1790 and 1791 United States House of Representatives elections

In this period, each state fixed its own date for congressional general elections, as early as April 27, 1790 (in New York) and as late as October 11, 1791 (in Pennsylvania). Elections to a Congress took place both in the even-numbered year before and in the odd-numbered year when the 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). The first session of this Congress was convened in Philadelphia on October 24, 1791.

Kentucky and Vermont became states during the 2nd Congress, adding two seats each.[1] The legislation admitted Vermont was passed at the end of the 1st Congress taking effect on March 4, 1791, the first day of the 2nd Congress, so that Vermont was represented from the start of the Congress, while Kentucky was unrepresented until the 2nd session.

State	Type	Date ↑	Total seats	Pro- Administration		Anti- Administration
				Seats	Change	Seats	Change
New York	Districts	April 27–29, 1790	6	5	2	1	2
New Hampshire	At-large	August 30, 1790	3	3	1	0	1
Virginia	Districts	September 1, 1790	10	2	1	8	1
Connecticut	At-large	September 20, 1790	5	5		0
Maryland	Mixed[lower-alpha 4]	October 4, 1790	6	3	1	3	1
Massachusetts	Districts	October 4, 1790[lower-alpha 5]	8	7	1	1	1
South Carolina	Districts	October 12, 1790	5	3	1	2	1
Rhode Island	At-large	October 19, 1790	1	1		0
Delaware	At-large	November 8, 1790	1	1		0
Georgia	District	January 3, 1791	3	0		3
New Jersey	At-large	January 26, 1791	4	4		0
North Carolina	Districts	January 28, 1791	5	2		3
Late elections (after the March 4, 1791 beginning of the term)
Vermont	Districts	July 13, 1791[lower-alpha 6]	2	0		2	2
Pennsylvania	Districts	October 11, 1791	8	4	2	4	2
Total			67	40 59.7%	3	27 40.3%	1

There were special elections in 1790 and 1791 during the 1st United States Congress and 2nd United States Congress.

Elections are sorted here by state then district.

Connecticut elected all five of its representatives at-large on a general ticket on September 20, 1790.

There were two subsequent special elections. The first was held to fill the vacancy left by Pierpont Edwards (Pro-Administration) declining to serve and was won by Jeremiah Wadsworth (Pro-Administration). The second was held September 19, 1791 to fill the vacancy left by Roger Sherman (Pro-Administration)'s election to the Senate and was won by Amasa Learned (Pro-Administration).

Georgia switched to a conventional district system for the Second Congress. At the time, the districts were not numbered, but are retroactively renumbered as the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd respectively here.

Kentucky was admitted during the 2nd Congress and elected its first representatives in 1792.

Under Maryland law for the election for the 1st and 2nd Congresses "candidates were elected at-large but had to be residents of a specific district with the statewide vote determining winners from each district."

Massachusetts law required a majority for election. This condition was met in four of the eight districts, the remaining four required between 2 and 9 ballots for election.

New York's districts were not numbered at the time, therefore the numbering here is retroactive.

Due to the cession of North Carolina's trans-Appalachian territory to form the Southwest Territory, the territory of the old 5th district was lost. North Carolina retained the same number of Representatives, and so it redistricted for the Second Congress.

Pennsylvania had elected its Representatives at-large in the 1st Congress, but switched to using districts in the 2nd Congress. Five incumbents ran for re-election, four of whom won, while three others retired leaving three open seats. Two districts had no incumbents residing in them, while one (the 8th district) had a single representative who declined to run for re-election and one (the 2nd district) had three incumbents, only one of whom ran for re-election.

Rhode Island held elections for the 2nd Congress on October 18, 1790, about six weeks after elections for the 1st Congress due to the state's late ratification of the Constitution.

Vermont was admitted at the end of the First Congress, with the admission taking effect at the start of the Second Congress. Vermont was entitled to elect two representatives. Vermont law at the time required a majority to win an office. In the 1st district, no candidate won a majority, necessitating a run-off.

• 1790 United States elections
  • List of United States House of Representatives elections, 1789–1822
  • 1790 and 1791 United States Senate elections
• 1st United States Congress
• 2nd United States Congress

• "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.

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