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1802–03 United States House of Representatives elections

← 1800 & 1801 April 26, 1802 – December 14, 1803 1804 & 1805 →
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All 142 seats in the United States House of Representatives 72 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Nathaniel Macon John Cotton Smith Party Democratic-Republican Federalist Leader's seat North Carolina 6th Connecticut at-large Last election 68 seats 38 seats Seats won 103 39 Seat change 35 1
Results:      Federalist hold      Federalist gain      Democratic-Republican hold      Democratic-Republican gain      Undistricted
Speaker before election Nathaniel Macon Democratic-Republican Elected Speaker Nathaniel Macon Democratic-Republican

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.

State	Type	Date	Total seats		Democratic- Republican		Federalist
			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 71.8%	34	40 28.2%	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

Delaware

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

Kentucky gained 4 seats to 6 in reapportionment after the 1800 census.

Maryland

Maryland gained 1 seat in reapportionment after the 1800 census. Rather than increasing the number of districts, however, Maryland made the Maryland 5 a plural district with 2 seats.

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 6th district, requiring two additional ballots.

Mississippi Territory

See Non-voting delegates, below.

New Hampshire

New Hampshire increased its apportionment from 4 seats to 5 after the 1800 census.

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

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

North Carolina increased its apportionment from 10 to 12 seats after the 1800 census.

Ohio

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

South Carolina

South Carolina increased its apportionment from 6 seats to 8 after the 1800 census.

Tennessee

Tennessee increased its apportionment from 1 seat to 3 seats after the 1800 census.

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

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.

District	Incumbent			This race
	Member	Party	First elected	Results	Candidates
Virginia 1	George Jackson Redistricted from the 3rd district	Democratic- Republican	1795 1797 (lost) 1799	Incumbent retired. Democratic-Republican hold.	▌Y John G. Jackson (Democratic-Republican) ▌Thomas Wilson (Federalist)
Virginia 2	None (new district)			New seat. Federalist gain.	▌Y James Stephenson (Federalist) 53.6% ▌Osborn Sprigg (Democratic-Republican) 46.4%
Virginia 3	John Smith Redistricted from the 1st district	Democratic- Republican	1801	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y John Smith (Democratic-Republican) 89.9% ▌Joseph Sexton (Democratic-Republican) 10.1%
Virginia 4	David Holmes Redistricted from the 2nd district	Democratic- Republican	1797	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y David Holmes (Democratic-Republican) ▌Isaac Van Meter (Federalist)
Virginia 5	None (new district)			New seat. Federalist gain. Results were subsequently challenged and overturned.	▌Y Thomas Lewis Jr. (Federalist) 44.4% ▌Andrew Moore (Democratic-Republican) 36.8% ▌John Woodward (Federalist) 18.7%
Virginia 6	Abram Trigg Redistricted from the 4th district	Democratic- Republican	1797	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Abram Trigg (Democratic-Republican) 100%
Virginia 7	Richard Brent Redistricted from the 17th district	Democratic- Republican	1801	Incumbent lost re-election. Federalist gain.	▌Y Joseph Lewis Jr. (Federalist) 56.5% ▌Richard Brent (Democratic-Republican) 43.5%
Virginia 8	None (new district)			New seat. Democratic-Republican gain.	▌Y Walter Jones (Democratic-Republican) ▌James Ball (Federalist)
Virginia 9	Philip R. Thompson Redistricted from the 18th district	Democratic- Republican	1793	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Philip R. Thompson (Democratic-Republican) 100%
Virginia 10	John Dawson Redistricted from the 15th district	Democratic- Republican	1797	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y John Dawson (Democratic-Republican) ▌William I. Callis (Federalist)
Virginia 11	Anthony New Redistricted from the 16th district	Democratic- Republican	1793	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Anthony New (Democratic-Republican) 71.4% ▌John Taylor (Federalist) 28.6%
Virginia 12	None (new district)			New seat. Federalist gain.	▌Y Thomas Griffin (Federalist) 50.8% ▌Burwell Bassett (Democratic-Republican) 49.2%
Virginia 13	John J. Trigg Redistricted from the 5th district	Democratic- Republican	1797	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y John J. Trigg (Democratic-Republican) 100%
Virginia 14	Matthew Clay Redistricted from the 6th district	Democratic- Republican	1797	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Matthew Clay (Democratic-Republican) 88.9% ▌James Hurt (Federalist) 11.1%
Virginia 15	John Randolph Redistricted from the 7th district	Democratic- Republican	1799	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y John Randolph (Democratic-Republican) ▌Paul Carrington (Federalist) ▌Abraham B. Venable (Democratic-Republican) ▌Ischaxner Woodson (Unknown)
Virginia 16	William B. Giles Redistricted from the 9th district	Democratic- Republican	1790 (special) 1798 (resigned) 1801	Incumbent retired. Democratic-Republican hold.	▌Y John W. Eppes (Democratic-Republican)
Virginia 17	Thomas Claiborne Redistricted from the 8th district	Democratic- Republican	1793 1801	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Thomas Claiborne (Democratic-Republican) 51.3% ▌Richard Field (Federalist) 48.7%
Virginia 18	None (new district)			New seat. Democratic-Republican gain.	▌Y Peterson Goodwyn (Democratic-Republican) 66.9% ▌James Jones (Federalist) 33.1%
Virginia 19	Edwin Gray Redistricted from the 10th district	Democratic- Republican	1799	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Edwin Gray (Democratic-Republican) 100%
	John Taliaferro	Democratic- Republican	1801	Incumbent retired. Democratic-Republican loss.
Virginia 20	Thomas Newton Jr. Redistricted from the 11th district	Democratic- Republican	1799	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Thomas Newton Jr. (Democratic-Republican) 100%
Virginia 21	Samuel J. Cabell Redistricted from the 14th district	Democratic- Republican	1795	Incumbent lost re-election. Democratic-Republican hold.	▌Y Thomas M. Randolph (Democratic-Republican) 50.4% ▌Samuel J. Cabell (Democratic-Republican) 49.6%
Virginia 22	John Clopton Redistricted from the 13th district	Democratic- Republican	1801	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y John Clopton (Democratic-Republican) ▌James Rind (Federalist)

Non-voting delegates

See also

• 1802 United States elections
  • List of United States House of Representatives elections (1789–1822)
  • 1802–03 United States Senate elections
• 7th United States Congress
• 8th United States Congress

Notes

1. Majority required for election, which requirement was not met in one district, necessitating two additional trials held on January 24 and April 3, 1803
2. Majority required for election, which was not met in two districts. Two additional elections were required to achieve a majority, held on March 1 and May 9, 1803
3. Mistakenly listed as a Federalist in source
4. ^ Only candidates with at least 1% of the vote listed
5. ^ Numbers of votes missing or incomplete in source
6. The official date when Ohio became a state was not set until 1953, when the 83rd Congress passed legislation retroactively designating the date of the first meeting of the Ohio state legislature, March 1, 1803, as that date. However, on April 30, 1802, the 7th Congress had passed an act "authorizing the inhabitants of Ohio to form a Constitution and state government, and admission of Ohio into the Union." On February 19, 1803, the same Congress passed an act "providing for the execution of the laws of the United States in the State of Ohio." The Biographical Directory of the United States Congress states that Ohio was admitted to the Union on November 29, 1802, and counts its seats as vacant from that date.
7. Former delegate for the Northwest Territory
8. Changed parties
9. Thomas Lewis Jr. (Federalist) was initially declared the winner with 1,004 votes for Lewis, 832 for Andrew Moore (Democratic-Republican), and 423 for John Woodward (Federalist). However, upon investigation by the House Committee on Elections, it was determined that 355 votes for Lewis and 124 votes for Moore were cast by individuals who did not meet Virginia's voter qualifications, making the adjusted totals 708 legal votes for Moore and 649 legal votes for Lewis, thus, the Committee awarded this seat to Moore on March 5, 1804.
10. Only the two top candidates listed here, partial returns suggest Jones won by a very large majority.

References

1. 2 Stat. 128
2. 2 Stat. 175
3. "MD District 2". March 9, 2004. Retrieved September 14, 2018 – via OurCampaigns.com.
4. ^ "Seventh Congress (membership roster)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 6, 2014. Retrieved February 1, 2015.
5. "SC District 06 - Special Election". December 8, 2005. Retrieved September 14, 2018 – via OurCampaigns.com.
6. "MA - 1st Eastern - Special Election - 1st Trial". April 16, 2011. Retrieved September 14, 2018 – via OurCampaigns.com.
7. "MA - 1st Eastern - Special Election - 2nd Trial". April 16, 2011. Retrieved September 14, 2018 – via OurCampaigns.com.
8. "MA - 1st Eastern - Special Election - 3rd Trial". April 16, 2011. Retrieved September 14, 2018 – via OurCampaigns.com.
9. "MA - 1st Eastern - Special Election - 4th Trial". April 16, 2011. Retrieved September 14, 2018 – via OurCampaigns.com.
10. "MA - 1st Eastern - Special Election - 5th Trial". April 16, 2011. Retrieved September 14, 2018 – via OurCampaigns.com.
11. "NH At-Large - Special Election". January 4, 2011. Retrieved September 14, 2018 – via OurCampaigns.com.
12. "MS Territorial Delegate - Special Election". May 21, 2006. Retrieved September 14, 2018 – via OurCampaigns.com.
13. "NC District 08 - Special Election". February 5, 2005. Retrieved September 14, 2018 – via OurCampaigns.com.
14. "Georgia 1802 U.S. House of Representatives, Special". A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns 1787–1825. Tufts Digital Library, Tufts University. Archived from the original on May 28, 2020. Retrieved September 14, 2018.
15. "NY District 7". April 8, 2006. Retrieved September 14, 2018 – via OurCampaigns.com.
16. "Connecticut 1803 U.S. House of Representatives, Special". A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns 1787–1825. Tufts Digital Library, Tufts University. Archived from the original on May 21, 2020. Retrieved September 14, 2018.
17. "NY District 6". April 8, 2006. Retrieved September 14, 2018 – via OurCampaigns.com.
18. "GA At-Large". January 29, 2018. Retrieved September 14, 2018 – via OurCampaigns.com.
19. Sess. 1, ch. 40, 2 Stat. 173
20. Sess. 2, ch. 7, 2 Stat. 201
21. Wilkes University Elections Statistics Project
22. "A New Nation Votes: American Elections Returns 1787-1825: Virginia 1803 House of Representatives District 5". Archived from the original on 2013-01-06.
23. "Our Campaigns - MS Territorial Delegate Race - Sep 08, 1803". www.ourcampaigns.com. Retrieved August 18, 2020.

Bibliography

• "A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns 1787-1825". Tufts Digital Library, Tufts University. Archived from the original on January 29, 2015. 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.
• Mapping Early American Elections project team (2019). "Mapping Early American Elections". Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, George Mason University. Retrieved 2024-09-06.

External links

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

• 1802 United States House of Representatives elections
• 1803 United States House of Representatives elections