1812–13 United States House of Representatives elections

← 1810 & 1811 August 3, 1812 – April 30, 1813 1814 & 1815 →
All 182 seats in theUnited States House of Representatives 92 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Henry Clay Timothy Pitkin Party Democratic-Republican Federalist Leader's seat Kentucky 2nd Connecticut at-large Last election 107 seats 36 seats Seats won 114 68 Seat change 7 32
Results:      Democratic-Republican hold     Democratic-Republican gain      Federalist hold     Federalist gain
Speaker before election Henry Clay Democratic-Republican ElectedSpeaker Henry Clay Democratic-Republican

The1812–13 United States House of Representatives elections were held on various dates in various states between August 3, 1812, and April 30, 1813. Each state set its own date for its elections to theHouse of Representatives before the first session of the13th United States Congress convened on May 24, 1813. They coincided withJames Madison being re-elected president.

With the addition of the new state of Louisiana's at-large seat, along with the 39-seat gain as a result of thecongressional reapportionment based on the1810 United States census, the size of the House increased to 182 seats. Most relative population growth was in the West.

After America's entry into theWar of 1812 againstBritain, theDemocratic-Republican andFederalist parties maintained pro-war and anti-war positions, respectively. Democratic-Republican representatives supported by voters in agrarian regions and Southern and Western states promoted war, asserting that Britain had violated American sovereignty and that despite Britain's strength, war was a manageable risk. Federalists and their supporters in New England and more densely populated Eastern districts opposed the war, citing likely damage to American trade and infrastructure.

This election saw significant voter support shift to the declining Federalists for the last time, almost entirely inNew England,New York, andNew Jersey. Despite this shift, Federalists did not approach national political recovery, House control, or meaningful policy influence.

Following the1810 census, the House wasreapportioned, adding 39 new seats.^[1]

State	Type	Date	Total seats		Democratic- Republican		Federalist
			Seats	Change	Seats	Change	Seats	Change
Kentucky	District	August 3, 1812	10	4	10	4	0
Rhode Island	At-large	August 25, 1812	2		0		2
New Hampshire	At-large	August 31, 1812	6	1	0	4	6	5
Vermont	At-large	September 1, 1812	6	2	6	3	0	1
Connecticut	At-large	September 21, 1812	7		0		7
Louisiana	At-large	September 28–30, 1812	1		1		0
Georgia	At-large	October 5, 1812	6	2	6	2	0
Delaware	At-large	October 6, 1812	2	1	0		2	1
Maryland	Districts	October 12, 1812	9		6		3
South Carolina	Districts	October 12–13, 1812	9	1	9	1	0
Ohio	Districts	October 13, 1812	6	5	6	5	0
Pennsylvania	Districts		23	5	22	5	1
Massachusetts	Districts	November 5, 1812[a]	20	3	4	5	16	8
New York	Districts	December 15–17, 1812	27	10	9	3	18	13
New Jersey	Districts	January 12–13, 1813	6		2	4	4	4
Late elections (after the March 4, 1813, beginning of the next Congress)
Virginia	Districts	April 1813	23	1	17		6	1
Tennessee	Districts	April 1–2, 1813	6	3	6	3	0
North Carolina	Districts	April 30, 1813	13	1	10		3	1
Total			182	39	114 62.6%	7	68 37.4%	32

There were special elections in 1812 and 1813 to the12th United States Congress and13th United States Congress.

Special elections are sorted by date then district.

District	Incumbent			This race
	Member	Party	First elected	Results	Candidates[b]
Pennsylvania 13	John Smilie	Democratic- Republican	1792 1794(retired) 1798	Incumbent/member-elect died December 30, 1812. New memberelected February 16, 1813 and seated May 24, 1813.[5] Democratic-Republican hold.	▌YIsaac Griffin (Democratic-Republican) [data missing]
Ohio 6	John S. Edwards	Federalist	1812	Member-elect died February 22, 1813. New memberelected April 20, 1813 and seated June 8, 1813.[5] Democratic-Republican gain.	▌YReasin Beall (Democratic-Republican) [data missing]
New York 15	William Dowse	Federalist	1812	Member-elect died February 18, 1813. New memberelected April 27–29, 1813 and seated June 21, 1813.[5] Federalist hold.	▌YJohn M. Bowers (Federalist) ▌Isaac Williams Jr. (Democratic-Republican) [data missing]
				Election successfully challenged. Democratic-Republican gain.	▌YIsaac Williams Jr. (Democratic-Republican)
Kentucky 8	John Simpson	Democratic- Republican	1812	Member-elect died January 22, 1813. New memberelected April 29, 1813 and seated May 28, 1813.[5] Democratic-Republican hold.	▌YStephen Ormsby (Democratic-Republican) [data missing]
Pennsylvania 15	Abner Lacock	Democratic- Republican	1810	Incumbent/member-elect resigned March 3, 1813, to become U.S. Senator. New memberelected May 4, 1813 and seated May 28, 1813.[5] Democratic-Republican hold.	▌YThomas Wilson (Democratic-Republican) [data missing]
Ohio 3	Duncan McArthur	Democratic- Republican	1812	Member-elect resigned April 5, 1813, to stay in the state militia. New memberelected May 10, 1813 and seated June 15, 1813.[5] Democratic-Republican hold.	▌YWilliam Creighton (Democratic-Republican) [data missing]
Pennsylvania 5	Robert Whitehill	Democratic- Republican	1805(special)	Member-elect died April 8, 1813. New memberelected May 11, 1813 and seated May 28, 1813.[5] Democratic-Republican hold.	▌YJohn Rea (Democratic-Republican) [data missing]
Pennsylvania 3	John Gloninger	Federalist	1812	Incumbent resigned August 2, 1813. New memberelected October 12, 1813 and seated December 6, 1813.[5] Democratic-Republican gain.	▌YEdward Crouch (Democratic-Republican) [data missing]
Pennsylvania 7	John M. Hyneman	Democratic- Republican	1810	Incumbent resigned August 2, 1813. New memberelected October 12, 1813 and seated December 6, 1813.[5] Democratic-Republican hold.	▌YDaniel Udree (Democratic-Republican) [data missing]
Georgia at-large	William W. Bibb	Democratic- Republican	1806	Incumbent resigned after election as U.S. Senator. New memberelected December 13, 1813 and seated February 7, 1814.[5] Democratic-Republican hold.	▌YAlfred Cuthbert (Democratic-Republican) [data missing]
New York 2	Egbert Benson	Federalist	1789 1793(retired) 1812	Incumbent resigned August 2, 1813. New memberelected December 28–30, 1813 and seated January 22, 1814.[5] Democratic-Republican gain.	▌YWilliam Irving (Democratic-Republican) [data missing]

Connecticut elected its members September 21, 1812. Its apportionment was unchanged after the 1810 census.

Delaware gained a seat after the 1810 census, and chose to elect both seats on ageneral ticket. The ten years between 1813 and 1823 were the only time when Delaware was represented by more than one Representative, and is one of only three states (the other two beingAlaska andWyoming) that have never been divided into districts.

Delaware elected its members October 6, 1812.

Georgia gained two seats after the 1810 census.

Georgia elected its members October 5, 1812.

SeeNon-voting delegates, below.

SeeNon-voting delegates, below.

Kentucky gained four seats after the 1810 census.

Georgia elected its members August 3, 1812.

Louisiana held its election for the 13th Congress September 28–30, 1812, at the same time as theelection for the 12th Congress, with nearly-identical results.

Maryland's apportionment was unchanged. It elected its members October 12, 1812.

Massachusetts gained three seats after the 1810 census, all of which were added to theDistrict of Maine. Its elections were held November 5, 1812, but since Massachusetts law required a majority for election, which was not met in the19th district, a second ballot was held there January 6, 1813.

SeeNon-voting delegates, below.

SeeNon-voting delegates, below.

New Hampshire gained one seat after the 1810 census. Its elections were held August 31, 1812.

New Jersey kept its delegation at six seats but changed from electing its Representatives on a statewidegeneral ticket to using threeplural districts of two seats each. These districts were used only for the 1812 election, and the state returned to using a single at-large districtin 1814. This was only the second time that New Jersey used districts (the first beingin 1798).

There was a statewide at-large election held in November 1812, that was invalidated:

In October 1812, when the Federalists captured the State Legislature, both parties had already nominated their tickets for Presidential Electors and Congress. That election was scheduled for November 1812. However, … the Federalist[s], now controlling the legislature, changed the method of selecting Presidential Electors, from popular vote, to a choice by the Legislature and as a result the election for Presidential Electors was invalidated. In addition to changing the method of choosing Presidential electors, the Federalist also decided to alter the election of congressmen from state wide At-Large to Districts. The scheduled November elections were postponed and three separate Districts were created, each electing two Congressmen. This election was held January 12th and 13th 1813. Some towns, either because word of these changes did not reach them in time, or most likely in defiance, went ahead and held elections. The Republican ticket received almost all of the votes cast, with the Federalist getting only a single votes in two towns, which suggests they were protesting the changes made by the Legislature. These returns were never reported in the newspapers.

Ten seats were added after the 1810 census, bringingNew York's representation to 27, the largest of any state at the time. New York would remain the state with the most members until surpassed by California in the1970 census. There were two separate House of Representatives elections in 1812. Thefirst was held in April 1812 for an un-reapportioned 17 representatives. This election was subsequently declared void and a new election was held on December 15–17, 1812, in which only three incumbents ran and two of whom were re-elected. New York thereby lost 4 Democratic-Republicans and gained 14 Federalists.

North Carolina gained one representative as a result of the census of 1810. Its elections were held April 30, 1813, after the term began but before Congress's first meeting.

The 1810 census revealed dramatic population growth in Ohio since 1800, resulting in its representation increasing from a single Representative to six, resulting in the State being broken up into 6 districts, abolishing theat-large district.Jeremiah Morrow (Democratic-Republican), who had served since Ohio achieved statehoodin 1803, retired torun for U.S. Senator, so that all six seats were open. Its elections were held October 13, 1812.

There was a special election in the6th district, held due to the death of Representative-electJohn S. Edward before Congress met. That election was won byReasin Beall.

Pennsylvania gained five seats in the House of Representatives as a result of the census of 1810, which awarded it a total of 23 seats. Pennsylvania was re-districted into 15 districts, one with 4 seats, five with 2, and the remaining nine with 1 seat each. There were seven open seats for this election, five resulting from the increase in apportionment, and two resulting from the retirement of incumbents. Its elections were held October 13, 1812.

Rhode Island's apportionment was unchanged. Its elections were held August 25, 1812.

South Carolina gained one representative as a result of the 1810 census, increasing from 8 seats to 9. Its elections were held October 12–13, 1812.

Tennessee's representation increased from 3 seats to 6 as a result of the 1810 census.

Its elections were held April 1–2, 1813, after the term began but before Congress's first meeting.

Vermont gained two seats after the 1810 census. Rather than re-district, however, Vermont replaced its districts with a singleat-large district. It would continue to use an at-large district in1814,1816, and1818, then one more time in1822 (with 5 seats).

Its elections were held September 1, 1812.

Virginia gained one seat after the 1810 census, bringing its representation in the House of Representatives to 23 seats, the largest number Virginia would ever have. Virginia went from having the most representatives to having the second-most tied with Pennsylvania. New York, with its 27 seats, surpassed Virginia and remained the most populous state until the late 1960s.

Its elections were held in April 1813, after the term began but before Congress's first meeting.

Four territories haddelegates in the 13th Congress:Illinois,Indiana,Mississippi, andMissouri. Illinois Territory and Missouri Territory elected their delegates in 1812 for both the end of the 12th and the start of the 13th Congresses.

• 1812 United States elections
  • List of United States House of Representatives elections (1789–1822)
  • 1812 United States presidential election
  • 1812–13 United States Senate elections
• 12th United States Congress
• 13th United States Congress

• "A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns 1787–1825". Tufts Digital Library, Tufts University. Archived fromthe original on January 29, 2015. RetrievedJanuary 17, 2015.
• Dubin, Michael J. (March 1, 1998).1788–1997 United States Congressional Elections: The Official Results of the Elections of the 1st Through 105th Congresses. McFarland and Company.ISBN 978-0786402830.
• Martis, Kenneth C. (January 1, 1989).The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress, 1789–1989. Macmillan Publishing Company.ISBN 978-0029201701.
• "Party Divisions of the House of Representatives* 1789–Present". Office of the Historian, United States House of Representatives. RetrievedJanuary 21, 2015.
• Mapping Early American Elections project team (2019)."Mapping Early American Elections". Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, George Mason University. RetrievedSeptember 6, 2024.

• Office of the Historian (Office of Art & Archives, Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)

• 1812 United States House of Representatives elections
• 1813 United States House of Representatives elections

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from January 2025
• Pages using bar box without float left or float right
• All articles with lists with data missing
• Data missing from February 2020