United States House of Representatives elections in New York, 1789

March 3-4, 1789

All 6 New York seats to the United States House of Representatives

	First party	Second party

Party	Pro-Administration	Anti-Administration
Seats won	3	3
Popular vote	5,845	4,880
Percentage	54.5%	45.5%

The 1789 United States House of Representatives elections in New York were held on March 3 and 4, 1789, to elect 6 U.S. Representatives to represent the State of New York in the 1st United States Congress.

Background

The United States Constitution was adopted on September 17, 1787, by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, and then ratified by the States. On July 8, 1788, the Congress of the Confederation passed a resolution calling the first session of the 1st United States Congress for March 4, 1789, to convene at New York City and the election of U.S. Senators and U.S. Representatives in the meanwhile by the States. New York ratified the U.S. Constitution on July 26, 1788 by a very slim margin.

Congressional districts

On January 27, 1789, the New York State Legislature divided the State of New York into six congressional districts which were not numbered.^[1]

One district (later back-numbered as the 1st) comprising Kings, Queens, Richmond and Suffolk counties.
One district (later back-numbered as the 2nd) comprising New York City, and Westchester County except the towns of Salem, North Salem, Cortland, Yorktown and Stephentown.
One district (later back-numbered as the 3rd) comprising Dutchess County and the abovementioned towns in Westchester.
One district (later back-numbered as the 4th) comprising Orange and Ulster counties.
One district (later back-numbered as the 5th) comprising Albany County east of the Hudson River, Columbia, Clinton and Washington counties.
One district (later back-numbered as the 6th) comprising Albany County west of the Hudson River, and Montgomery and Ontario 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

Three Federalists and three Anti-Federalists (later known as the Democratic-Republicans) were elected.

**1789 United States House election result**
District	Democratic-Republican		Federalist		Democratic-Republican
1	William Floyd	894
2	John Broome	372	John Laurance	2,418	Philip Pell	33
3	Theodorus Bailey	574	Egbert Benson	584
4	John Hathorn
5	Matthew Adgate^[2]	1,501	Peter Silvester	1,628	John Williams	50
6	Jeremiah Van Rensselaer	1,456	Abraham Ten Broeck	1,215

Note: This was the first time political parties appeared in the United States. Before the question of establishing a federal government, or not, arose, all candidatures had been personal. Now, politicians aligned in two opposing groups: First those in favor of the establishment of a federal government and those against it, and then - after the federal government had been indeed established - those who supported it and those who did not. The first group are generally known as the Federalists, or (as a group in Congress) the "Pro-Administration Party." The second group at first were called the Anti-Federalists, or (as a group in Congress) the "Anti-Administration Party", but soon 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

The 1st United States Congress had convened at Federal Hall in New York City on March 4, 1789, without any members from the State of New York, and without a quorum in either Senate or House. The first day with a quorum in the House was April 1. The representatives elected in and near New York City took their seats soon after the election. The upstate representatives needed some time to arrive, and Peter Silvester took his seat on April 22, John Hathorn on April 23, and Jeremiah Van Rensselaer on May 9. Their term ended on March 3, 1791. In April 1790, all six representatives ran for re-election: Floyd, Hathorn and Van Rensselaer (all Dem.-Rep.) were defeated; Laurance, Benson and Silvester (all Fed.) were re-elected.

Notes

↑ The numbers which are used nowadays to describe these districts at this time derive from the numbers of the districts officially introduced in 1797, considering the sequence of the districts in the official listing and the approximate geographical equivalence.
↑ Matthew Adgate (1737-1818), assemblyman 1780-85, 1788-89, 1791, 1792-95, delegate from Columbia Co. to the State convention which adopted the U.S. Constitution in 1788 and voted against it

Sources

The New York Civil List compiled in 1858 (see: pg. 65 for district apportionment; pg. 68 for Congressmen)
Members of the First United States Congress
The Documentary History of the First Federal Election 1788-1790 (page XXVI)
Election result 1st D. at Tufts University Library project "A New Nation Votes"
Election result 2nd D. at Tufts University Library project "A New Nation Votes"
Election result 3rd D. at Tufts University Library project "A New Nation Votes"
Election result 4th D. at Tufts University Library project "A New Nation Votes"
Election result 5th D. at Tufts University Library project "A New Nation Votes"
Election result 6th D. at Tufts University Library project "A New Nation Votes"

Elections in New York

General	1844 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1900 1902 1903 1904 1906 1907 1908 1910 1912 1913 1914 1916 1917 1918 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1926 1927 1928 1930 1932 1933 1934 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1942 1943 1944 1946 1949 1950 1952 1953 1954 1956 1958 1959 1960 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1972 1973 1974 1976 1980 1988 1992 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014

NY State Senate	2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014

NY State Assembly	2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014

NY Governor	1777 1780 1783 1786 1789 1792 1795 1798 1801 1804 1807 1810 1811 1813 1816 1817 1820 1822 1824 1826 1828 1830 1832 1834 1836 1838 1840 1842 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014

NY Attorney General	1998 2002 2006 2010 2014

NY Comptroller	1998 2002 2006 2010 2014

NY Judicial	1847 S 1870 S 1959 1960 1969

U.S. President	1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016

U.S. Senate	Class 1: 1789 1791 1797 1798 S1 1798 S2 1800 S1 1803 1804 S2 1809 1815 1821 1827 1829 S 1833 1839–40 1845 1851 1857 1863 1869 1875 1881 1881 S 1887 1893 1899 1905 1911 1916 1922 1928 1934 1938 S 1940 1946 1952 1958 1964 1970 1976 1982 1988 1994 2000 2006 2010 S 2012 Class 3: 1789 1795 1796 S 1800 S2 1801 1802 S 1804 S1 1807 1813 1819–20 1825–26 1831 1833 S 1837 1843 1845 S 1849 1855 1861 1867 1873 1879 1881 S 1885 1891 1897 1903 1909 1914 1920 1926 1932 1938 1944 1949 S 1950 1956 1962 1968 1974 1980 1986 1992 1998 2004 2010 2016

U.S. House	1789 1790 1793 1794 1796 1798 1800 1802 1804 1806 1808 1810 1812 1814 1816 1818 1821 1822 1824 1826 1828 1830 1832 1834 1836 1838 1840 1842 1844 1846 1848 1850 1852 1854 1856 1858 1860 1862 1864 1866 1868 1870 1872 1874 1876 1878 1880 1882 1884 1886 1888 1890 1892 1894 1896 1898 1900 1902 1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1918 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940 1942 1944 1946 1948 1950 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 (6th S) 2000 2002 2004 2006 (13th, 20th, 29th) 2008 (19th, 20th, 25th, 26th, 29th) 2009 (20th S, 23rd S) 2010 (29th) 2011 (9th S, 26th S) 2012 2014 2016 Special

'S,' 'S1,' and 'S2' denote special election See also: Political party strength in New York

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, April 27, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.