United States House of Representatives elections, 1836

United States House of Representatives elections, 1836

July 4, 1836 - November 7, 1837

All 242 seats to the United States House of Representatives 122 seats were needed for a majority   Majority party Minority party   Leader James K. Polk John Bell Party Democratic Whig Leader's seat Tennessee-9th Tennessee-7th Last election 143 seats 75 seats Seats won 128[1][Note 1] 100[1][Note 1] Seat change 15 25   Third party Fourth party   Leader Thomas Henry John K. Griffin Party Anti-Masonic Nullifier Leader's seat Pennsylvania-22nd South Carolina-9th Last election 16 seats 8 seats Seats won 7 6[Note 1] Seat change 9 2

Speaker before election James K. Polk Democratic Elected Speaker James K. Polk Democratic

Elections to the United States House of Representatives for the 25th Congress were held in 1836 and 1837.

Although Democrat Martin Van Buren was elected president, the Democrats continued to lose seats in the House. The Whigs played off the unpopularity of Jackson's refusal to compromise with Congress or cooperate with the Supreme Court. Despite Whig gains, the Democrats held on to a majority. In addition, the 1836–1837 U.S. House elections saw the continuing decline of the single-issue Anti-Masonic (based on the distrust of Freemasonry) and Nullifier (based on the principle of states' rights) parties. Also, John Pope was elected as an Independent to Kentucky's 7th District.^[2]

Election summaries

↓

128	6	7	1	100
Democratic	N	AM	I	Whig

State	Type	Date	Total seats	Democratic[Note 2]	Whig[Note 3]	Anti-Masonic	Nullifier
				Seats	Change	Seats	Change	Seats	Change	Seats	Change
Delaware	At-large	November 8, 1836	1	0		1		0		0
Georgia	At-large	October 3, 1836	9	8	1	1	1	0		0
Illinois	District (3)	August 1, 1836	3	3		0		0		0
Louisiana	District (3)	July 4–6, 1836	3	1		2		0		0
Maine	District (8)	September 12, 1836	8	6		2		0		0
Massachusetts	District (12)	November 14, 1836	12	2	1	10	2	0	3	0
Missouri	At-large	August 1, 1836	2	2	1	0	1	0		0
New Jersey	At-large	November 16, 1836	6	0	6	6	6	0		0
New York	District (33[Note 4])	November 7–9, 1836	40	30	1	10	1	0		0
Ohio	District (19)	October 11, 1836	19	8	1	11	2	0	1	0
Pennsylvania	District (25[Note 5])	October 11, 1836	28	18	1	3		7	1	0
South Carolina	District (9)	October 10–11, 1836	9	2	1	1	1	0		6
Vermont	District (5)	September 6, 1836	5	1	1	4	1	0	2	0
1837 elections
Alabama	District (5)	August 8, 1837	5	3		2	1	0		0	1
Arkansas	At-large	October 2, 1837	1	1		0		0		0
Connecticut	District[Note 6] (6)	April 3, 1837	6	6		0		0		0
Indiana	District (7)	August 7, 1837	7	1	5	6	5	0		0
Kentucky[Note 7]	District (13)	August 7, 1837	13[Note 7]	1	3	11	2	0		0
Maryland	District (7[Note 8])	July 26, 1837	8	4		4		0		0
Michigan	At-large	August 22, 1837	1	1		0		0		0
Mississippi	At-large	July 17–18, 1837[Note 9] November 6–7, 1837[Note 10]	2	2[Note 11]	1	0[Note 12]	1	0		0
New Hampshire	At-large	March 14, 1837	5	5		0		0		0
North Carolina	District (13)	August 10, 1837	13	5	2	8	2	0		0
Rhode Island	At-large	August 29, 1837	2	0		2	2	0	2	0
Tennessee	District (13)	August 3, 1837	13	3	1	10	1	0		0
Virginia	District (21)	April 27, 1837	21	15	1	6	1	0		0
Total			242	128 52.9%	15	100 41.3%	25	7 2.9%	9	6 2.5%	2

House seats
Democratic			52.89%
Whig			41.32%
Anti-Masonic			2.89%
Nullifier			2.48%
Independent			0.41%

The 1st session of the 25th Congress began on September 4, 1837, before Arkansas' and Mississippi's Congressional elections. In Mississippi, the governor issued writs for a special election for July 17–18. Initially, the Elections Committee accepted the winners of that election, John F. H. Claiborne (D) and Samuel J. Gholson (D) as holding their seats for the entirety of the 25th Congress. However, the regular November election was also held, and elected Sergeant S. Prentiss (W) and Thomas J. Word (W), and on February 5, 1838, the earlier decision was rescinded, and the winners of the November election were seated in the place of the July winners.

Complete returns

Pennsylvania

District	Incumbent	Party	First elected	Result	Candidates[Note 13][3]
Pennsylvania 1	Joel B. Sutherland	Jacksonian	1826	Lost re-election Democratic hold	Lemuel Paynter (D) 55.3% Joel B. Sutherland (W[Note 14]) 44.7%
Pennsylvania 2 Plural district with 2 seats	Joseph R. Ingersoll	Anti-Jacksonian	1834	Retired Whig hold	John Sergeant (W) 63.1% George W. Toland (W) 63.0% Read Longstreth (D) 37.7% John M. Morris (D) 36.3%
	James Harper	Anti-Jacksonian	1832	Retired Whig hold
Pennsylvania 3	Michael W. Ash	Jacksonian	1834	Retired Democratic hold	Francis J. Harper (D) 50.5% Charles Naylor[Note 15] (W) 49.5%
Pennsylvania 4 Plural district with 3 seats	William Hiester	Anti-Masonic	1830	Retired Anti-Masonic hold	David Potts, Jr. (AM[Note 16]) 53.8% Edward Darlington (AM[Note 16]) 53.6% Edward Davies (AM[Note 16]) 53.6% Samuel Leiper (D) 46.4% John K. Findley (D) 46.3% John W. Cunningham (D) 46.3%
	Edward Darlington	Anti-Masonic	1832	Re-elected
	David Potts, Jr.	Anti-Masonic	1830	Re-elected
Pennsylvania 5	Jacob Fry, Jr.	Jacksonian	1834	Re-elected	Jacob Fry, Jr. (D) 61.9% Daniel M. Mulvaney (W) 38.1%
Pennsylvania 6	Mathias Morris	Anti-Jacksonian	1834	Re-elected	Mathias Morris (W) 51.4% John Rockman (D) 48.6%
Pennsylvania 7	David D. Wagener	Jacksonian	1832	Re-elected	David D. Wagener (D) 73.7% Jacob Weygandt (W) 26.3%
Pennsylvania 8	Edward B. Hubley	Jacksonian	1834	Re-elected	Edward B. Hubley (D) 54.2% William Audenried (AM) 45.8%
Pennsylvania 9	Henry A. P. Muhlenberg	Jacksonian	1828	Re-elected	Henry A. P. Muhlenberg (D) 57.5% Henry W. Smith (W) 42.5%
Pennsylvania 10	William Clark	Anti-Masonic	1832	Retired Democratic gain	Luther Reily (D) 50.8% George W. Harris (W) 49.2%
Pennsylvania 11	Henry Logan	Jacksonian	1834	Re-elected	Henry Logan (D) 58.2% Jacob Kirk (W) 41.8%
Pennsylvania 12	George Chambers	Anti-Masonic	1832	Retired Democratic gain	Daniel Sheffer (D) 50.5% G. James McSherry (AM) 49.5%
Pennsylvania 13	Jesse Miller	Jacksonian	1832	Retired Democratic hold	Charles McClure (D) 57.5% William Sharon (W) 42.5%
Pennsylvania 14	Joseph Henderson	Jacksonian	1832	Retired Democratic hold	William W. Potter (D) 59.6% John Williamson (AM) 38.2% John Ashman (AM) 2.2%
Pennsylvania 15	Andrew Beaumont	Jacksonian	1832	Retired Democratic hold	David Petrikin (D) 52.1% John McReynolds (W) 47.9%
Pennsylvania 16	Joseph B. Anthony	Jacksonian	1832	Retired Democratic hold	Robert H. Hammond (D) 59.1% Ebenezer Greenough (A) 40.9%
Pennsylvania 17	John Laporte	Jacksonian	1832	Retired Democratic hold	Samuel W. Morris (D) 60.2% William Jessup (W) 39.8%
Pennsylvania 18	Job Mann	Jacksonian	1832	Lost re-election Anti-Masonic gain	Charles Ogle (AM) 51.7% Job Mann (D) 48.3%
Pennsylvania 19	John Klingensmith, Jr.	Jacksonian	1832	Re-elected	John Klingensmith, Jr. (D) 58.0% James Moorhead (W) 42.0%
Pennsylvania 20	Andrew Buchanan	Jacksonian	1832	Re-elected	Andrew Buchanan (D) 100%
Pennsylvania 21	Thomas M. T. McKennan	Anti-Masonic	1830	Re-elected	Thomas M. T. McKennan (AM) 52.2% Thomas Ringland (D) 47.8%
Pennsylvania 22	Harmar Denny	Anti-Masonic	1829 (special)	Retired Anti-Masonic hold	Richard Biddle (AM) 51.4% Trevanion B. Dallas (D) 48.6%
Pennsylvania 23	Samuel S. Harrison	Jacksonian	1832	Retired Democratic hold	William Beatty (D) 56.5% Joseph Buffington (W) 43.5%
Pennsylvania 24	Previous incumbent John Banks (AM) resigned April 2, 1836			Anti-Masonic hold	Thomas Henry (AM) 56.1% John R. Shannon (D) 43.9%
Pennsylvania 25	John Galbraith	Jacksonian	1832	Retired Democratic hold	Arnold Plumer (D) 54.4% David Dick (W) 45.6%

There were two special elections to fill vacancies in Pennsylvania's representation during the 25th Congress. The first was in the 3rd district caused by Francis J. Harper (D)'s death on March 18, 1837, shortly after the official start of the 25th Congress, but before the first meeting. Said vacancy was filled by Charles Naylor (W). The second was in the 9th district when Henry A. P. Muhlenberg (D) resigned February 9, 1838, which vacancy was filled by George Keim (D)

See also

• United States elections, 1836
  • List of United States House of Representatives elections, 1824–54
  • United States presidential election, 1836
  • United States Senate elections, 1836 and 1837
• 24th United States Congress
• 25th United States Congress

Notes

1. Dubin (p. 119) records only 99 Whigs, with a vacancy in TN-04 (which was later filled by a Whig). Dubin also records 132 Democrats, and only 2 Nullifiers. Figures listed here defer to Martis (p. 94).
2. Previously Jacksonian
3. Previously Anti-Jacksonian
4. Includes 5 plural districts
5. Includes 3 plural districts
6. Changed from at-large
7. John Pope was elected as an Independent to KY-07, and so is not included in the figures here. Pope would run in later elections as a Whig.
8. Includes 1 plural district
9. Special election
10. Regular election
11. 0 after second election
12. 2 after second election
13. For plural districts, percent is based on assumption that each voter cast as many votes as there are seats
14. Changed parties
15. Won subsequent special election
16. Joint Whig/Anti-Masonic ticket

References

1. Martis, p. 94.
2. Dubin, p. 117; Martis, p. 94; Moore, p. 966.
3. Wilkes University Elections Statistics Project

Bibliography

• 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.
• Moore, John L., ed. (1994). Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections (Third ed.). Congressional Quarterly Inc. ISBN 978-0871879967.
• "Party Divisions of the House of Representatives* 1789–Present". Office of the Historian, House of United States House of Representatives. Retrieved January 21, 2015.

External links

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