1802–03 United States House of Representatives elections explained

Election Name:	1802–03 United States House of Representatives elections
Country:	United States
Flag Year:	1795
Type:	legislative
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	1800–01 United States House of Representatives elections
Next Election:	1804–05 United States House of Representatives elections
Seats For Election:	All 142 seats in the United States House of Representatives
Majority Seats:	72
Election Date:	April 26, 1802 – December 14, 1803
Outgoing Members:	7th_United_States_Congress#House_of_Representatives_3
Elected Members:	8th United States Congress#House_of_Representatives_3
Party1:	Democratic-Republican Party
Image1:	NC-Congress-NathanielMacon.jpg
Leader1:	Nathaniel Macon
Last Election1:	68 seats
Seats1:	103
Seat Change1:	35
Party2:	Federalist Party
Leader2:	John Cotton Smith
Last Election2:	38 seats
Seats2:	39
Seat Change2:	1
Map Size:	350px
Speaker
Before Election:	Nathaniel Macon
Before Party:	Democratic-Republican Party
After Election:	Nathaniel Macon
After Party:	Democratic-Republican Party

The 1802–03 United States House of Representatives elections were held on various dates in various states between April 26, 1802 (in New York) and December 14, 1803 (in New Jersey). Each state set its own date for its elections to the House of Representatives, either before or after the first session of the 8th United States Congress convened on October 17, 1803. They occurred during President Thomas Jefferson's first term in office.

With the addition of the new state of Ohio's representatives, and the congressional reapportionment based on the 1800 United States census, the size of the House increased from 106 to 142 seats. The greatest population growth revealed in the 1800 census was in territories that constituted the western regions of the country at the time, a tremendous boost for Democratic-Republican candidates. Nearly all of the new seats created in the reapportionment went to Democratic-Republicans, closely aligned as they were with the agrarian interests of Western farmers. As a result, the Democratic-Republicans won the largest proportion of seats that either they or the competing Federalists had ever been able to secure in any earlier Congress, a supermajority greater than two-thirds of the total number.

Election summaries

These elections were the first following reapportionment after the 1800 census. Thirty-five new seats were added in reapportionment, with three states having no change in apportionment, and thirteen states gaining between 1 and 7 seats. One further seat was added for the new state of Ohio, which is included in this table below.

↓
102	40
Democratic-Republican	Federalist

State	Type	Date	Total seats		Federalist
State	Type	Date	Seats	Change	Seats	Change	Seats	Change
New York	Districts	April 26–29, 1802	17	7	12	6	5	1
Connecticut	At-large	August 20, 1802	7		0		7
New Hampshire	At-large	August 30, 1802	5	1	0		5	1
Rhode Island	At-large	August 31, 1802	2		2		0
Georgia	At-large	October 4, 1802	4	2	4	2	0
Delaware	At-large	October 5, 1802	1		1	1	0	1
Pennsylvania	Districts	October 12, 1802	18	5	18	8	0	3
Massachusetts	District	November 1, 1802	17	3	7		10	3
Vermont	Districts	December 13, 1802	4	2	1		3	2
Maryland	Districts	January 1, 1803	9	1	6	1	3
South Carolina	Districts	February 3, 1803	8	2	6	3	2	1
Late elections (After the March 4, 1803, beginning of Congress)
Virginia	Districts	April 1803	22	3	18		4	3
Kentucky	Districts	August 2, 1803	6	4	6	4	0
Tennessee	At-large	August 5, 1803	3	2	3	2	0
North Carolina	Districts	August 15, 1803	12	2	11	5	1	3
Very late elections (After the October 17, 1803, beginning of 1st session)
New Jersey	At-large	December 14, 1803	6	1	6	1	0
Election of new state during 8th Congress
Ohio	At-large	June 21, 1803	1	1	1	1	0
Total			142	36	102	34	40	2

Special elections

There were special elections in 1802 and 1803 during the 7th United States Congress and 8th United States Congress.

Elections are sorted here by date then district.

7th Congress

8th Congress

Connecticut

See main article: 1802 United States House of Representatives election in Connecticut.

Delaware

See main article: 1802 United States House of Representatives election in Delaware.

Georgia

See main article: 1802 United States House of Representatives election in Georgia.

See also: April 1802 Georgia's at-large congressional district special election, December 1802 Georgia's at-large congressional district special election, 1803 Georgia's at-large congressional district special election and List of United States representatives from Georgia. Georgia gained 2 seats in reapportionment after the 1800 census. It elected its representatives October 4, 1802, at-large on a general ticket.

Kentucky

See main article: 1803 United States House of Representatives elections in Kentucky.

See also: List of United States representatives from Kentucky. Kentucky gained 4 seats to 6 in reapportionment after the 1800 census.

Maryland

See main article: 1803 United States House of Representatives elections in Maryland.

See also: 1802 Maryland's 2nd congressional district special election and List of United States representatives from Maryland. Maryland gained 1 seat in reapportionment after the 1800 census. Rather than increasing the number of districts, however, Maryland made the a plural district with 2 seats.

Massachusetts

See main article: 1802–1803 United States House of Representatives elections in Massachusetts.

See also: List of United States representatives from Massachusetts. Massachusetts increased 3 seats to 17 in reapportionment after the 1800 census. Massachusetts law at the time required a majority for election to an office, which requirement was not met in the, requiring two additional ballots.

Mississippi Territory

See Non-voting delegates, below.

New Hampshire

See main article: 1802 United States House of Representatives election in New Hampshire.

See also: 1802 New Hampshire's at-large congressional district special election and List of United States representatives from New Hampshire. New Hampshire increased its apportionment from 4 seats to 5 after the 1800 census.

New Jersey

See main article: 1803 United States House of Representatives election in New Jersey.

See also: List of United States representatives from New Jersey. New Jersey increased its apportionment from 5 seats to 6 after the 1800 census.

The Federalists did not run any official candidates in 1802, but a few Federalists did receive scattered votes.

New York

See main article: 1802 United States House of Representatives elections in New York.

See also: List of United States representatives from New York. New York's apportionment increased from 10 seats to 17 seats after the 1800 census. The state was subsequently redistricted. 11 open seats were available due to the increase in apportionment and retirement of incumbents.

North Carolina

See main article: 1803 United States House of Representatives elections in North Carolina.

See also: 1802 North Carolina's 8th congressional district special election and List of United States representatives from North Carolina. North Carolina increased its apportionment from 10 to 12 seats after the 1800 census.

Ohio

See main article: 1803 United States House of Representatives election in Ohio.

|-! | colspan=3 | Ohio is considered to have been admitted to the Union near the end of the 7th Congress, but did not elect representatives until the 8th Congress.
For this reason, Ohio is considered to have had a vacant seat in the House and two vacant seats in the Senate in the 7th Congress.^[1] | | New seat.
Democratic-Republican gain| nowrap |

Pennsylvania

See main article: 1802 United States House of Representatives elections in Pennsylvania.

See also: List of United States representatives from Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania increased its apportionment from 13 to 18 seats after the 1800 census. The state was re-districted from 12 into 11 districts, four of which were plural districts.

Rhode Island

See main article: 1802 United States House of Representatives election in Rhode Island.

South Carolina

See main article: 1803 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina.

See also: 1802 South Carolina's 4th congressional district special election and List of United States representatives from South Carolina. South Carolina increased its apportionment from 6 seats to 8 after the 1800 census.

Tennessee

See main article: 1803 United States House of Representatives election in Tennessee.

See also: List of United States representatives from Tennessee. Tennessee increased its apportionment from 1 seat to 3 seats after the 1800 census.

Vermont

See main article: 1802–1803 United States House of Representatives elections in Vermont.

See also: List of United States representatives from Vermont. Vermont increased its apportionment from 2 seats to 4 after the 1800 census. Vermont law at the time required a majority of votes to win an office, which frequently necessitated additional ballots.

Virginia

See main article: 1803 United States House of Representatives elections in Virginia.

See also: List of United States representatives from Virginia. Virginia increased its apportionment from 19 to 22 seats after the 1800 census. Virginia's congressional delegation remained the largest of any state, but would lose this distinction permanently after the census of 1810. Elections were held over three days in April 1803.

Non-voting delegates

Bibliography

Web site: A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns 1787-1825 . Tufts Digital Library, Tufts University . January 17, 2015 . January 29, 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150129054451/http://elections.lib.tufts.edu/catalog/tufts:de.uscongress.1789 . dead .
Book: Dubin, Michael J. . United States Congressional Elections, 1788-1997: The Official Results of the Elections of the 1st Through 105th Congresses . McFarland and Company . March 1, 1998 . 978-0786402830.
Book: Martis, Kenneth C. . The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress, 1789-1989 . Macmillan Publishing Company . January 1, 1989 . 978-0029201701.
Web site: Party Divisions of the House of Representatives* 1789–Present . Office of the Historian, United States House of Representatives . January 21, 2015.
Web site: Mapping Early American Elections. 2024-09-06. Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, George Mason University. 2019. Mapping Early American Elections project team.

External links

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

Notes and References

Web site: Seventh Congress (membership roster) . February 1, 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20141206141022/http://artandhistory.house.gov/house_history/bioguide-front/7.pdf . December 6, 2014 . dead .