1802 United States House of Representatives elections in New York

The 1802 United States House of Representatives elections in New York were held from April 27 to 29, 1802, to elect 17 U.S. Representatives to represent the State of New York in the United States House of Representatives of the 8th United States Congress.

United States House of Representatives elections in New York, 1802

April 27–29, 1802

All 17[1] New York seats to the United States House of Representatives
  Majority party Minority party
 
Party Democratic-Republican Federalist
Last election 6 4
Seats won 12 5
Seat change 6 1
Popular vote 25,943 16,429
Percentage 61.2% 38.8%

Background

Ten U.S. Representatives had been elected in April 1800 to a term in the 7th United States Congress beginning on March 4, 1801. Thomas Tillotson and John Bird had resigned their seats, and Theodorus Bailey and John P. Van Ness were elected to fill the vacancies. Van Ness's seat was declared vacant on January 17, 1803. The other nine representatives' term would end on March 3, 1803. The congressional elections were held together with the State elections in late April 1802, about ten months before the term would start on March 4, 1803, and about a year and three months before Congress actually met on October 17, 1803.

Congressional districts

Until the previous elections, there had been ten congressional districts. After the U.S. census of 1800, Congress re-apportioned the seats, and New York's representation was increased to 17. On March 30, 1802, the New York State Legislature re-apportioned the congressional districts.

Note: There are now 62 counties in the State of New York. The counties which are not mentioned in this list had not yet been established, or sufficiently organized, the area being included in one or more of the abovementioned counties.

Result

12 Democratic-Republicans and 5 Federalists were elected. The incumbents Smith, Mitchill, Van Cortlandt, Thomas and Van Rensselaer were re-elected; the incumbent Van Ness was defeated.

1802 United States House election result
District Democratic-Republican Federalist Also ran
1 John Smith 1,530
2 John Broome 1,212 Joshua Sands 1,275
3 Samuel L. Mitchill 719 Joshua Sands 26
4 Philip Van Cortlandt 1,295 Peter Taulman (D-R) 256
5 Andrew McCord 1,256 John Hathorn 233
6 Isaac Bloom 1,565 Samuel Mott 1,259
7 John Cantine Conrad E. Elmendorf[2]
8 John P. Van Ness 1,525 Henry W. Livingston 1,622
9 Abraham G. Lansing 791 Killian K. Van Rensselaer 1,310
10 Josiah Masters 1,244 George Tibbits 1,305
11 Beriah Palmer 1,945 Guert Van Schoonhoven 675
12 David Thomas 2,218 John Williams 1,243
13 Thomas Sammons 2,560 Robert McFarlan 1,188
14 Erastus Root 1,779 Benjamin Gilbert 1,320
15 Francis A. Bloodgood 1,754 Gaylord Griswold 2,022
16 John Paterson 1,940 Comfort Tyler 1,561
17 Oliver Phelps 1,552 Nathaniel W. Howell 1,390 William Stuart (D-R) 802

Note: The Anti-Federalists called themselves "Republicans." However, at the same time, the Federalists called them "Democrats" which was meant to be pejorative. After some time both terms got more and more confused, and sometimes used together as "Democratic Republicans" which later historians have adopted (with a hyphen) to describe the party from the beginning, to avoid confusion with both the later established and still existing Democratic and Republican parties.

Aftermath and special elections

John Cantine, elected in the 7th D., resigned his seat before the congressional term began. A special election to fill the vacancy was held at the time of the annual State election in April 1803, and was won by Josiah Hasbrouck, of the same party.

1803 United States House special election result
District Democratic-Republican Federalist
7 Josiah Hasbrouck 1,810 Conrad E. Elmendorf 1,589

Isaac Bloom, elected in the 6th D., died on April 26, 1803, before Congress met. A special election to fill the vacancy was held in September 1803, and was won by Daniel C. Verplanck, of the same party.

1803 United States House special election result
District Democratic-Republican Federalist
6 Daniel C. Verplanck 809 Benjamin Akin[3] 601

The House of Representatives of the 8th United States Congress met for the first time at the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., on October 17, 1803, and Griswold, Hasbrouck, Livingston, McCord, Mitchill, Palmer, Sammons, Sands, Thomas, Van Cortlandt and Verplanck took their seats on this day. Smith took his seat on October 20; Patterson and Root on October 21; Van Rensselaer on October 29; Phelps on November 7; and Tibbits on November 15.[4]

John Smith, from the 1st D., resigned his seat effective February 22, 1804, after his election to the U.S. Senate. A special election to fill the vacancy was held at the time of the annual State election in April 1804, and was won by Samuel Riker, of the same party. Riker took his seat on November 5, 1804.

1804 United States House regular and special election result
District Democratic-Republican Democratic-Republican Federalist
1 Eliphalet Wickes 1,052 Samuel Riker 1,044 Joshua Smith 801

(Note: The vacancy in the 8th Congress and the next term in the 9th Congress were filled at the same election. The candidate with the higher number of votes won the full term, the next best was elected to fill the vacancy. Thus Wickes succeeded Riker on March 4, 1805.)

Samuel L. Mitchill, who had been re-elected in the 3rd D. in April 1804 to a third term, beginning on March 4, 1805, resigned his seat on November 22, 1804, after his election to the U.S. Senate. A special election to fill both vacancies (the remainder of his term in the 8th Congress and his seat in the 9th Congress) was held, and were won by George Clinton, Jr., of the same party. Clinton took his seat in the 8th Congress on February 14, 1805, and remained in office after March 4.

Notes

  1. 7 new seats gained in reapportionment
  2. Conrad Edmund Elmendorf (1763-1817), Assistant Attorney General for Orange, Dutchess and Ulster counties 1798-1801; assemblyman 1800-01 and 1808
  3. Benjamin Akin, assemblyman 1800-01 and 1802
  4. Abridgment of the Debates in Congress from 1789 to 1856 (Vol. III; pages 50, 52, 78 and 98)

Sources

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