The 1838–39 United States House of Representatives elections were held on various dates in various states between July 2, 1838, and November 5, 1839. Each state set its own date for its elections to the House of Representatives before the first session of the 26th United States Congress convened on December 2, 1839. They occurred during President Martin Van Buren's term. Elections were held for all 242 seats, representing 26 states.
The Panic of 1837 and consequent economic downturn drove Whig Party gains. Van Buren's Democratic Party had lost popularity and Whig policies of economic nationalism appealed to a larger number of voters. Democrats were able, however, to contain the political fallout by blaming banks for the crisis. The Anti-Masonic Party, influential in New York, Pennsylvania, and other Northern states, lost seats, while the Southern Nullifier Party disappeared. Two Virginia representatives were elected on that state's Conservative Party ticket.
Early business of the new House reflected the close partisan division. When Congress first Convened on December 3, 1839, two contingents of New Jersey representatives-elect, one composed of Democrats and the other of Whigs, arrived and both requested to be seated as members. Charging the Whigs with election fraud and facing loss of control of the House, the Democratic Party majority (119 to 118 Whigs from outside New Jersey) refused to seat all but one Whig.[1] Massachusetts Representative John Quincy Adams presided as "chairman" of the House after the clerk lost control.
Two weeks later, when voting for speaker of the House finally commenced, 11 ballots were needed before Robert M. T. Hunter, a compromise Whig candidate, was elected, receiving 119 votes (out of 232 cast).[2] This congress also enacted the first Independent Treasury bill.
The House rescinded its former decision February 5, 1838 and declared the seats vacant. New members elected May 29, 1838. Two Whig gains. Successors seated May 30, 1838.[3]
Incumbent resigned September 28, 1838 to become Mayor of Salem. New member elected November 12, 1838. Whig hold. Winner also elected to the next term; see below.
Elections were held November 12, 1838, but one district's election went to a fourth ballot in 1839, after the March 4, 1839 start of the term but before the House convened in December 1839.
A special election was held in Mississippi on July 17–18, 1837. Its winners were Democrats John F. H. Claiborne and Samuel J. Gholson. The first session of the 25th Congress was a special session beginning on September 4, 1837, extending to October 16. In November, Mississippi held the regular election. Seargent Smith Prentiss, a Vicksburg lawyer and Whig, unexpectedly launched a vigorous, partisan campaign. He and fellow Whig Thomas J. Word won in an upset. Claiborne and Gholson then argued that the July result entitled them to serve full terms. With the Whig Party newly organizing, the closely divided House, in which Anti-Masons, Nullifiers, and the Independent tended to align more with Whigs and to oppose Democrats, agreed to hear Prentiss. He spoke for nine hours over three days, packing the gallery, drawing Senators, and earning a national reputation for oratory and public admiration from leading Whigs including Senators Clay and Webster. The Elections Committee then required a third election. Scheduled for April 1838, it confirmed the November result. Both Whigs were seated in May late in the second session, also serving for the third session.
Incumbent lost re-election. New delegate elected August 5, 1839, but election was invalidated due to a misdrafting of the a territorial statute, and Congress extended the term of the incumbent delegate to 1840.[50]
Incumbent lost re-election. New delegate elected in September 1838. Democratic hold. Incumbent claimed that prior 1836 election had entitled him to serve until March 1839, but the house disagreed and seated the winner January 14, 1839.
^For plural districts, percent is based on assumption that each voter cast as many votes as there are seats
References
^Lalor, John Joseph (1899). Lalor, John J. (ed.). "Cyclopædia of political science, political economy, and of the political history of the United States, by the best American and European writers". New York, New York: New York: 309. hdl:2027/umn.319510014074381. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^"26th Congress (1839–1841)". Congress Profiles. Washington, D.C.: Office of the Historian, U.S. House of Representatives. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
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