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1814 United States House of Representatives elections in New York

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The 1814 United States House of Representatives elections in New York were held from April 26 to 28, 1814, to elect 27 U.S. Representatives to represent the State of New York in the United States House of Representatives of the 14th United States Congress.

United States House of Representatives elections in New York, 1814
← 1812 April 26–28, 1814 1816 →
All 27 New York seats to the United States House of Representatives
  Majority party Minority party
 
Party Democratic-Republican Federalist
Last election 8 19
Seats won 21 6
Seat change Increase 13 Decrease 13

Background

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27 U.S. Representatives had been elected in December 1812 to a term in the 13th United States Congress beginning on March 4, 1813. Representative-elect William Dowse died in February 1813, and John M. Bowers was declared elected in a special election, and seated. Isaac Williams, Jr. contested Bowers's election, and succeeded to the seat in January 1814. Egbert Benson resigned his seat in August 1812, and William Irving was elected to fill the vacancy. The representatives' term would end on March 3, 1815. The congressional elections were held together with the State elections in late April 1814, about ten months before the term would start on March 4, 1815, and about a year and a half before Congress actually met on December 4, 1815.

Congressional districts

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The districts remained the same as at the previous elections in 1812, only one new county was created: in the 12th D., Warren Co. was split from Washington Co.

Note: There are now 62 counties in the State of New York. The counties which are not mentioned in this list had not yet been established, or sufficiently organized, the area being included in one or more of the abovementioned counties.

Result

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19 Democratic-Republicans and 8 Federalists were declared elected to the 14th Congress. The incumbents Irving, Grosvenor, Lovett, Moffitt, Taylor, Kent and Comstock were re-elected; the incumbents Winter, Shipherd and Geddes were defeated. Adams and Smith, both Federalists, had credentials issued but their Democratic-Republican opponents successfully contested the elections, so that New York was represented by 21 Democratic-Republicans and 6 Federalists in the 14th Congress.

1814 United States House election result
District Democratic-Republican Federalist Democratic-Republican Federalist
1st George Townsend 4,241 William Townsend[1] 3,587 Peter H. Wendover 96 John Anthon 17
Henry Crocheron 4,231 Cornelius Bedell[2] 3,581 William Irving 46 Jacob Lorillard 15
2nd William Irving 4,577 John Anthon 4,119 George Townsend 14 William Townsend 17
Peter H. Wendover 4,533 Jacob Lorillard[3] 4,119 Henry Crocheron 7 Cornelius Bedell 16
3rd Jonathan Ward 1,504 Richard Valentine Morris 1,446 Philip Van Cortlandt 348
4th Abraham H. Schenck 2,117 Abraham Bockee 1,803
5th Edward P. Livingston 1,909 Thomas P. Grosvenor 3,074
6th Jonathan Fisk 2,345 Jonas Storey[4] 661
7th Samuel Betts 1,952 Elnathan Sears[5] 1,499
8th Erastus Root 1,638 John Adams 1,968 Erastus Rott 576
9th Robert L. Tillotson 1,003 John Lovett 1,777
10th Josiah Masters 1,860 Hosea Moffitt 2,563
11th John W. Taylor 2,133 Elisha Powell[6] 1,557
12th John Savage 4,170 Elisha I. Winter 3,955
Benjamin Pond 4,137 Zebulon R. Shipherd 3,926
13th John B. Yates 2,144 Lawrence Vrooman[7] 1,566
14th John McCarthy[8] 2,340 Daniel Cady 2,520
15th Jabez D. Hammond 4,820 Robert Campbell[9] 3,812
James Birdsall 4,785 Tracy Robinson[10] 3,785
16th Nathan Williams 2,159 Thomas R. Gold 2,821
17th Westel Willoughby, Jr. 2,466 William S. Smith 2,510 Westel Willoughby 309
18th Samuel Whittlesey[11] 1,862 Moss Kent 2,177
19th Victory Birdseye 2,414 James Geddes 1,684
20th Enos T. Throop 5,055 Emanuel Coryell[12] 1,838
Oliver C. Comstock 5,013 Seth Phelps[13] 1,833
21st Micah Brooks 5,967 Daniel W. Lewis[14] 4,913
Peter B. Porter 5,870 Richard Smith 4,893

Note: The Anti-Federalists called themselves "Republicans." However, at the same time, the Federalists called them "Democrats" which was meant to be pejorative. After some time both terms got more and more confused, and sometimes used together as "Democratic Republicans" which later historians have adopted (with a hyphen) to describe the party from the beginning, to avoid confusion with both the later established and still existing Democratic and Republican parties.

Aftermath, special elections and contested election

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Benjamin Pond, elected in the 12th District, died on October 6, 1814, before the congressional term began. A special election to fill the vacancy was held at the time of the annual State election in April 1815, and was won by Asa Adgate, of the same party.

Jonathan Fisk, elected in the 6th District, accepted in March 1815 an appointment as United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and resigned his seat. A special election to fill the vacancy was held at the time of the annual State election in April 1815, and was won by James W. Wilkin, of the same party.

1815 United States House special election result
District Democratic-Republican Federalist
6th James W. Wilkin 1,429 Samuel S. Seward[15] 981
12th Asa Adgate 4,247 Elisha I. Winter 4,051

The House of Representatives of the 14th United States Congress met for the first time at the Old Brick Capitol in Washington, D.C., on December 4, 1815, and Betts, Birdsall, Brooks, Comstock, Crocheron, Gold, Hammond, Lovett, Moffitt, Savage, Schenck, Taylor, Throop, Townsend, Ward and Wilkin took their seats on this day. Adgate took his seat on December 7; Porter on December 11; Cady on December 12; Kent on December 13; Grosvenor and Yates on December 18; Birdseye on December 20; Wendover on December 21; and Irving on January 22, 1816.[16]

Westel Willoughby, Jr. contested the election of William S. Smith in the 17th District. The Committee on Elections found that the election inspectors in the towns of German Flatts and Litchfield had returned 299 votes for "Westel Willoughby" although all these votes had in fact been given for "Westel Willoughby, Jr." The Secretary of State of New York, receiving the abovementioned result, issued credentials for Smith. On February 23, 1815, Willoughby, Jr., gave notice to Smith, informing that he would claim the seat, and appointed a time and place to take testimony. Smith did not appear in Congress to claim the seat, and on December 13, 1815, the House declared Willoughby, Jr., entitled to the seat instead of Smith, and Willoughby, Jr., took his seat.[17]

Erastus Root contested the election of John Adams in the 8th District. The Committee on Elections found that a deputy county clerk of Greene Co. had mistakenly written Root's name as "Rott" when transcribing the returns from the towns of Catskill, New Baltimore, Coxsackie, Durham and Greenville. The Secretary of State of New York, receiving the abovementioned result, issued credentials for Adams, but Adams did not appear to claim the seat. A total of 576 votes had been given for Root in these towns and, added to the correctly transcribed returns, gave him a majority of 246 in the district. On December 26, 1815, the House declared Root entitled to the seat instead of Adams, and Root took his seat.[18]

Peter B. Porter had been appointed a Commissioner under the Treaty of Ghent. Article I, Section 6, of the United States Constitution says that "...no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office." Porter was determined to keep his seat, but after some debate, resigned on January 23, 1816.[19] A special election to fill the vacancy was held at the time of the annual State election in April 1816, and was won by Archibald S. Clarke, of the same party. Clarke took his seat on December 2, 1816.

After being defeated for re-election, Enos T. Throop resigned his seat on June 4, 1816. A special election to fill the vacancy was held in September 1816, and was won by Daniel Avery, of the same party. Avery took his seat on December 3, 1816.

1816 United States House special election result
District Democratic-Republican Democratic-Republican
20th Daniel Avery 1,915 Charles Kellogg 1,641

Notes

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  1. ^ William Townsend, of Queens, assemblyman 1808–09, 1810 and 1811
  2. ^ Cornelius Bedell, Surrogate of Richmond Co. 1810–1811 and 1813–1815
  3. ^ Jacob Lorillard, assemblyman 1812 and 1812–13
  4. ^ Jonas Storey (1778–1848), lawyer, of Newburgh
  5. ^ Elnathan Sears, assemblyman 1802, 1803, 1806, 1812 and 1812–13
  6. ^ Elisha Powell, assemblyman 1818 and 1820
  7. ^ Lawrence Vrooman, of Schenectady Co., assemblyman 1814
  8. ^ John McCarthy, County Clerk of Montgomery Co. 1815–1821
  9. ^ Robert Campbell, D.A. of Otsego Co. 1820–1821
  10. ^ Tracy Robinson, publisher of the Binghamton Phoenix
  11. ^ Samuel Whittlesey, D.A. of Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence cos. 1808–1810 and 1811–1813
  12. ^ Emanuel Coryell, of Tioga Co., assemblyman 1796, 1796–97, 1798, 1808, 1808–09 and 1810
  13. ^ Seth Phelps, state senator 1798–1801 and 1810–13; First Judge of Cayuga Co. 1799–1810
  14. ^ Daniel W. Lewis, lawyer, of Geneva, assemblyman 1804–05 and 1806; D.A. of Tioga, Onondaga, Cayuga, Ontario, Steuben, Allegany, Broome, Seneca, Genesee, Niagara, Chautauqua and Cattaraugus cos. 1810–1811
  15. ^ Samuel Sweezy Seward (1768–1849), assemblyman 1804, father of William H. Seward
  16. ^ Abridgment of the Debates in Congress (Vol. V; pages 480ff and 562)
  17. ^ Cases of Contested Elections in Congress 1789 to 1834 compiled by Matthew St. Clair Clarke and David A. Hall (Washington, D.C., 1834; Case XXXVII, pages 265f)
  18. ^ Cases of Contested Elections in Congress 1789 to 1834 compiled by Matthew St. Clair Clarke and David A. Hall (Washington, D.C., 1834; Case XXXIX, page 271)
  19. ^ Abridgment of the Debates in Congress (Vol. V; pages 585ff)

Sources

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