The 1798–99 United States House of Representatives elections were held on various dates in various states between April 24, 1798, in New York and August 1, 1799, in Tennessee. Each state set its own date for its elections to the House of Representatives, with some after the official start of the 6th United States Congress on March 4, 1799, but before the start of the first session of this Congress in Philadelphia on December 2, 1799. These elections were held during President John Adams' term. It was the last congressional session before the move to the new capital at Washington, D.C. Elections were held for all 106 seats, representing 16 states.
President Adams, a Federalist elected two years prior in the election of 1796, remained popular during a time of national economic growth, and the Federalists made a modest gain of three seats at the expense of the opposition Democratic-Republicans, the party of Vice President and future President Thomas Jefferson. This resulted in an increased Federalist majority in the House, 60-46 seats.
The Federalist party squandered its popularity by passing a series of controversial new laws in the summer of 1798, including the Naturalization Act of 1798 and the Alien and Sedition Acts. Their passage seriously injured the chances of President Adams and Federalist congressional candidates in the elections of 1800.
The House that met during this Congress would ultimately elect Thomas Jefferson over Aaron Burr in the presidential election of 1800.
Election summaries
+ ↓ 60 46 Federalist Democratic-Republican
State Type Date Totalseats Federalist Democratic-Republican Seats Change Seats Change New York Districts April 24–26, 1798 10 4 2 6 2 New Hampshire At-large August 2, 1798 4 4 0 North Carolina Districts August 10, 1798 10 4 3 6 3 Connecticut At-large September 7, 1798 7 7 0 Maryland Districts October 1, 1798 8 5 1 3 1 Rhode Island At-large August 28, 1798 2 2 0 Vermont Districts September 4, 1798 2 1 1 Delaware At-large October 2, 1798 1 1 0 Georgia At-large October 8, 1798 2 2 2 0 2 Pennsylvania Districts October 9, 1798 13 5 1 8 1 New Jersey District October 10, 1798 5 2 3 3 3 South Carolina Districts October 12, 1798 6 5 2 1 2 Massachusetts Districts November 5, 1798 14 12 1 2 1 Late general elections Virginia Districts April 24, 1799 19 6 2 13 2 Kentucky Districts May 7, 1799 2 0 2 Tennessee At-large August 1, 1799 1 0 1 Total 106 6056.6% 3 4643.4% 3
Special elections
There were special elections in 1798 and 1799 during the 5th United States Congress and 6th United States Congress.
Elections are sorted here by date then district.
5th Congress District Incumbent Results Candidates Representative Party First elected Samuel Sitgreaves Federalist 1794 Incumbent resigned sometime in 1798.New member elected October 9, 1798 and seated December 4, 1798.Democratic-Republican gain.Winner also elected to the next term on the same day; see below. Nathan Bryan Democratic-Republican 1795 Incumbent died June 4, 1798.New member elected August 2, 1798 and seated December 10, 1798.Democratic-Republican hold.New member also elected to the next term one week later; see below. John Swanwick Democratic-Republican 1794 Incumbent died July 31, 1798.New member elected October 9, 1798 and seated December 3, 1798.Federalist gain.Winner elected to the next term on the same day; see below. Joshua Coit Federalist 1792 Incumbent died September 5, 1798.New member elected October 22, 1798 and seated December 3, 1798.Federalist hold.Winner had already been elected to the next term; see below. William Giles Democratic-Republican 1790 (special) Incumbent resigned October 2, 1798.New member elected November 1, 1798 and seated December 3, 1798.Democratic-Republican hold.Winner later elected to the next term; see below. Joshua Seney Democratic-Republican 17891792 (resigned)1798 Representative-elect died October 20, 1798.New member elected November 29, 1798 and seated with the new Congress.Democratic-Republican hold.
6th Congress District Incumbent Results Candidates Representative Party First elected Jonathan Havens Democratic-Republican 1794 Incumbent died October 25, 1799.New member elected December 27, 1799 and seated February 27, 1800.Democratic-Republican hold.
Connecticut
District Incumbent Party Firstelected Result Candidates William Edmond Federalist 1797 (special) Incumbent re-elected. Chauncey Goodrich Federalist 1794 Incumbent re-elected.Vacant Incumbent Joshua Coit (F) died September 5, 1798.Federalist hold. Roger Griswold Federalist 1794 Incumbent re-elected. Nathaniel Smith Federalist 1795 (special) Incumbent lost re-election.Federalist hold. John Allen Federalist 1796 Incumbent re-elected, but declined to serve. Samuel W. Dana Federalist 1796 Incumbent re-elected.
Delaware
District Incumbent Party Firstelected Result Candidates James A. Bayard Federalist 1796 Incumbent re-elected.
Georgia
District Incumbent Party Firstelected Result Candidates Abraham Baldwin Democratic-Republican 1789 Incumbent lost re-election.Federalist gain.Winner died January 11, 1801, and seat remained vacant throughout the next Congress. John Milledge Democratic-Republican 1794 Incumbent retired.Federalist gain.
Kentucky
District Incumbent Party Firstelected Result Candidates Thomas T. Davis Democratic-Republican 1797 Incumbent re-elected. John Fowler Democratic-Republican 1797 Incumbent re-elected.
Maryland
District Incumbent Party Firstelected Result Candidates George Dent Federalist 1792 Incumbent re-elected. Richard Sprigg Jr. Democratic-Republican 1796 (special) Incumbent lost re-election.Federalist gain. William Craik Federalist 1796 (special) Incumbent re-elected. George Baer Jr. Federalist 1796 Incumbent re-elected. Samuel Smith Democratic-Republican 1792 Incumbent re-elected. William Matthews Federalist 1796 Incumbent retired.Democratic-Republican gain. William Hindman Federalist 1792 Incumbent lost re-election.Democratic-Republican gain.Winner died October 20, 1798, before the new Congress, causing a special election; see above. John Dennis Federalist 1796 Incumbent re-elected.
Massachusetts
Massachusetts required a majority for election. This was not met in the and necessitating additional ballots in those districts.
District Incumbent Party Firstelected Result Candidates Thomson J. Skinner Democratic-Republican 1796 (special) Incumbent retired.Federalist gain. William Shepard Federalist 1797 Incumbent re-elected. Samuel Lyman Federalist 1794 Incumbent re-elected. Dwight Foster Federalist 1793 Incumbent re-elected. Nathaniel Freeman Jr. Democratic-Republican 1794 Incumbent retired.Federalist gain.
Fifth ballot John Reed Sr. Federalist 1794 Incumbent re-elected. Stephen Bullock Federalist 1797 Incumbent lost re-election.Democratic-Republican gain.
Fourth ballot Harrison Gray Otis Federalist 1796 Incumbent re-elected. Joseph Bradley Varnum Democratic-Republican 1795 Incumbent re-elected. Samuel Sewall Federalist 1796 Incumbent re-elected. Bailey Bartlett Federalist 1797 (special) Incumbent re-elected. Isaac Parker Federalist 1797 Incumbent retired.Federalist hold. Peleg Wadsworth Federalist 1793 Incumbent re-elected. George Thatcher Federalist 1788 Incumbent re-elected.
New Hampshire
District Incumbent Party Firstelected Result Candidates Abiel Foster Federalist 1794 Incumbent re-elected. William Gordon Federalist 1796 Incumbent re-elected. Jonathan Freeman Federalist 1796 Incumbent re-elected. Peleg Sprague Federalist 1797 (special) Incumbent re-elected, but declined to serve.A special election was held.
New Jersey
New Jersey switched to district representation for this election. The districts were not numbered at the time, but are retroactively numbered here as 1–5. New Jersey would go back to an the following election.
District Incumbent Party Firstelected Result Candidates James Schureman Federalist 1797 Incumbent lost re-election.Democratic-Republican gain. Mark Thomson Federalist 1794 Incumbent lost re-election.Democratic-Republican gain. Jonathan Dayton Federalist 1791 Incumbent retired to run for U.S. Senator.Democratic-Republican gain. James H. Imlay Federalist 1797 Incumbent re-elected. Thomas Sinnickson Federalist 1797 Unknown if incumbent lost re-election or retired.Federalist hold.
New York
Between the 1796 and 1798 elections, New York re-districted. This marked the first time that its districts were numbered. District Incumbent Party Firstelected Result Candidates Jonathan N. Havens Democratic-Republican 1794 Incumbent re-elected. Edward Livingston Democratic-Republican 1794 Incumbent re-elected. Philip Van Cortlandt Democratic-Republican 1793 Incumbent re-elected. Lucas Elmendorf Democratic-Republican 1796 Incumbent re-elected. David Brooks Federalist 1796 Incumbent lost re-election.Democratic-Republican gain. Hezekiah L. Hosmer Federalist 1796 Incumbent retired.Federalist hold. John E. Van Alen Federalist 1793 Incumbent retired.Democratic-Republican gain. John Williams Federalist 1796 Incumbent lost re-election.Federalist loss. Henry Glen Federalist 1793 Incumbent re-elected. None (District created) New seat.Federalist gain. James Cochran Federalist 1796 Incumbent retired.Federalist hold.
North Carolina
District Incumbent Party Firstelected Result Candidates Joseph McDowell Democratic-Republican 1796 Incumbent lost re-election.Federalist gain. Matthew Locke Democratic-Republican 1793 Incumbent lost re-election.Federalist gain. Robert Williams Democratic-Republican 1796 Incumbent re-elected. Richard Stanford Democratic-Republican 1796 Incumbent re-elected. Nathaniel Macon Democratic-Republican 1791 Incumbent re-elected. James Gillespie Democratic-Republican 1793 Incumbent lost re-election.Federalist gain. William B. Grove Federalist 1791 Incumbent re-elected. Dempsey Burgess Democratic-Republican 1795 Incumbent lost re-election.Democratic-Republican hold. Thomas Blount Democratic-Republican 1793 Incumbent lost re-election.Democratic-Republican hold. Vacant Incumbent Nathan Bryan (D-R) died June 4, 1798.Democratic-Republican hold.Winner was also elected to finish the current term; see above.
Northwest Territory See Non-voting delegates, below.
Pennsylvania
District Incumbent Party Firstelected Result Candidates Vacant Incumbent John Swanwick (Democratic-Republican) died August 1, 1798.Federalist gain.Winner was also elected to finish the current term; see above. Blair McClenachan Democratic-Republican 1796 Incumbent retired.Democratic-Republican hold. Richard Thomas Federalist 1794 Incumbent re-elected. Vacant Incumbent Samuel Sitgreaves (F) resigned August 29, 1798.Democratic-Republican gain. John Chapman Federalist 1796 Incumbent lost re-election.Democratic-Republican gain. Vacant Incumbent George Ege (F) resigned in October 1797.New member elected October 10, 1797 and seated December 1, 1797.Democratic-Republican gain.Winner was also elected to finish the current term; see above. John A. Hanna Democratic-Republican 1796 Incumbent re-elected. John W. Kittera Federalist 1791 Incumbent re-elected. Thomas Hartley Federalist 1788 Incumbent re-elected. Andrew Gregg Democratic-Republican 1791 Incumbent re-elected. David Bard Democratic-Republican 1794 Incumbent lost re-election.Federalist gain. William Findley Democratic-Republican 1791 Incumbent retired.Democratic-Republican hold. Albert Gallatin Democratic-Republican 1794 Incumbent re-elected.
Rhode Island
Rhode Island used at-large districts, but elected the candidates on separate tickets instead of using a general ticket.
District Incumbent Party Firstelected Result Candidates Thomas Tillinghast Federalist 1797 (special) Incumbent lost re-election.Federalist hold. Christopher G. Champlin Federalist 1796 Incumbent re-elected.
South Carolina