United States Senate elections, 1796 and 1797

Dates vary by state

11 of the 32 seats in the United States Senate (plus special elections) 17 seats needed for a majority

	Majority party	Minority party

Party	Federalist	Democratic-Republican
Last election	20 seats (66.7%)	10 seats (33.3%)
Seats before	21 (65.6%)	11 (34.4%)
Seats won	21 (67.7%)	10 (32.3%)
Seat change		1
Seats up	8	3

Majority party before election

Federalist

Elected Majority party

Federalist

The United States Senate elections of 1796 and 1797 were elections for the United States Senate which, coinciding with John Adams's election as President, had the ruling Federalist Party gain one seat.

As these elections were prior to ratification of the seventeenth amendment, Senators were chosen by State legislatures.

Results

5th Congress (1797–1799):

Majority Party: Federalist (21)
Minority Party: Democratic-Republican (10)
Vacant: 1 (later filled by Democratic-Republican)
Total Seats: 32

Change in Senate composition

Before the elections

DR₇	DR₈	DR₉	DR₁₀	DR₁₁	F₂₁	F₂₀	F₁₉	F₁₈	F₁₇
DR₆	DR₅	DR₄	DR₃	DR₂	DR₁
Majority →									F₁₇
F₇	F₈	F₉	F₁₀	F₁₁	F₁₂	F₁₃	F₁₄	F₁₅	F₁₆
F₆	F₅	F₄	F₃	F₂	F₁

Results of the elections

DR₇ Re-elected	DR₈ Hold	DR₉ Hold	DR₁₀ Gain	V₁ Gain	F₂₁ Gain	F₂₀ Hold	F₁₉ Hold	F₁₈ Hold	F₁₇ Hold
DR₆	DR₅	DR₄	DR₃	DR₂	DR₁
Majority →									F₁₇ Hold
F₇ Re-elected	F₈ Re-elected	F₉ Re-elected	F₁₀ Re-elected	F₁₁ Re-elected	F₁₂ Hold	F₁₃ Hold	F₁₄ Hold	F₁₅ Hold	F₁₆ Hold
F₆	F₅	F₄	F₃	F₂	F₁

Beginning of the 5th Congress

DR₆	DR₅	DR₄	DR₃	DR₂	DR₁
DR₇	DR₈	DR₉ Hold	D₁₀	V₁	F₂₁	F₂₀	F₁₉	F₁₈	F₁₇ Hold
Majority →									F₁₇ Hold
F₇	F₈	F₉	F₁₀	F₁₁	F₁₂	F₁₃	F₁₄ Hold	F₁₅ Hold	F₁₆
F₆	F₅	F₄	F₃	F₂	F₁

Key:

DR_#	Democratic-Republican
F_#	Federalist
V_#	Vacant

√	Party hold: Incumbent re-elected
O	Party hold: New senator elected from same party
+	Party gain: New senator elected from different party
No tag	Seat not up for election this time

Race summaries

Special elections during the 4th Congress

In these special elections, the winner was seated before March 4, 1797; ordered by election date.

State	Incumbent			Results	Candidates
State	Senator	Party	Electoral history	Results	Candidates
Georgia (Special: Class 3)	George Walton	Federalist	1795 (Appointed)	Appointee retired when successor elected. Winner elected February 20, 1796. Democratic-Republican gain	√ Josiah Tattnall (Democratic-Republican)
Connecticut (Special: Class 1)	Oliver Ellsworth	Federalist	1788 1791	Incumbent resigned to become Chief Justice of the United States. Winner elected May 12, 1796. Federalist hold	√ James Hillhouse (Federalist)
Massachusetts (Special: Class 1)	George Cabot	Federalist	1790	Incumbent resigned June 9, 1796. Winner elected June 11, 1796. Federalist hold	√ Benjamin Goodhue (Federalist)
Massachusetts (Special: Class 2)	Caleb Strong	Federalist	1789 1793	Incumbent resigned June 1, 1796. Winner elected June 11, 1796. Federalist hold	√ Theodore Sedgwick (Federalist)
Connecticut (Special: Class 3)	Jonathan Trumbull, Jr.	Federalist	1794	Incumbent resigned June 10, 1796 to become Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut. Winner elected October 13, 1796. Federalist hold	√ Uriah Tracy (Federalist)
Vermont (Special: Class 1)	Moses Robinson	Federalist	1791 (New state)	Incumbent resigned October 15, 1796. Winner elected October 18, 1796. Federalist hold	√ Isaac Tichenor (Federalist)
New York (Special: Class 3)	Rufus King	Federalist	1789 1795	Incumbent resigned May 23, 1796 to become U.S. Minister to Great Britain. Winner elected November 9, 1796. Federalist hold	√ John Laurance (Federalist)
Maryland (Special: Class 1)	Richard Potts	Federalist	1793 (Special)	Incumbent resigned October 24, 1796. Winner elected November 30, 1796. Federalist hold	√ John Eager Howard (Federalist)
South Carolina (Special: Class 2)	Pierce Butler	Democratic- Republican	1789 1793	Incumbent resigned October 25, 1796. Winner elected December 8, 1796. Democratic-Republican hold	√ John Hunter (Democratic-Republican)

Races leading to the 5th Congress

In these general elections, the winner was seated on March 4, 1797; ordered by state.

All of the elections involved the Class 1 seats.

State	Incumbent			Results	Candidates
State	Senator	Party	Electoral history	Results	Candidates
Connecticut	James Hillhouse	Federalist	1796 (Special)	Incumbent re-elected.	√ James Hillhouse (Federalist)
Delaware	Henry Latimer	Federalist	1795 (Special)	Incumbent re-elected.	√ Henry Latimer (Federalist)
Maryland	Richard Potts	Federalist	1793 (Special)	Incumbent resigned October 24, 1796. Winner elected November 30, 1796 to finish the term, as well as to the next term.	√ John Eager Howard (Federalist)
Massachusetts	George Cabot	Federalist	1790	Incumbent resigned June 9, 1796. Winner elected June 11, 1796 to finish the term, as well as to the next term.	√ Benjamin Goodhue (Federalist)
New Jersey	John Rutherfurd	Federalist	1790 1796	Incumbent re-elected.	√ John Rutherfurd (Federalist)
New York	Aaron Burr	Democratic- Republican	1791	Incumbent lost re-election January 24, 1797. Federalist gain	√ Philip Schuyler (Federalist)
Pennsylvania	James Ross	Federalist	1794 (Special)	Incumbent re-elected in 1797.	√ James Ross (Federalist)
Rhode Island	Theodore Foster	Federalist	1790 1791	Incumbent re-elected.	√ Theodore Foster (Federalist)
Tennessee	William Cocke	Democratic- Republican	1796	Legislature failed to elect. Term began with a vacancy. Incumbent later appointed (April 22, 1797) to continue term.^[1]	None
Vermont	Moses Robinson	Federalist	1791 (New state)	Incumbent resigned October 15, 1796. Winner elected October 18, 1796 to the next term	√ Isaac Tichenor (Federalist)
Virginia	Stevens Mason	Democratic- Republican	1794 (Special)	Incumbent re-elected.	√ Stevens Mason (Democratic-Republican)

Special elections during the 5th Congress

In this special election, the winner was seated after March 4, 1797, the beginning of the next Congress.

State	Incumbent			Results	Candidates
State	Senator	Party	Electoral history	Results	Candidates
Tennessee (Special: Class 2)	William Blount	Democratic- Republican	1796	Incumbent expelled July 8, 1797.^[2] Winner elected July 8, 1797. Democratic-Republican hold.	√ Joseph Anderson (Democratic-Republican)
Tennessee (Special: Class 1)	William Cocke	Democratic- Republican	1796 1797 (Appointed)	Appointee did not stand for election. Winner elected September 26, 1797. Democratic-Republican hold.	√ Andrew Jackson (Democratic-Republican)
Vermont (Special: Class 1)	Isaac Tichenor	Federalist	1796 (Special)	Incumbent resigned October 17, 1797 to become Governor of Vermont. Winner elected October 17, 1797. Federalist hold.	√ Nathaniel Chipman (Federalist)
Rhode Island (Special: Class 2)	William Bradford	Federalist	1793	Incumbent resigned in October 1797. Winner elected November 13, 1797. Federalist hold.	√ Ray Greene (Federalist)
Maryland (Special: Class 3)	John Henry	Federalist	1789 1795	Incumbent resigned July 10, 1797 to become Governor of Maryland. Winner elected December 8, 1797. Federalist hold.	√ James Lloyd (Federalist)

References

Party Division in the Senate, 1789-Present, via Senate.gov

↑ William Cocke at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved January 4, 2013
↑ William Blount at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved January 4, 2013

United States Senate elections

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