Election to the United States House of Representatives 1808

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In the election to the House of Representatives of the United States in 1808 , the representatives of the House of Representatives were elected on various election days in the United States from April 26, 1808 . The election was part of the general election for the 11th United States Congress that year, in which a third of the US Senators were elected. At the same time, the presidential election of 1808 , won by James Madison of the Democratic Republican Party, took place.

At the time of the election, the United States consisted of 17 states . The number of MPs to be elected was 142. The distribution of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the 1800 census . In the elections there was a turnaround in favor of the federalists, who were able to win 24 seats. The Democratic Republican Party retained the absolute majority, but lost the two-thirds majority it had held until then. One of the reasons for the change was the unpopular Embargo Act of 1807 . In particular, voters from the New England states put massive pressure on the law and strengthened the federalists. They feared that the trade embargo could soon break out into war with Britain or France - a concern that would become a reality with the British-American War in 1812 .

Women and slaves were neither eligible nor eligible to vote. Free African Americans were also excluded from voting in many states . The right to vote for free men was also tied to a certain property or tax revenue.

Election result

Total : 142

Distribution of seats
  
A total of 142 seats
  • Federalist Party : 50
  • Democratic Republican Party : 92

In brackets are the results of the last regular election of 1806. Changes during the legislative period that do not affect the election as such are not included in these figures, but will be included in the 11th United States Congress in the section on members of the House of Representatives noted the corresponding names of the MPs. The same applies to elections in states that joined the Union after the beginning of the legislative period. As a result, the sources sometimes contain different information, as changes during the legislative period were sometimes incorporated into the figures and sometimes not.

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