The 1818 United States House of Representatives elections in New York were held from April 28 to 30, 1818, to elect 27
U.S. Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...
to represent the State of
New York in the
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...
of the
16th United States Congress
The 16th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1819, ...
.
Background
27 U.S. Representatives had been elected in April 1816 to a term in the
15th United States Congress
The 15th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in the Old Brick Capitol in Washingto ...
beginning on March 4, 1817. Representative-elect
Henry B. Lee died on February 18, 1817, and
James Tallmadge, Jr. was elected in April 1817 to fill the vacancy. The representatives' term would end on March 3, 1819. The congressional elections were held together with the State elections in late April 1818, about ten months before the term would start on March 4, 1819, and about a year and a half before Congress actually met on December 6, 1819.
Congressional districts
The geographical area of the districts remained the same as at the previous elections in 1816. Two new counties were created:
Tompkins inside the 20th District; and
Cattaraugus inside the 21st District. In 1817, the Town of
Danube
The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , p ...
was separated from the Town of
Minden in
Montgomery County, and transferred to
Herkimer County
Herkimer County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 60,139. Its county seat is Herkimer. The county was created in 1791 north of the Mohawk River out of part of Montgomery County. It is named af ...
, but Danube remained in the 14th District.
*The
1st District (two seats) comprising the 1st and 2nd Ward of
New York County
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
, and
Kings,
Queens
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
,
Suffolk and
Richmond counties.
*The
2nd District (two seats) comprising the other eight wards of New York County.
*The
3rd District comprising
Westchester and
Rockland counties.
*The
4th District
Fourth or the fourth may refer to:
* the ordinal form of the number 4
* ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971
* Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision
* Fourth (music), a musical interval
* ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...
comprising
Dutchess County, except the towns of
Rhinebeck and
Clinton; and
Putnam County.
*The
5th District District 5, 5 District or 5th District may refer to:
Europe
* District 5 (Zürich)
* District 5, Düsseldorf
* V District, Turku
* Districts of Malta#District 5, District 5, an electoral district of Malta
* Districts of Malta#District 5 2, Distric ...
comprising
Columbia County; and Rhinebeck and Clinton in
Dutchess County.
*The
6th District comprising
Orange County
Orange County most commonly refers to:
*Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area
Orange County may also refer to:
U.S. counties
*Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando
*Orange County, Indiana
*Orange County, New ...
.
*The
7th District comprising
Ulster
Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...
and
Sullivan counties.
*The
8th District comprising
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...
and
Greene
Greene may refer to:
Places United States
*Greene, Indiana, an unincorporated community
*Greene, Iowa, a city
*Greene, Maine, a town
** Greene (CDP), Maine, in the town of Greene
*Greene (town), New York
** Greene (village), New York, in the town ...
counties.
*The
9th District comprising
Albany County.
*The
10h District comprising
Rensselaer County
Rensselaer County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 161,130. Its county seat is Troy. The county is named in honor of the family of Kiliaen van Rensselaer, the original Dutch owner of the ...
.
*The
11th District comprising
Saratoga County
Saratoga County is a county in the U.S. state of New York, and is the fastest-growing county in Upstate New York. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county's population was enumerated at 235,509, representing a 7.2% increase from the 2010 popul ...
.
*The
12th District (two seats) comprising
Clinton,
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...
,
Franklin,
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
and
Warren
A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval A ...
counties.
*The
13th District comprising
Schenectady
Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...
and
Schoharie counties.
*The
14th District comprising
Montgomery County and the Town of
Danube
The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , p ...
in Herkimer County.
*The
15th District (two seats) comprising
Chenango,
Broome and
Otsego counties.
*The
16th District comprising
Oneida County.
*The
17th District comprising
Herkimer County
Herkimer County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 60,139. Its county seat is Herkimer. The county was created in 1791 north of the Mohawk River out of part of Montgomery County. It is named af ...
, except the Town of Danube, and
Madison County.
*The
18th District comprising
St. Lawrence
Saint Lawrence or Laurence ( la, Laurentius, lit. " laurelled"; 31 December AD 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that the Roma ...
,
Jefferson and
Lewis
Lewis may refer to:
Names
* Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name
* Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname
Music
* Lewis (musician), Canadian singer
* "Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohead ...
counties.
*The
19th District comprising
Onondaga and
Cortland counties.
*The
20th District (two seats) comprising
Tioga,
Steuben,
Cayuga,
Seneca
Seneca may refer to:
People and language
* Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname
* Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America
** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people
Places Extrat ...
and
Tompkins counties.
*The
21st District (two seats) comprising
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
,
Genesee
Genesee, derived from the Seneca word for "pleasant valley", may refer to:
Geographic features Canada
*Genesee, Alberta, an unincorporated community
United States
*Genesee, California
*Genesee, Colorado
*Genesee County, Michigan
*Genesee Co ...
,
Allegany,
Niagara,
Chautauqua
Chautauqua ( ) was an adult education and social movement in the United States, highly popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Chautauqua assemblies expanded and spread throughout rural America until the mid-1920s. The Chautauqua br ...
and
Cattaraugus counties.
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
19 Democratic-Republicans, 6 Clintonian-Federalists and 2 Federalists were elected to the 16th Congress. The incumbents Wendover, Tompkins, Taylor and Storrs were re-elected, the incumbent Ellicott was defeated.
Note: It is difficult to ascertain the party affiliation of these candidates: At this time began the split of the Democratic-Republican Party
The Democratic-Republican Party, known at the time as the Republican Party and also referred to as the Jeffersonian Republican Party among other names, was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the earl ...
into two opposing factions: on one side, the supporters of DeWitt Clinton and his Erie Canal
The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east-west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, vastly reducing t ...
project; on the other side, the Bucktails
The Bucktails (1818–1826) were the faction of the Democratic-Republican Party in New York State opposed to Governor DeWitt Clinton. It was influenced by the Tammany Society. The name derives from a Tammany insignia, a deer's tail worn in the ha ...
(including the Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York City political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society. It became the main loc ...
organization in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
), led by Martin Van Buren
Martin Van Buren ( ; nl, Maarten van Buren; ; December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862) was an American lawyer and statesman who served as the eighth president of the United States from 1837 to 1841. A primary founder of the Democratic Party, he ...
. At the same time, the Federalist Party had already begun to disintegrate. In the Southern districts the Federalists and Clintonians combined to vote for joint nominees, running against the Bucktails; in the Western districts, where the Erie Canal was under construction, the Democratic-Republican nominees were Clintonians who were elected unopposed.
Aftermath and contested election
The House of Representatives of the
16th United States Congress
The 16th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1819, ...
met for the first time at the reconstructed
United States Capitol
The United States Capitol, often called The Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the seat of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, which is formally known as the United States Congress. It is located on Capitol Hill ...
in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, on December 6, 1819, and 26 of the representatives took their seats. Only
Ebenezer Sage
Ebenezer Sage (August 16, 1755 – January 20, 1834) was a United States representative from New York.
Early life
Sage was born in that part of the town of Chatham (which was later separated as the Town of Portland) in the Connecticut C ...
did not appear.
On December 10,
Nathaniel Allen
Nathaniel Allen (1780 – December 22, 1832) was an American politician, and a United States representative from New York.
Biography
Nathaniel Allen was born the second son of Moses and Chloe Ward Allen in what is now East Bloomfield, Onta ...
presented a petition on behalf of
James Guyon, Jr.
James Guyon Jr. (December 24, 1778 – March 9, 1846 Staten Island) was an American politician from New York.
Life
He was the son of James Guyon (b. 1746) and Susannah Guyon. The Guyon family was of French Protestant descent. James Guyon Jr. ...
to contest the election of
Ebenezer Sage
Ebenezer Sage (August 16, 1755 – January 20, 1834) was a United States representative from New York.
Early life
Sage was born in that part of the town of Chatham (which was later separated as the Town of Portland) in the Connecticut C ...
in the 1st District. On January 12, 1820, the
Committee on Elections submitted its report. They found that the election inspectors in the towns of Northfield (on
Staten Island),
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
,
Hempstead and
Oyster Bay had returned 391 votes for "James Guyon" although all these votes had in fact been given for "James Guyon, Jr." The
Secretary of State of New York
The secretary of state of New York is a cabinet officer in the government of the U.S. state of New York who leads the Department of State (NYSDOS).
The current secretary of state of New York is Robert J. Rodriguez, a Democrat.
Duties
The secre ...
, receiving the abovementioned result, issued credentials for Sage who never took or claimed the seat. On January 14, the House declared Guyon, Jr., entitled to the seat, and Guyon took it.
''Journal of the House of Representatives''
(pages 29f, 127, 129 and 138)
Notes
Sources
''The New York Civil List''
compiled in 1858 (see: pg. 66 for district apportionment; pg. 70f for Congressmen)
Members of the Sixteenth United States Congress
Election result 1st D.
at project "A New Nation Votes", compiled by Phil Lampi, hosted by Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...
Digital Library ives 2.166 votes for Guyon, Jr.; the newspaper editor was not aware of the inspector's mistakebr>Election result 2nd D.
at "A New Nation Votes"
Election result 3rd D.
at "A New Nation Votes"
Election result 4th D.
at "A New Nation Votes"
Election result 5th D.
at "A New Nation Votes"
Election result 6th D.
at "A New Nation Votes"
Election result 7th D.
at "A New Nation Votes"
Election result 8th D.
at "A New Nation Votes"
Election result 9th D.
at "A New Nation Votes"
Election result 10th D.
at "A New Nation Votes"
Election result 11th D.
at "A New Nation Votes"
Election result 12th D.
at "A New Nation Votes"
Election result 13th D.
at "A New Nation Votes"
Election result 14th D.
at "A New Nation Votes"
Election result 15th D.
at "A New Nation Votes"
Election result 16th D.
at "A New Nation Votes"
Election result 17th D.
at "A New Nation Votes"
Election result 18th D.
at "A New Nation Votes"
Election result 19th D.
at "A New Nation Votes"
Election result 20th D.
at "A New Nation Votes"
Election result 21st D.
at "A New Nation Votes"
{{New York elections
1818
Events
January–March
* January 1
** Battle of Koregaon: Troops of the British East India Company score a decisive victory over the Maratha Empire.
** Mary Shelley's ''Frankenstein'' is published anonymously in London.
* January 2 – ...
New York
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...
April 1818 events