1816 United States House of Representatives elections in New York

The 1816 United States House of Representatives elections in New York were held from April 23 to 25, 1816, to elect 27 U.S. Representatives to represent the State of New York in the United States House of Representatives of the 15th United States Congress. At the same time, a vacancy was filled in the 14th United States Congress.

United States House of Representatives elections in New York, 1816

← 1814 April 23–25, 1816 1818 →

All 27 New York seats to the United States House of Representatives
  Majority party Minority party
 
Party Democratic-Republican Federalist
Last election 21 6
Seats won 22 5
Seat change Increase 1 Decrease 1

Background

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27 U.S. Representatives had been elected in April 1814 to a term in the 14th United States Congress beginning on March 4, 1815. Representative-elect Benjamin Pond died on October 6, 1814, and Asa Adgate was elected in April 1815 to fill the vacancy. Jonathan Fisk resigned his seat in March 1815, and James W. Wilkin was elected in April 1815 to fill the vacancy. John Adams and William S. Smith had been declared elected, and credentials issued by the Secretary of State of New York, but did not take or claim their seats. In December 1815, Erastus Root and Westel Willoughby, Jr. contested the former's elections, and were seated. Peter B. Porter resigned his seat on January 23, 1816, leaving a vacancy in the 21st District. The other 26 representatives' term would end on March 3, 1817. The congressional elections were held together with the State elections in late April 1816, about ten months before the term would start on March 4, 1817, and about a year and a half before Congress actually met on December 1, 1817.

Congressional districts

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The districts remained the same as at the previous elections in 1814.

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

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22 Democratic-Republicans and 5 Federalists were elected to the 15th Congress; and one Democratic-Republican to fill the vacancy in the 14th Congress. The incumbents Townsend, Irving, Wendover, Wilkin, Taylor, Savage and Comstock were re-elected; the incumbents Lovett, Throop and Brooks were defeated.

1816 United States House election result
District Democratic-Republican Federalist Democratic-Republican Federalist
1st George Townsend 3,798 Nathaniel Smith 3,268
Tredwell Scudder 3,781 Samuel Jones 3,267
2nd William Irving 5,225 Josiah Ogden Hoffman 3,792
Peter H. Wendover 5,199 Isaac Ely 3,771
3rd Caleb Tompkins 1,787 Abraham Odell 1,347
4th Henry B. Lee[1] 2,530 Henry A. Livingston 2,271
5th James I. Van Alen 2,208 Philip J. Schuyler 3,157
6th James W. Wilkin 1,613 James Burt[2] 1,298
7th Josiah Hasbrouck 1,826 John Sudam[3] 1,703
8th Dorrance Kirtland 2,252 Samuel Sherwood 1,752
9th Elisha Jenkins 1,418 Rensselaer Westerlo 2,180 John Lovett 277
10th Thomas Turner[4] 2,107 John P. Cushman 2,573
11th John W. Taylor 1,804 Elisha Powell[5] 1,574
12th John Savage 4,597 Henry H. Ross 4,106
John Palmer 4,137 Zebulon R. Shipherd 4,071
13th Thomas Lawyer 2,145 William Beekman[6] 1,760
14th John Herkimer 2,579 Richard Van Horne[7] 2,495
15th Isaac Williams, Jr. 5,027 James Clapp[8] 4,417
John R. Drake 5,019 James Hyde[9] 4,416
16th Nathan Williams 2,540 Henry R. Storrs 2,818
17th Thomas H. Hubbard 3,128 Simeon Ford[10] 2,939
18th Ela Collins 2,349 David A. Ogden 2,391
19th James Porter 2,789 James Geddes 2,244
20th Daniel Cruger 6,361 Elijah Miller 2,597 Enos T. Throop 1,271 Eleazer Lindsley[11] 712
Oliver C. Comstock 5,142 Benjamin Johnson 1,814
21st Benjamin Ellicott 8,765 Philip Church[12] 6,152 Micah Brooks 670 Samuel Colt 73
John C. Spencer 8,053 Graham Newell 6,071 Ebenezer F. Norton 39
21st Special Archibald S. Clarke

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

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After being defeated for re-election, Enos T. Throop resigned his seat on June 4, 1816. A special election to fill the vacancy was held in September 1816, and was won by Daniel Avery, of the same party. Avery took his seat in the 14th United States Congress on December 3, 1816.

1816 United States House special election result
District Democratic-Republican Democratic-Republican
20th Daniel Avery 1,915 Charles Kellogg 1,641

Archibald S. Clarke took his seat in the 14th Congress on December 2, 1816.

Henry B. Lee, elected in the 4th District, died on February 18, 1817, before his congressional term began. A special election to fill the vacancy was held at the time of the annual State election in April 1817, and was won by James Tallmadge, Jr., of the same party.

1817 United States House special election result
District Democratic-Republican Federalist Democratic-Republican
4th James Tallmadge, Jr. 1,457 Lemuel Clift[13] 1,176 Abraham Adriance[14] 421

The House of Representatives of the 15th United States Congress met for the first time at the Old Brick Capitol in Washington, D.C., on December 1, 1817, and 26 representatives took their seats. Only David A. Ogden arrived later, and took his seat on January 8, 1818.[15]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Henry B. Lee (d. 1817), of Putnam Co., assemblyman 1816
  2. ^ James Burt (b. 1760), of Warwick; assemblyman 1798, 1798–99, 1800, 1802, 1808, 1816, 1820–21, 1822; state senator 1823–26; presidential elector 1840
  3. ^ John Sudam, of Kingston, state senator 1823–24 and 1833–35
  4. ^ Thomas Turner, Sheriff of Rensselaer Co. 1806–07, 1808–10 and 1811–13; assemblyman 1818
  5. ^ Elisha Powell, assemblyman 1818 and 1820
  6. ^ William Beekman, of Sharon, state senator 1799–1802
  7. ^ Richard Van Horne (b. ca. 1770, d. March 12, 1823 Danube), assemblyman 1808–09
  8. ^ James Clapp, First Judge of Chenango Co. 1819
  9. ^ James Hyde, of Otsego Co., assemblyman 1812–13 and 1814
  10. ^ Simeon Ford, DA of Herkimer Co. 1818–23, assemblyman 1820–21 and 1822
  11. ^ Eleazer Lindsley, assemblyman from Ontario Co. 1792
  12. ^ Philip Church, First Judge of Allegany Co. 1807–1823
  13. ^ Lemuel Clift, of Dutchess Co., assemblyman 1798, 1798–99, 1810 and 1811
  14. ^ Abraham Adriance, of Poughkeepsie, assemblyman 1798–99, 1800, 1800–01 and 1802; state senator 1803–06
  15. ^ Abridgment of the Debates in Congress (Vol. VI; pages 58 and 84)

Sources

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