1808–09 United States House of Representatives elections

The 1808–09 United States House of Representatives elections were held on various dates in various states between April 26, 1808, and May 5, 1809. Each state set its own date for its elections to the House of Representatives before the first session of the 11th United States Congress convened on May 22, 1809. They coincided with James Madison being elected as president. Elections were held for all 142 seats, representing 17 states.

1808–09 United States House of Representatives elections
April 26, 1808 – May 5, 1809
All 142 seats in the United States House of Representatives
72 seats needed for a majority
  Majority party Minority party
 
Leader Joseph Bradley Varnum Timothy Pitkin
Party Democratic-Republican Federalist
Leader's seat Massachusetts 4th Connecticut at-large
Last election 116 seats 26 seats
Seats won 94 48
Seat change 22 22
'Results:
     Federalist hold      Federalist gain
     Democratic-Republican hold      Democratic-Republican gain
     Dissident Republican hold      Dissident Republican Gain
     Undistricted
Speaker before election

Joseph Bradley Varnum
Democratic-Republican

 Elected Speaker

Joseph Bradley Varnum
Democratic-Republican

Despite Madison's victory, voters in districts whose economies were driven by shipping or manufacturing rather than agriculture shifted to the Federalist Party mainly due to the unpopularity of the Embargo Act of 1807 and fears that Democratic-Republican Party policies could trigger a naval war with France or Britain. The politically dominant Democratic-Republicans won their smallest majority since the pivotal, realigning election of 1800.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.