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All 8 Pennsylvania seats to theUnited States House of Representatives | |||||||||||||||||||
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Anelection to theUnited States House of Representatives was held inPennsylvania on November 26, 1788, for the1st Congress.
TheUnited States Constitution was adopted on September 17, 1787, by theConstitutional Convention inPhiladelphia, and then ratified by the States. Pennsylvania's legislature ratified the Constitution on December 12, 1787, by a vote of 46–23. On July 8, 1788, theCongress of the Confederation passed a resolution calling the first session of the1st United States Congress for March 4, 1789, to convene atNew York City and the election ofsenators and representatives in the meanwhile by the States.
Pennsylvania's legislature scheduled the election for November 26, 1788, and provided for it to be held on anat-large basis. This was an attempt by the Federalist-dominated legislature to prevent anti-Federalist Representatives from being elected in frontier districts. Both parties submitted tickets with 8 candidates each. The largeGerman population in Pennsylvania tended to vote for German candidates, giving the Anti-Federalist Muhlenberg and Hiester enough votes to gain seats.[1]
| Pro-Administration | Anti-Administration | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frederick Muhlenberg | 8,707 | 7.49% | Peter Muhlenberg | 7,417 | 6.38% |
| Henry Wynkoop | 8,246 | 7.09% | Daniel Hiester | 7,403 | 6.37% |
| Thomas Hartley | 8,163 | 7.02% | William Findley | 6,586 | 5.66% |
| George Clymer | 8,094 | 6.96% | William Irvine | 6,492 | 5.58% |
| Thomas Fitzsimons | 8,086 | 6.95% | Charles Pettit | 6,481 | 5.57% |
| Thomas Scott | 8,068 | 6.94% | William Montgomery | 6,348 | 5.46% |
| John Allison | 7,067 | 6.08% | Blair McClenachan | 6,223 | 5.35% |
| Stephen Chambers | 7,050 | 6.06% | Robert Whitehall | 5,850 | 5.03% |
