1812	7		0		7
Louisiana	At-large	September 28–30, 1812	1		1		0
Georgia	At-large	October 5, 1812	6	2	6	2	0
Delaware	At-large	October 6, 1812	2	1	0		2	1
Maryland	Districts	October 12, 1812	9		6		3
South Carolina	Districts	October 12–13, 1812	9	1	9	1	0
Ohio	Districts	October 13, 1812	6	5	6	5	0
Pennsylvania	Districts		23	5	22	5	1
Massachusetts	Districts	November 5, 1812[lower-alpha 1]	20	3	4	5	16	8
New York	Districts	December 15–17, 1812	27	10	9	3	18	13
New Jersey	Districts	January 12–13, 1813	6		2	4	4	4
Late elections (After the March 4, 1813 beginning of the next Congress)
Virginia	Districts	April 1813	23	1	17		6	1
Tennessee	Districts	April 1–2, 1813	6	3	6	3	0
North Carolina	Districts	April 30, 1813	13	1	10		3	1
Total			182	39	114 62.6%	7	68 37.4%	32

Special elections

There were special elections in 1812 and 1813 to the 12th United States Congress and 13th United States Congress.

Special elections are sorted by date then district.

Connecticut

Delaware

Delaware gained a seat after the 1810 Census, and chose to elect both seats on a general ticket. The ten years between 1813 and 1823 were the only time when Delaware was represented by more than one Representative, and is one of only three states (the other two being Alaska and Wyoming) that have never been divided into districts.

Georgia

Georgia gained two seats after the 1810 Census.

William W. Bibb (Democratic-Republican) resigned November 6, 1813 after being elected to the Senate, and was replaced in a special election by Alfred Cuthbert (Democratic-Republican)

Kentucky

Kentucky gained four seats after the 1810 Census.

In the 8th district, Representative-elect John Simpson was killed at the Battle of Frenchtown in the War of 1812. In a subsequent special election, Stephen Ormsby was elected to the 8th district and took his seat on May 28, 1813.^[11]

Louisiana

Louisiana held its election for the 13th Congress September 28–30, 1812, at the same time as the election for the 12th Congress, with nearly-identical results.

Maryland

Massachusetts

Massachusetts gained three seats after the 1810 Census, all of which were added to the District of Maine. Massachusetts' electoral law required a majority for election. This was not met in the 19th district requiring a second election.

New Hampshire

New Hampshire gained one seat after the 1810 Census.

New Jersey

New Jersey changed from electing its Representatives on a statewide general ticket to using three plural districts of two seats each. These districts were used only for the 1812 election, and the state returned to using a single at-large district in 1814. This was only the second time that New Jersey used districts (the first being in 1798).

New York

Ten seats were added after the 1810 Census, bringing New York's representation to 27, the largest of any state at the time. New York would remain the State with the most Representatives until the 1970 Census showed that California had become the most populous state.

There were two separate House elections in 1812. The first was held in April 1812 for an un-reapportioned 17 representatives. This election was subsequently declared void and a new election was held on December 15–17, 1812. In this second election, only 3 incumbents ran, two of whom were re-elected.

North Carolina

North Carolina gained one representative as a result of the Census of 1810.

Ohio

The 1810 Census revealed dramatic population growth in Ohio since 1800, resulting in its representation increasing from a single Representative to six, resulting in the State being broken up into 6 districts, abolishing the at-large district. Jeremiah Morrow (Democratic-Republican), who had served since Ohio achieved statehood in 1803, retired to run for Senator, so that all six seats were open.

There was a special election in the 3rd district caused by the resignation of Duncan McArthur before the beginning of Congress. He was replaced by William Creighton Jr. (Democratic-Republican)

There was aspecial election in the 6th district, held due to the death of Representative-elect John S. Edward before Congress met. That election was won by Reasin Beall.

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania gained five seats in the House of Representatives as a result of the Census of 1810, which awarded it a total of 23 seats. Pennsylvania was re-districted into 15 districts, one with 4 seats, five with 2, and the remaining nine with 1 seat each. There were seven open seats for this election, five resulting from the increase in apportionment, and two resulting from the retirement of incumbents.

John Gloninger (Federalist) of 3rd district resigned August 2, 1813, which was filled in a special election by Edward Crouch (Democratic-Republican).

Robert Whitehill (Democratic-Republican) of the 5th district died April 8, 1813 and was replaced in a special election by John Rea (Democratic-Republican).

John M. Hyneman (Democratic-Republican) of the 7th district resigned August 2, 1813 and was replaced in a special election by Daniel Udree (Democratic-Republican).

John Smilie (Democratic-Republican) of the 13th district died December 30, 1812 before the start of the Thirteenth Congress, a special election was held for his replacement, electing Isaac Griffin (Democratic-Republican). There are no surviving records of that special election, other than a single manuscript indicating a 779-vote majority for Griffin, but no indication of his opponent(s) or the total number of votes.

Abner Lacock (Democratic-Republican) of the 15th district resigned before the start of the 13th Congress and was replaced in a special election by Thomas Wilson (Democratic-Republican)

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Carolina gained one representative as a result of the 1810 Census, increasing from 8 seats to 9.

Tennessee

Tennessee's representation increased from 3 seats to 6 as a result of the 1810 Census.

In the 3rd district, the difference between the top two candidates was a single vote. William Kelly unsuccessfully contested the election.

Vermont

Vermont gained two seats after the 1810 Census. Rather than re-district, however, Vermont replaced its districts with a single at-large district. It would continue to use an at-large district in 1814, 1816, and 1818, then one more time in 1822 (with 5 seats).

Virginia

Virginia gained one seat after the 1810 Census, bringing its representation in the House of Representatives to 23 seats, the largest number Virginia would ever have. Virginia went from having the most representatives to having the second-most tied with Pennsylvania. New York, with its 27 seats, surpassed Virginia and remained the most populous state until the late 1960s.

The 9th district saw a re-match of the previous election's 8th district race. As with the previous election, Hungerford was initially declared the winner and Taliaferro challenged the results. In 1811, however, Taliaferro was unsuccessful in this challenge and Hungerford remained in Congress.

Non-voting delegates

Four territories had delegates in the 13th Congress: Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi, and Missouri. Illinois Territory and Missouri Territory elected their delegates in 1812 for both the end of the 12th and the start of the 13th Congresses.

See also

• United States elections, 1812
  • List of United States House of Representatives elections, 1789–1822
  • United States presidential election, 1812
  • United States Senate elections, 1812 and 1813
• 12th United States Congress
• 13th 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)