1842 and 1843 United States House of Representatives elections

Elections to the United States House of Representatives for the 28th Congress were held during President John Tyler's term at various dates in different states between August 1842 and February 1844.

1842 and 1843 United States House of Representatives elections
August 1, 1842 – February 14, 1844
All 223 seats to the United States House of Representatives
122 seats needed for a majority
  Majority party Minority party
 
Leader John Jones John White
Party Democratic Whig
Leader's seat Virginia 6th Kentucky 6th
Last election 99 seats 142 seats
Seats won 148[Note 1] 73[Note 2]
Seat change 49 69
  Third party
 
Party Law and Order
Last election 0 seats
Seats won 2
Seat change 2
Speaker before election

John White
Whig

 Elected Speaker

John Jones
Democratic

The Whig Party spectacularly lost the seemingly comfortable majority won in 1840. Whig President William Henry Harrison had died within a month of taking office. His successor President John Tyler was only nominally a Whig and had not been properly validated for alignment to Whig policy. Effectively an independent, Tyler was disliked by politicians and unpopular with voters of both parties, leaving the Whigs unexpectedly leaderless and embarrassed by visibly persistent political disarray. Despite the improving economy, rural voters favored Democrats, again rejecting Whig economic nationalism. Whigs won only 73 seats (including William Wright of New Jersey elected as an "Independent Whig"[1] [2]). Democrats won a majority with 148 seats (including Henry Nes of Pennsylvania elected as an Independent Democrat[1][Note 3]). In Rhode Island, the Law and Order Party, formed in response to the Dorr Rebellion, won two seats.

Election summaries

Apportionment was based on the Census of 1840 and was unusual in that the number of House seats was decreased, from 242 to 223. The apportionment bill of 1840 mandated that all Representatives be elected from single-Representative contiguous districts, abolishing plural districts and at-large districts.[3] Four states that did not comply with this new law delayed redistricting.

↓
148 2 73
Democratic LO Whig
State Type Date Total
seats		 Democratic Whig Law and Order
Seats Change Seats Change Seats Change Seats Change
Missouri At-large August 1, 1842 5 3 5 3 0 0
Tennessee District August 3, 1842 11 2 6 1 5 3 0
Illinois District August 7, 1842 7 4 6 4 1 0
Arkansas At-large October 3, 1842 1 1 0 0
Georgia At-large October 3, 1842 8 1 8 8 0 9 0
New Jersey District[Note 4] October 8, 1842 5 1 4 4 1[Note 2] 5 0
Delaware At-large November 8, 1842 1 0 1 0
New York District November 8, 1842 34 6 24 4 10 10 0
Massachusetts District November 14, 1842 10 2 2 1 8 3 0
1843 elections
South Carolina District February 20–21, 1843 7 2 7 1 0 1 0
New Hampshire At-large March 3, 1843 4 1 4 1 0 0
Connecticut District April 5, 1843 4 2 4 4 0 6 0
Virginia District April 27, 1843 15 6 12 2 3 8 0
Louisiana District July 3–5, 1843 4 1 4 3 0 2 0
North Carolina District August 3, 1843 9 4 5 4 4 0
Alabama District August 7, 1843 7 2 6 1 1 1 0
Indiana District August 7, 1843 10 3 8 7 2 4 0
Kentucky District August 7, 1843 10 3 5 3 5 6 0
Rhode Island District[Note 4] August 29, 1843 2 0 0 2 2 2
Vermont District September 5, 1843 4 1 1 1 3 2 0
Maine District September 11, 1843 7 1 5 1 2 2 0
Ohio District October 10, 1843 21 2 12 5 9 3 0
Pennsylvania District October 10, 1843 24 4 12[Note 1] 3 12 1 0
Mississippi At-large November 6–7, 1843 4 2 4 2 0 0
Michigan District[Note 4] November 8, 1843 3 2 3 3 0 1 0
1844 elections
Maryland District February 14, 1844 6 2 0 2 6 0
Total 223 19 148[Note 1]
66.4%		 50 73[Note 2]
32.7%		 71 2
0.9%		 2
House seats
Democratic
 
 66.37%
Whig
 
 32.74%
Law and Order
 
 0.90%

Special elections

In 1842, there were two special elections in Massachusetts's 1st congressional district. Incumbent Robert C. Winthrop (Whig) resigned May 25, 1842 due to the death of his wife. A June election was held in which Nathan Appleton (Whig) was elected. Appleton resigned, however, September 28, 1842 and Winthrop was re-elected back to the seat November 29, 1842.

There was also a December 7, 1843 special election in Massachusetts's 10th congressional district in which Joseph Grinnell (Whig) was elected to fill the vacancy caused by the June 15, 1843 death of Barker Burnell (Whig).

See also

Notes
  1. Includes 1 Independent Democrat: Henry Nes who was elected to PA-15.
  2. Includes 1 Independent Whig: William Wright who was elected to NJ-05.
  3. Note that Dubin, p. 135, lists Nes as an "Independent" rather than as an Independent Democrat.
  4. Changed from at-large

References
  1. Martis, p. 97.
  2. Dubin, p. 134.
  3. 5 Stat. 491

Bibliography
  • Dubin, Michael J. (March 1, 1998). United States Congressional Elections, 1788-1997: The Official Results of the Elections of the 1st Through 105th Congresses. McFarland and Company. ISBN 978-0786402830.
  • Martis, Kenneth C. (January 1, 1989). The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress, 1789-1989. Macmillan Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0029201701.
  • Moore, John L., ed. (1994). Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections (Third ed.). Congressional Quarterly Inc. ISBN 978-0871879967.
  • "Party Divisions of the House of Representatives* 1789–Present". Office of the Historian, House of United States House of Representatives. Retrieved January 21, 2015.
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