United States House of Representatives elections in New York, 1822

United States House of Representatives elections in New York, 1822

November 4-6, 1822

All 34[1] New York seats to the United States House of Representatives   Majority party Minority party   Party Democratic-Republican Federalist Last election 19 8 Seats won 30[2] 4[3] Seat change 11 4

The 1822 United States House of Representatives elections in New York were held from November 4 to 6, 1822, to elect 34 U.S. Representatives to represent the State of New York in the United States House of Representatives of the 18th United States Congress.

Background

27 U.S. Representatives had been elected in April 1821 to a term in the 17th United States Congress which had begun on March 4, 1821. Selah Tuthill died on September 7, 1821, before Congress met, and Charles Borland, Jr. had been elected to fill the vacancy. Solomon Van Rensselaer resigned his seat in January 1822, and Stephen Van Rensselaer had been elected to fill the vacancy. The representatives' term would end on March 3, 1823. Most previous congressional elections in New York had been held together with the annual State elections in late April, but under the New York Constitution of 1821, the elections were moved permanently to November: about four months before the congressional term began, and a little more than a year before Congress actually met on December 1, 1823.

At this time the New York City), led by Martin Van Buren. At the same time, the Federalist Party had already disbanded, and most of its former members had joined the Clintonians.

Congressional districts

On April 17, 1822, the New York State Legislature re-apportioned the congressional districts according to the figures of the 1820 United States census. The number of district was increased to 30, creating eight new districts; the number of seats was increased to 34, creating for the first time a triple-seat district, and keeping two double-seat districts.

• The 1st District comprising Queens and Suffolk counties.
• The 2nd District comprising Kings, Richmond and Rockland counties.
• The 3rd District (three seats) comprising New York County.
• The 4th District comprising Westchester and Putnam counties.
• The 5th District comprising Dutchess County.
• The 6th District comprising Orange County.
• The 7th District comprising Ulster and Sullivan counties.
• The 8th District comprising Columbia County.
• The 9th District comprising Rensselaer County.
• The 10th District comprising Albany County.
• The 11th District comprising Delaware and Greene counties.
• The 12th District comprising Schenectady and Schoharie counties.
• The 13th District comprising Otsego County.
• The 14th District comprising Oneida County.
• The 15th District comprising Herkimer County.
• The 16th District comprising Montgomery County.
• The 17th District comprising Saratoga County.
• The 18th District comprising Washington County.
• The 19th District comprising Clinton, Essex, Franklin and Warren counties.
• The 20th District (two seats) comprising St. Lawrence, Jefferson, Lewis and Oswego counties.
• The 21st District comprising Chenango and Broome counties.
• The 22nd District comprising Madison and Cortland counties.
• The 23rd District comprising Onondaga County.
• The 24th District comprising Cayuga County.
• The 25th District comprising Tioga and Tompkins counties.
• The 26th District (two seats) comprising Ontario and Seneca counties.
• The 27th District comprising Monroe and Livingston counties.
• The 28th District comprising Steuben, Allegany and Cattaraugus counties.
• The 29th District comprising Genesee County.
• The 30th District comprising Niagara, Chautauqua and Erie counties.

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

23 Bucktails and 11 Clintonian/Federalists were declared elected. The incumbents Wood, Morgan, Cambreleng, Van Wyck, Van Rensselaer, Taylor, Litchfield, Rochester and Tracy were re-elected; the incumbents Ruggles, Dickinson, Campbell and Woodcock were defeated.

Note: In Congress both Bucktails and Clintonians aligned with the Democratic-Republicans from the other States. Of the Anti-Bucktails Wood, Ruggles, Strong, Dickinson, Van Rensselaer, Storrs and Russell were old Federalists; Stockholm, Craig, Beck, Cady, Taylor, Gross, Richmond, Lawrence, Marvin, Thompson, Hayden, Adams and Tracy were Clintonians.

Aftermath, special election and contested election

William B. Rochester, re-elected in the 28th District, was appointed Judge of the Eighth Circuit Court on April 21, 1823, and resigned his seat before Congress met. A special election to fill the vacancy was held, and was won by William Woods, of the same faction.

The House of Representatives of the [14]

A petition on behalf of Parmenio Adams was presented to contest the election of Isaac Wilson in the 29th District. On December 30, 1823, the Committee on Elections submitted its report. They found that in the town of China by mistake 67 votes had been returned for Wilson, although he had polled only 45. They also found that in the town of Attica by mistake 98 votes had been returned for Adams, although he had polled only 93. The Secretary of State of New York, receiving the abovementioned result, issued credentials for Wilson who took his seat when Congress met on December 1. Correcting the mistakes in the China and Attica returns, Adams had 2,072 and Wilson 2,071 votes. Wilson also claimed that he had received 1 vote in Middlebury which was counted as a "blank vote" by the election inspectors because the name printed on the ballot was "partially erased with the stroke of a pen," and that he had received 2 votes in the Town of Stafford and 4 votes in the Town of Byron which were not counted by the election inspectors because the ballots were folded together in pairs.^[15] The committee upheld the decision of the election inspectors in both cases, and declared Adams entitled to the seat, winning the election by a single vote.^[16] On January 7, 1824, after much debate, the House declared Parmenio Adams entitled to the seat instead of Wilson, and Adams took it.^[17]

During this congressional term party lines broke down while four candidates lined up to succeed President

Notes

1. ^ 7 new seats gained in reapportionment
2. ^ 14 Adams-Clay, 14 Crawford, 2 Jacksonian
3. ^ All 4 Adams-Clay
4. ^ John P. Osborn, of Suffolk Co., assemblyman 1814-15, 1818, 1819 and 1820-21
5. ^ Jacob Patchen, butcher, of Brooklyn, see A History of the City of Brooklyn by Henry R. Stiles (pages 67ff)
6. ^ Derick B. Stockholm, publisher of the Republican Herald at Poughkeepsie since 1811; Surrogate of Dutchess Co. 1815-1819
7. ^ Joseph D. Monell, Recorder of Hudson 1811-1813 and 1815-1821; DA of Columbia Co. 1818-1819; assemblyman 1824; supervisor of Hudson 1830, 1831 and 1847
8. ^ Nicholas F. Beck (ca. 1796 - June 30, 1830 Albany); Union College graduate 1813; admitted to the bar 1817; City Clerk of Schenectady 1820; Adjutant General of the State Militia 1825-1830 (died in office)
9. ^ Simeon Ford, DA of Herkimer Co. 1818-23, assemblyman 1820-21 and 1822
10. ^ Asa Wells, assemblyman 1816-17 and 1818
11. ^ John Price, of Ontario Co., assemblyman 1814-15 and 1820
12. ^ William Thompson; assemblyman 1816, 1816-17, 1818, 1819 and 1820-21; Surrogate of Seneca Co. 1815-1819 and 1821-1827
13. ^ John H. Jones (ca. 1770 - Jan. 4, 1856 Leicester); First Judge of the Genesee County Court 1812-1823. Livingston Co. was separated from Genesee Co. in 1821, and Jones's victorious opponent Hayden was the First Judge of the Livingston County Court.
14. ^ Abridgment of the Debates in Congress (Vol. VII; pages 592ff and 599f)
15. ^ Folding two ballots closely together gives the opportunity for one person to put two ballots in the ballot box without being noticed by the election inspectors. The fraud is easily detected if there are more ballots in the box than voters in the register. The election law at the time expressly forbade the counting of any of the ballots if they were folded together, although it was sometimes claimed that the ballots might have been folded together by mistake, and one vote should be counted instead of the two.
16. ^ Cases of Contested Elections in Congress 1789 to 1834 compiled by Matthew St. Clair Clarke and David A. Hall (Washington, D.C., 1834; Case XLIX, pages 369ff)
17. ^ Abridgment of the Debates in Congress (Vol. VII; page 617)

Sources

• The New York Civil List compiled in 1858 (see: pg. 66 for district apportionment; pg. 71 for Congressmen)
• Members of the Eighteenth United States Congress
• Election result 1st D. at project "A New Nation Votes", compiled by Phil Lampi, hosted by Tufts University Digital Library
• Election result 2nd D. at "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result 3rd D. at "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result 4th D. at "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result 5th D. at "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result 6th D. at "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result 7th D. at "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result 8th D. at "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result 9th D. at "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result 10th D. at "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result 11th D. at "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result 12th D. at "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result 13th D. at "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result 14th D. at "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result 15th D. at "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result 16th D. at "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result 17th D. at "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result 18th D. at "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result 19th D. at "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result 20th D. at "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result 21st D. at "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result 22nd D. at "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result 23rd D. at "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result 24th D. at "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result 25th D. at "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result 26th D. at "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result 27th D. at "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result 28th D. at "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result 29th D. at "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result 30th D. at "A New Nation Votes"
• 1823 Special Election result 28th D. at "A New Nation Votes" [gives no returns from Steuben Co.]