Election to the United States House of Representatives in 1789

Number of Elected MPs by State: Pro-Administration Anti-Administration



Distribution of seats

  

A total of 65 seats

• Anti-Administration : 28
• Pro-administration : 37

In the election to the United States House of Representatives in 1789, the House of Representatives was elected for the first time in the United States between December 22, 1788 and March 5, 1789 . The election was part of the general election for the 1st United States Congress that year, in which the US Senators were also elected. At the same time, the presidential election of 1789 took place, which George Washington won unopposed.

Procedure and election mode

At the time of the election, the United States consisted of 13 states . However, the states of North Carolina and Rhode Island did not yet vote in the original election because they had not yet ratified the United States Constitution at the time of the election . Therefore, only eleven states were initially elected. The other two states did not vote until February and August 1790, respectively. At that time, there were no parties in either the Senate or the House of Representatives. However, two groups formed, the Anti-Administration Party and the Pro-Administration Party . The two groups were either for ('Pro') or against ('Anti') the policies of President Washington.

In the states of Connecticut , Georgia , Maryland , Massachusetts , New Hampshire , New York and North Carolina (not until 1790) electoral districts were elected separately, and in the remaining areas nationwide.

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

Result by state

State	Election date	Total seats	Election mode D = district G = total	Pro- administration	Anti- administration
Connecticut	December 22, 1788	5	G	5	0
Massachusetts	Dec 18, 1788	8th	D.	6th	2
New Hampshire	Dec 15, 1788	3	G	2	1
Pennsylvania	Nov 26, 1788	8th	G	6th	2
South carolina	24 - Nov. 25, 1788	5	D.	2	3
Delaware	0Jan. 7, 1789	1	G	1	0
Georgia	0Feb 9, 1789	3	G / D	0	3
Maryland	07 - Jan. 11, 1789	6th	G / D	2	4th
New Jersey	Feb 11, 1789	4th	G	4th	0
new York	03rd - 5th March 17890	6th	D.	3	3
Virginia	0Feb. 2, 1789	10	D.	3	7th
North Carolina	Feb. 1790	5	D.	2	3
Rhode Island	Aug 31, 1790	1	G	1	0
total		65		37	28

• Pro-Administration Party : 37 seats (34 excluding North Carolina and Rhode Island)
• Anti-Administration Party : 28 seats (25 excluding North Carolina and Rhode Island)

Total : 65 (59 excluding North Carolina and Rhode Island)

Changes during the legislative period that do not affect the regular elections are not taken into account in these figures, but are noted in the article on the 1st Congress in the section on the members of the House of Representatives under the relevant names of the representatives. The same applies to elections in states that did not join the Union until 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.

See also

• 1st United States Congress including a list of all members.

Web links

• Party Divisions

References and comments

1. ↑ In Massachusetts, an absolute majority of votes was required for the election. Four candidates reached this at the first attempt. For the other 4, a total of 5 more ballots were required, which took place between January 29, 1789 and May 11, 1789.
2. ↑ No candidate reached the required absolute majority at the election date on December 15, 1788, which is why another election was held on February 2, 1789, in which all three seats were occupied.
3. ↑ In Georgia, 3 MPs were elected nationwide, each from one of the 3 districts.
4. ↑ In Maryland, six MPs were elected nationwide, each from one of the six districts.