27 U.S. Representatives had been elected in April 1816 to a term in the 15th United States Congress beginning on March 4, 1817. Representative-elect Henry B. Lee died on February 18, 1817, and James Tallmadge, Jr. was elected in April 1817 to fill the vacancy. The representatives' term would end on March 3, 1819. The congressional elections were held together with the State elections in late April 1818, about ten months before the term would start on March 4, 1819, and about a year and a half before Congress actually met on December 6, 1819.
Congressional districts
The geographical area of the districts remained the same as at the previous elections in 1816. Two new counties were created: Tompkins inside the 20th District; and Cattaraugus inside the 21st District. In 1817, the Town of Danube was separated from the Town of Minden in Montgomery County, and transferred to Herkimer County, but Danube remained in the 14th District.
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
19 Democratic-Republicans, 6 Clintonian-Federalists[1] and 2 Federalists were elected to the 16th Congress. The incumbents Wendover, Tompkins, Taylor and Storrs were re-elected, the incumbent Ellicott was defeated.
Note: It is difficult to ascertain the party affiliation of these candidates: At this time began the split of the Democratic-Republican Party into two opposing factions: on one side, the supporters of DeWitt Clinton and his Erie Canal project; on the other side, the Bucktails (including the Tammany Hall organization in New York City), led by Martin Van Buren. At the same time, the Federalist Party had already begun to disintegrate. In the Southern districts the Federalists and Clintonians combined to vote for joint nominees, running against the Bucktails; in the Western districts, where the Erie Canal was under construction, the Democratic-Republican nominees were Clintonians who were elected unopposed.
On December 10, Nathaniel Allen presented a petition on behalf of James Guyon, Jr. to contest the election of Ebenezer Sage in the 1st District. On January 12, 1820, the Committee on Elections submitted its report. They found that the election inspectors in the towns of Northfield (on Staten Island), Brooklyn, Hempstead and Oyster Bay had returned 391 votes for "James Guyon" although all these votes had in fact been given for "James Guyon, Jr."[11] The Secretary of State of New York, receiving the abovementioned result, issued credentials for Sage who never took or claimed the seat. On January 14, the House declared Guyon, Jr., entitled to the seat, and Guyon took it.[12]
Notes
^Of these 6 congressmen elected on fusion tickets against the Bucktails, Wood had been a Federalist candidate for Congress in 1798 and 1800; Street was appointed a D.A. in 1810 and 1813 by a Federalist Council of Appointment; and Storrs was a Federalist incumbent. The congressional records list Strong as Federalist; and Monell and Lyman as Democratic-Republicans.
Election result 1st D. at project "A New Nation Votes", compiled by Phil Lampi, hosted by Tufts University Digital Library [gives 2.166 votes for Guyon, Jr.; the newspaper editor was not aware of the inspector's mistake]
1818 List of elections in 1818 Treaty of 1818 1818 in the United States 1817–1818 Massachusetts legislature 1818 United States elections 1818–19 United States Senate elections 1818–19 United States House of Representatives elections 1818–1819 Massachusetts legislature 1818 United Kingdom general election Kosmos 1818 1818 in sports Chilean corvette Independencia (1818) Treaty of St. Mary's (1818) HMS Waterloo (1818) 1818 Pennsylvania's 6th congressional district special elections 1818 in the United Kingdom Samuel Merriman (1731–1818) Great Rebellion of 1817–1818 Dhurma Massacre (181…
8) György Majláth (1818–1883) 1818 Connecticut's at-large congressional district special election 1818 Louisiana's at-large congressional district special election 1818 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania Expedition to Najd (1817–1818) 1818 Chilean constitutional referendum 1818 Illinois gubernatorial election 1818 Massachusetts's 20th congressional district special election John Jones (died 1818) Jean Dufour (1818–1883) Catholic–Orthodox clash in Aleppo (1818) Maria Elisabeth of Saxony (1736–1818) John Cairns (1818–1892) Robert Land (1739–1818) Treaty of St. Louis (1818) 1818–1819 United States House of Representatives elections in Massachusetts Edward Warner (1818–1875) List of shipwrecks in 1818 List of MPs elected in the 1818 United Kingdom general election 1818 North Carolina's 7th congressional district special election Princess Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies (born 1818) 1818 Virginia's 19th congressional district special election Marie of Württemberg (1818–1888) 1818 in Brazil 1818 North Carolina's 11th congressional district special election Asia (1818 ship) 1818 Pennsylvania's 4th congressional district special election 1818 in Russia Neu