Election to the United States House of Representatives 1818

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In the election to the United States House of Representatives in 1818, the House of Representatives was elected on various election days in the United States from April 26, 1818 . The election was part of the general election for the 16th United States Congress that year, in which a third of the US Senators were elected. Since the elections took place around the middle of the first four-year term of office of President James Monroe ( midterm election ), they were also considered a vote on the previous policy of the president.

At the time of the election, the United States consisted of 21 states ( Mississippi and Illinois were added as new states). The number of MPs to be elected was 186. The distribution of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the 1810 census . In the elections, the Democratic Republican Party of the President was able to achieve further significant gains, while the Federalist Party lost another 13 seats and with only 26 seats could only make up just under 14% of the MPs. This election continued the trend of federalist decline that had begun two years earlier. One of the main reasons for this was still their stance during the British-American War , which the party had opposed. After the end of the war (1815) this was considered treason by many Americans. In addition, there were efforts by the New England states supported by the federalists to leave the Union because of the war ( Hartford Convention , 1814–1815). Although there was no exit from the Union, the venture was viewed by many voters from other parts of the country as high treason and cost the federalists many votes. These reasons had already been responsible for the defeat of the federalists in 1816. In addition, the Americans were now very satisfied with the policies of President James Monroe (Era of good feeling).

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 : 186

Distribution of seats
  
A total of 186 seats
  • Federalist Party : 26
  • Democratic Republican Party : 160

The results of the last regular elections of 1816 are in brackets. Changes during the legislative period that do not affect the elections themselves are not taken into account in these figures, but are included in the article on the 16th Congress in the section on the 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.

See also

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