The
U.S. House election, 1798 was an election for the
United States House of RepresentativesThe United States House of Representatives, commonly referred to as the "House," is the lower house of the bicameral United States Congress, the upper house being the United States Senate. The composition and powers of the House and the Senate are established in Article One of the Constitution...
to the sixth Congress. Voting in the various states took place between April 1798 (New York) and August 1799 (Tennessee). The first session of this Congress met in Philadelphia on December 2, 1799, the last session before moving to the new capital at
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790...
.
President Adams remained popular during this time period, as the nation was undergoing economic expansion.
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The
U.S. House election, 1798 was an election for the
United States House of RepresentativesThe United States House of Representatives, commonly referred to as the "House," is the lower house of the bicameral United States Congress, the upper house being the United States Senate. The composition and powers of the House and the Senate are established in Article One of the Constitution...
to the sixth Congress. Voting in the various states took place between April 1798 (New York) and August 1799 (Tennessee). The first session of this Congress met in Philadelphia on December 2, 1799, the last session before moving to the new capital at
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790...
.
President Adams remained popular during this time period, as the nation was undergoing economic expansion. As a result, the majority
Federalist PartyThe Federalist Party was an American political party in the period 1792 to 1816, with remnants lasting into the 1820s. The Federalists controlled the federal government until 1801. The party was formed by Alexander Hamilton, who, during George Washington's first term, built a network of...
picked up several new seats to increase their majority. Despite the Federalist gains, a variety of controversial new laws passed by Congress in the Summer of 1798 (specifically, the
Naturalization ActThe Naturalization Act, passed by Congress on June 18, 1798, increased the amount of time necessary for immigrants to become naturalized citizens in the United States from five to fourteen years...
, which was aimed at keeping out Irish and French, immigrants who were a key Democratic-Republican voting bloc; as well as the
Alien and Sedition ActsThe Alien and Sedition Acts were four bills passed in 1798 by the Federalists in the 5th United States Congress, who were waging an undeclared naval war with France, later known as the Quasi-War. They were signed into law by President John Adams...
, which limited freedom of speech) became major issues, that would eventually hurt Adams and his party in future elections.
It should be noted that in this period each state fixed its own date for a congressional general election. This article covers all such state elections to the 6th Congress. Elections to a Congress took place both in the even-numbered year before and in the odd-numbered year when the Congress convened. In some states the congressional delegation was not elected until after the legal start of the Congress (on the 4th day of March in the odd numbered year).
Overall results
| Party |
Total seats (change) |
Seat percentage |
| Federalist Party |
60 |
+3 |
56.6% |
Democratic-Republican PartyThe Democratic-Republican Party was founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison around 1792. Supporters usually identified themselves as Republicans, but sometimes as Democrats. The term "Democratic Republican" was also used by contemporaries, but mostly by the party's opponents...
|
46 |
-3 |
43.4% |
| Totals |
106 |
0 |
100% |
External links
- http://clerk.house.gov/art_history/house_history/index.html