1838–39 United States Senate elections
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17 of the 52 seats in theUnited States Senate(plus special elections) 27 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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![]() Results: Democratic hold Whig gainWhig hold Legislature failed to elect | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The1838–39 United States Senate electionswere held on various dates in various states. As theseU.S. Senateelections were prior to the ratification of theSeventeenth Amendmentin 1913, senators were chosen bystate legislatures.Senators were elected over a wide range of time throughout 1838 and 1839, and a seat may have been filled months late or remained vacant due tolegislative deadlock.[1]In these elections, terms were up for the senators inClass 1.
TheDemocratic Partylost seven seats, but still retained a majority.
Results summary[edit]
Senate party division,26th Congress(1839–1841)
- Majority party: Democratic (28–29)
- Minority party: Whig (19–23)
- Total seats: 52
Change in composition[edit]
Before the elections[edit]
After the January 4, 1838 special election in Maryland.
D1 | D2 | D3 | D4 | D5 | D6 | ||||
D16 | D15 | D14 | D13 | D12 | D11 | D10 | D9 | D8 | D7 |
D17 | D18 | D19 | D20 | D21 | D22 | D23 | D24 | D25 | D26 Maine Ran |
Majority → | D27 N.Y. Ran in different party | ||||||||
W17 Vt. Retired |
D35 Conn. Retired |
D34 Ind. Retired |
D33 Ohio Retired |
D32 Va. Retired |
D31 Pa. Unknown |
D30 Miss. Unknown |
D29 Mich. Unknown |
D28 Mo. Ran | |
W16 R.I. Unknown |
W15 Tenn.(reg) Ran |
W14 N.J. Ran |
W13 Mass. Ran |
W12 Md. Ran |
W11 Del. Ran |
W10 | W9 | W8 | W7 |
W1 | W2 | W3 | W4 | W5 | W6 |
Result of the elections[edit]
D1 | D2 | D3 | D4 | D5 | D6 | ||||
D16 | D15 | D14 | D13 | D12 | D11 | D10 | D9 | D8 | D7 |
D17 | D18 | D19 | D20 | D21 | D22 | D23 | D24 | D25 | D26 Maine Re-elected |
Majority → | D27 Mo. Re-elected | ||||||||
W17 Vt. Hold |
W18 Conn. Gain |
W19 Ind. Gain |
W20 Miss. Gain |
V4 Va. D Loss |
V3 Pa. D Loss |
V2 N.Y. D Loss |
V1 Mich. D Loss |
D28 Ohio Hold | |
W16 R.I. Hold |
W15 Tenn.(reg) Re-elected |
W14 N.J. Re-elected |
W13 Mass. Re-elected |
W12 Md. Re-elected |
W11 Del. Re-elected |
W10 | W9 | W8 | W7 |
W1 | W2 | W3 | W4 | W5 | W6 |
Beginning of the next term[edit]
D1 | D2 | D3 | D4 | D5 | D6 | ||||
D16 | D15 | D14 | D13 | D12 | D11 | D10 | D9 | D8 | D7 |
D17 | D18 | D19 | D20 | D21 | D22 | D23 | D24 | D25 | D26 |
Majority → | D27 | ||||||||
W17 | W18 | W19 | V5 Tenn.(reg) W Declined |
V4 | V3 | V2 | V1 | D28 | |
W16 | W15 | W14 | W13 | W12 | W11 | W10 | W9 | W8 | W7 |
W1 | W2 | W3 | W4 | W5 | W6 |
Key: |
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Race summaries[edit]
Special elections during the 25th Congress[edit]
In these special elections, the winners were seated during 1838 or before March 4, 1839; ordered by election date.
State | Incumbent | Results | Candidates | ||
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Senator | Party | Electoral history | |||
Maryland (Class 1) |
Joseph Kent | Whig | 1833 | Incumbent died November 24, 1837. New senator electedJanuary 4, 1838. Whig hold. Winner was also elected to the next term, see below. |
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Tennessee (Class 1) |
Felix Grundy | Democratic | 1829(special) 1833 |
Incumbent resigned July 4, 1838 to becomeU.S. Attorney General. New senator electedSeptember 17, 1838. Whig gain. Winner was also elected to the next term (see below), but declined. |
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Mississippi (Class 1) |
Thomas H. Williams | Democratic | 1838(Appointed) | Interim appointee electedJanuary 30, 1839. Democratic hold. Successor was not elected to the next term, see below. |
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Races leading to the 26th Congress[edit]
In these regular elections, the winners were elected for the term beginning March 4, 1839; ordered by state.
All of the elections involved the Class 1 seats.
State | Incumbent | Results | Candidates | ||
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Senator | Party | Electoral history | |||
Connecticut | John Niles | Democratic | 1835(special) | Incumbent retired. Winner elected in 1838 or 1839. Whig gain. |
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Delaware | Richard H. Bayard | Whig | 1836(special) | Incumbent re-elected in 1838 or 1839. |
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Indiana | John Tipton | Democratic | 1832(special) 1832 |
Incumbent retired. Winner elected in 1838. Whig gain. |
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Maine | Reuel Williams | Democratic | 1837(special) | Incumbent re-elected in 1838 or 1839. |
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Maryland | William Merrick | Whig | 1838(special) | Incumbent re-elected in 1839. |
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Massachusetts | Daniel Webster | Whig | 1827(special) 1833 |
Incumbent re-elected in 1839. |
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Michigan | Lucius Lyon | Democratic | 1835 | Incumbent retired. Legislature failed to elect until 1840. Democratic loss. |
[data missing] |
Mississippi | Thomas H. Williams | Democratic | 1838(Appointed) 1839(special) |
Unknown if incumbent retired or lost. Winner elected in 1838. Whig gain. |
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Missouri | Thomas H. Benton | Democratic | 1821 1827 1833 |
Incumbent re-elected in 1839. |
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New Jersey | Samuel L. Southard | Whig | 1821(Appointed) 1820 1823(Resigned) 1833 |
Incumbent re-elected in 1839. |
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New York | Nathaniel P. Tallmadge | Democratic | 1833 | Incumbent ran for re-election as a Whig. Legislature failed to elect. Democratic loss. |
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Ohio | Thomas Morris | Democratic | 1833 | Incumbent retired. Winner elected in 1838. Democratic hold. |
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Pennsylvania | Samuel McKean | Democratic | 1833 | Unknown if incumbent retired or lost. Legislature failed to elect until 1840 after the election in December 1838 was postponed due to theBuckshot War. Democratic loss. |
None. |
Rhode Island | Asher Robbins | Whig | 1835(special) 1827 1833 |
Unknown if incumbent retired or lost. Winner elected November 3, 1838. Whig hold. |
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Tennessee | Ephraim H. Foster | Whig | 1838(special) | Incumbent re-elected. Incumbent then declined the seat. |
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Vermont | Benjamin Swift | Whig | 1833 | Incumbent retired. Winner elected in 1839. Whig hold. |
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Virginia | William C. Rives | Democratic | 1832(special) 1834(Resigned) 1836(special) |
Unknown if incumbent retired or lost. Legislature failed to elect until 1841. Democratic loss. |
[data missing] |
Special election during the 26th Congress[edit]
In this special election, the winner was seated in 1839 after March 4.
State | Incumbent | Results | Candidates | ||
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Senator | Party | Electoral history | |||
Tennessee (Class 1) |
Ephraim H. Foster | Whig | 1838(Appointed) 1838 or 1839 |
Incumbent had been elected to the next term (see above), but declined to serve the next term and left office at the end of the term. Winner electedNovember 19, 1839. Democratic gain. |
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Connecticut[edit]
Delaware[edit]
Indiana[edit]
Maine[edit]
Maryland[edit]
Maryland (special)[edit]
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80 members of theMaryland General Assembly | ||||||||||||||||
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William Duhurst Merrickwon election over to fill the seat vacated byJoseph Kentby an unknown margin of votes, for the Class 1 seat.[3]
Maryland (regular)[edit]
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80 members of theMaryland General Assembly | ||||||||||||||||
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William Duhurst Merrickwon election to a full term by an unknown margin of votes, for the Class 1 seat.[4]
Massachusetts[edit]
Michigan[edit]
Mississippi[edit]
Mississippi (regular)[edit]
Mississippi (special)[edit]
Missouri[edit]
New Jersey[edit]
New York[edit]
The New York election was held February 5, 1839 by theNew York State Legislature.Nathaniel P. Tallmadgehad been elected as aJacksonian Democraticin 1833 to this seat, and his term would expire on March 3, 1839.
On February 4, 1839, the State Legislature elected on joint ballot Spencer, Cooke, Hall and Haight to the offices they were nominated for, but on the next day they could not agree on a U.S. Senator.
The Assembly nominated Nathaniel P. Tallmadge "by the votes of all the Whig members." (see Hammond, page 512)
Although the Democratic State Senate majority did not object to be outvoted on joint ballot for the election of Whigs to State offices, they rejected the idea of electing a renegade Democratic to the U.S. Senate, and took refuge to the only means to defeat Tallmadge: They did not nominate anybody, following the precedents of 1819–1820 and 1825–1826, so that a joint ballot could not be held. On the first ballot, Tallmadge received 13 votes out of 31 cast, all Whigs.[a]The Democratic vote was scattered among many men, nobody receiving more than 2. Four more ballots were held with a similar result.[b]On the sixth ballot, all Whigs and two Democrats voted forSamuel Beardsley,who received 16 votes, one short of the necessary number for a nomination. The Democrats then abandoned further balloting, fearing that the Whigs would vote for anybody who received by chance three Democratic votes, just to force any nomination, thus enabling the Legislature to proceed to the joint ballot.
Candidate | Party | New York Senate (32 members) |
Assembly (128 members) | |||||
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First ballot |
Second ballot |
Third ballot |
Fourth ballot |
Fifth ballot |
Sixth ballot |
First ballot | ||
Nathaniel P. Tallmadge | Whig | 13 | 13 | 13 | ![]() | |||
Samuel Nelson | Democratic | 2 | ||||||
Samuel Beardsley | Democratic | 1 | 2 | 2 | 16 | |||
William C. Bouck | Democratic | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
Churchill C. Cambreleng | Democratic | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
Hiram Denio | Democratic | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
John A. Dix | Democratic | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
Charles E. Dudley | Democratic | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
Azariah C. Flagg | Democratic | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
Freeborn G. Jewett | Democratic | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
Ebenezer Mack | Democratic | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
Charles McVean | Democratic | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
Joseph D. Monell | Democratic | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
John Savage | Democratic | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
Jacob Sutherland | Democratic | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
John Tracy | Democratic | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
Greene C. Bronson | Democratic | 1 | ||||||
Reuben H. Walworth | Democratic | 1 | ||||||
Levi Beardsley | Democratic | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
Benjamin F. Butler | Democratic | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
Abijah Mann Jr. | Democratic | 1 | 1 | 1 |
No further action was taken by this Legislature, and the seat became vacant on March 4, 1839. Tallmadge would later be elected in 1840.
Ohio[edit]
Pennsylvania[edit]
Rhode Island[edit]
Tennessee[edit]
There were three elections to the same seat due to the July 4, 1838 resignation of DemocratFelix Grundyto becomeU.S. Attorney General.
Tennessee (special, 1838)[edit]
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/97/EHFoster.jpg/125px-EHFoster.jpg)
WhigEphraim H. Fosterwas elected September 17, 1838 to finish the term.
Tennessee (regular)[edit]
Foster was also elected to the next term, but Foster declined the seat, refusing to take theTennessee General Assembly's instructions on how to vote, so he left office March 3, 1839 and the seat was vacant when the term began.
Tennessee (special, 1839)[edit]
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/46/Felix_Grundy.jpg/125px-Felix_Grundy.jpg)
The legislature then elected Grundy back to the seat November 19, 1839, but he died a year later.
Vermont[edit]
Virginia[edit]
See also[edit]
Notes[edit]
- ^WhigJohn Maynarddid not vote on the first five ballots.
- ^The on-line copy of the Senate journal omits the pages with the second and third ballot.
References[edit]
- ^"17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Direct Election of U.S. Senators (1913)".National Archives and Records Administration.February 8, 2022.
- ^J. Fred Parker, Secretary of State (1914).Manual, with Rules and Orders, for the use of the General Assembly of the State of Rhode Island, 1914.State of Rhode Island manual. Providence, RI: E. L. Freeman Company, State Printers. p. 149.
- ^"Our Campaigns - MD US Senate Race - Dec 00, 1837".www.ourcampaigns.com.Retrieved2022-11-05.
- ^"Our Campaigns - MD US Senate Race - Feb 00, 1839".www.ourcampaigns.com.Retrieved2022-11-05.
Sources[edit]
- Party Division in the Senate, 1789–Present,via Senate.gov