Elected to the United States Senate in 1790 and 1791

Distribution of seats

  

A total of 25 seats

• Anti-administration : 8
• Pro-administration : 17

The elections to the United States Senate in 1790 and 1791 to the 2nd United States Congress took place at different times. It was the first mid-term election (Engl. Midterm election ) between two presidential elections in the middle of George Washington's first term. Prior to the adoption of the 17th Amendment , the senators were not elected directly, but were appointed by the state parliaments.

Before the elections to the second Congress, New Hampshire's first two senators were elected, and by-elections were held for the late William Grayson of Virginia and the resigned Senator William Paterson , who had become governor of New Jersey . For the 2nd Congress nine seats of the Senators of Class I stood for election, which had been elected in 1788 and 1789 for a term of office of two years and 1790 for the remaining term of office. Of these, seven were supporters of the George Washington government ( Pro-Administration Party , later the Federalist Party ), two were opponents of the government ( Anti-Administration Party ). A total of 19 senators were supporters of the government before the election and 7 were its opponents.

Five of the senators standing for election were re-elected, four of whom were government supporters and two government supporters were replaced by senators who were also government supporters. The seat in New York was won by an opponent of the government, at the same time William Maclay was voted out of Pennsylvania without parliament appointing a successor. The majority of government supporters fell to 17 to 8, and one seat remained vacant until the 1793 election . A by-election in Connecticut did nothing to change that. In 1791 Vermont became the fourteenth state to join the union, making it the first new state after the original thirteen. The Vermont Senators were elected on October 17, 1791. Since both were opponents of the government, their majority fell to 17-10.

Results

Elections during the 1st Congress

The winners of these elections were accepted into the Senate before March 4, 1791, during the 1st Congress .

Country	Acting Senator	fraction	date	By-election	Result	New senator
New Jersey	William Paterson	supporter	November 1790	Class II	held by supporters	Philemon Dickinson
Rhode Island	first choice		0June 7, 1790	Class I.	Gaining supporters	Theodore Foster
Rhode Island	first choice		0June 7, 1790	Class II	Gaining opponents	Joseph Stanton
Virginia	John Walker , appointed	supporter	0November 9, 1790	Class I.	Gaining opponents	James Monroe

• There were no parties yet, so the senators are divided into supporters and opponents of the George Washington administration.

Elections to the 2nd Congress

The winners of these elections were accepted into the Senate on March 4, 1791, when the 2nd Congress met . All seats of these senators belong to class I.

Country	Acting Senator	fraction	date	Result	New senator
Connecticut	Oliver Ellsworth	supporter	1790 or 1791	re-elected	Oliver Ellsworth
Delaware	George Read	supporter	October 23, 1790	re-elected	George Read
Maryland	Charles Carroll	supporter	1791	re-elected	Charles Carroll
Massachusetts	Tristram Dalton	supporter	June 1790	held by supporters	George Cabot
New Jersey	Jonathan Elmer	supporter	1790	held by supporters	John Rutherfurd
new York	Philip Schuyler	supporter	January 19, 1791	Gaining opponents	Aaron Burr
Pennsylvania	William Maclay	opponent	1790 or 1791	Loss of opponents	vacant
Rhode Island	Theodore Foster	supporter	1791	re-elected	Theodore Foster
Virginia	James Monroe	opponent	1791	re-elected	James Monroe

• There were no parties yet, so the senators are divided into supporters and opponents of the George Washington administration.
• re-elected: an elected incumbent was re-elected

Elections during the 2nd Congress

The winners of these elections were accepted into the Senate after March 4, 1791, during the 2nd Congress .

Country	Acting Senator	fraction	By-election	date	Result	New senator
Connecticut	William S. Johnson	supporter	Class III	June 13, 1791	held by supporters	Roger Sherman
Vermont	new state		Class I.	October 17, 1791	Gaining opponents	Moses Robinson
Vermont	new state		Class III	October 17, 1791	Gaining opponents	Stephen R. Bradley

• There were no parties yet, so the senators are divided into supporters and opponents of the George Washington administration.

Individual states

In all states, senators were elected by parliaments, as provided by the United States Constitution, prior to the passage of the 17th Amendment . The electoral process was determined by the states themselves and therefore differed from state to state. In some cases, the sources only reveal who was elected, but not how.

There were no political parties in the modern sense, instead the senators are divided into supporters and opponents of the George Washington government.

Connecticut

Oliver Ellsworth , Senator for Connecticut since 1789 , was re-elected in 1790 or 1791. William Samuel Johnson , who was actually elected as a Class III Senator until 1795, resigned on March 4, 1791. On June 13, 1791, Parliament elected Roger Sherman as his successor .

Delaware

George Read , Senator for Delaware since 1789 , was re-elected in 1790. He received no votes against.

Maryland

Charles Carroll , Senator for Maryland since 1789 , was re-elected in 1791.

Massachusetts

Tristram Dalton , Senator for Massachusetts since 1789 , received only six votes in the House of Representatives in the first ballot and was eliminated. After no one had achieved an absolute majority in the second ballot either, George Cabot received 63 of the 123 votes in the third ballot, a narrow majority. Nathaniel Gorham received 36 votes , 20 Charles Jarvis, Samuel Holten 4. Cabot was subsequently confirmed by the State Senate with 24 votes out of 31.

New Jersey

William Paterson , a Class II Senator for New Jersey since 1789 , became the first senator to step down after being elected governor of the state. Philemon Dickinson was elected to succeed him in November 1790 , as was Paterson a supporter of the government. In 1790 John Rutherfurd was elected to succeed Jonathan Elmer , also a senator since 1789 .

new York

Philip Schuyler , Senator for New York since 1789 , finished second in the January 19, 1791 election: he received 32 no votes but only 27 yes votes, Egbert Benson , like Schuyler's supporter of the government, received 35 no and 24 Yes. The winner was the government opponent and later Vice President Aaron Burr with 32 yes to 27 no and then 14 to 4 in the Senate, although the federalists actually had the majority in both houses. One reason for this was, in addition to the aversion to Schuyler, dissatisfaction with the policies of Finance Minister Alexander Hamilton , who was Schuyler's son-in-law.

Pennsylvania

William Maclay , Senator for Pennsylvania since 1789 , had met many opponents and was not re-elected. However, no one else received a sufficient majority, the seat remained vacant until the 1793 election .

Rhode Island

Rhode Island was the last of the original thirteen states to ratify the United States Constitution on May 29, 1790 , and its first two Senators were elected on June 7. Theodore Foster was given the class I seat and was re-elected for a full six years in 1791. The seat of the class II with a term until 1793 went to Joseph Stanton . Foster supported the government, Stanton was its opponent.

Vermont

Vermont was the fourteenth state to join the Union on March 4, 1791, the first after the original thirteen. His first two senators had already been elected on January 19th, but could no longer be accepted into the 1st Congress, as it had finished its work on March 3rd, but also not into the 2nd Congress, as it entered the 4th Congress March had constituted and was postponed again afterwards. Since it was feared that the election could be challenged before official admission to the Union, Parliament repeated the election on October 17, 1791, shortly before the beginning of the first regular session of the 2nd Congress, which began on October 24. Were elected Moses Robinson for Class I with a term until March 3, 1797 and Stephen R. Bradley for Class III with a term until March 3, 1795. Both were opponents of the government.

Virginia

William Grayson , Senator for Virginia since 1789 , was the first Senator to die on March 12, 1790. John Walker was appointed his successor on March 31st, unlike Grayson a supporter of the Washington government. This remained in office until the future President James Monroe was elected on November 9, 1790 , again an opponent of the government. Monroe was re-elected for a full term in 1791.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Party Division , www.senate.gov, accessed October 8, 2019
2. ↑ ELLSWORTH, Oliver, (1745-1807) , Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, accessed November 24, 2019
3. ↑ SHERMAN, Roger, (1721-1793) , Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, accessed November 25, 2019
4. ^ READ, George, (1733-1798) , Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, accessed November 24, 2019
5. ^ Delaware 1790 US Senate , in: A New Nation Votes, January 11, 2012, accessed October 24, 2019
6. ↑ CARROLL, Charles (of Carrollton), (1737 - 1832) , Biographical Directory of the United States Congress retrieved November 24, 2019
7. ↑ Massachusetts 1790 US Senate , in: A New Nation Votes, January 11, 2012, accessed October 24, 2019
8. ↑ CABOT, George, (1752 - 1823) , Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, accessed November 24, 2019
9. ↑ Massachusetts 1790 U.S. Senate, Ballot 3 , in: A New Nation Votes, January 11, 2012, accessed October 24, 2019
10. ↑ DICKINSON, Philemon, (1739-1809) , Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, accessed November 24, 2019
11. ↑ Rutherfurd, John, (1760 - 1840) , Biographical Directory of the United States Congress retrieved November 24, 2019
12. ↑ BURR, Aaron, (1756-1836) , Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, accessed November 24, 2019
13. ^ New York 1791 US Senate , in: A New Nation Votes, January 11, 2012, accessed October 24, 2019
14. ↑ MACLAY, William, (1737 - 1804) , Biographical Directory of the United States Congress retrieved November 24, 2019
15. ↑ - FOSTER, Theodore, (1828 1752) , Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, accessed November 24, 2019
16. ↑ STANTON, Joseph, Jr., (1739 - 1821) , Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, accessed November 24, 2019
17. ^ ROBINSON, Moses, (1741-1813) , Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, accessed November 24, 2019
18. ^ BRADLEY, Stephen Row, (1754-1830) , Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, accessed November 24, 2019
19. ↑ MONROE, James, (1758-1831) , Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, accessed November 25, 2019