1846 and 1847 United States House of Representatives elections

Elections to the United States House of Representatives for the 30th Congress were held during President James K. Polk's term at various dates in different states from August 1846 to November 1847.

1846 and 1847 United States House of Representatives elections
August 2, 1846 – November 2, 1847[lower-alpha 1]
All 230[lower-alpha 2] seats in the U.S. House of Representatives
116 seats needed for a majority
  Majority party Minority party
 
Leader Robert Winthrop Linn Boyd
Party Whig Democratic
Leader's seat Massachusetts 1st Kentucky 1st
Last election 81 seats 140 seats
Seats won 116 109[lower-alpha 2][lower-alpha 3]
Seat change 35 31
Popular vote 1,033,506 1,124,080
Percentage 44.52% 48.43%
Swing 0.27% 1.59%
  Third party Fourth party
 
Party Know Nothing Independent
Last election 6 seats 0 seats
Seats won 1 2[lower-alpha 4]
Seat change 5 2
Popular vote 28,198 63,690
Percentage 1.21% 2.74%
Swing 0.88% 1.49%
Speaker before election

John Davis
Democratic

 Elected Speaker

Robert Winthrop
Whig

The Whigs gained 37 seats to win 116 and a change in partisan control, while the rival Democrats lost 30, falling to 112.[lower-alpha 5] The Whigs gained seats in the Mid-Atlantic and the South. The nativist and anti-Catholic American Party was reduced to one seat. One Independent, Amos Tuck, was elected from New Hampshire.

The Mexican–American War was the main issue before voters. The incumbent House had voted overwhelmingly for war, but Polk had won the Presidency only by plurality in 1844 over his more famous opponent Henry Clay. Voters west of the Appalachian Mountains enthusiastically supported war, but voters in northeastern, more urban regions widely opposed it.

It was widely, accurately believed that war with Mexico would be won and would include large territorial gains. The Wilmot Proviso was the first Congressional attempt to deal with the political question of slavery in these projected new territories, by proposing to ban it. Congress rejected the Wilmot Proviso, but not quickly or smoothly. Protracted debate highlighted the issue, aggravating sectional tensions. The repeated failure of Congress, and later also the President and Supreme Court, over the next decade to resolve this issue conclusively was a major cause of the Civil War.

Notable freshmen included Abraham Lincoln, elected as a Whig to his only term. This was the last time the Whig Party won a House majority, though candidates opposed to the Democratic Party would win a large majority in the realigning 1854 election.

Election summaries

The trend toward single-member districts culminated as no multi-member districts featured.

In 1845, Congress established a uniform date for choosing Presidential electors. Gradually, states aligned nearly all other elections with this date, though as of this election, only three states had done so.

Two seats were added for the new State of Wisconsin.[1] Wisconsin was unrepresented for most of the 1st session.

↓
110 2 116
Democratic [lower-alpha 6] Whig
State Type Date Total
seats		 Democratic Whig Other
Seats Change Seats Change Seats Change
Elections for new states (Not included in totals below)
Texas District March 30, 1846 2 2 2 0 0
Iowa At-large October 26, 1846 2 2 2 0 0
General elections
Missouri District[lower-alpha 7] August 2, 1846 5 5 0 0
Arkansas At-large August 3, 1846 1 1 0 0
Illinois District August 3, 1846 7 6[lower-alpha 8] 1 0
Vermont District September 1, 1846 4 1 3 0
Maine District September 14, 1846 7 6 1 0
Florida At-large October 5, 1846 1 0 1 1 1 0
Georgia District October 5, 1846 8 4 1 4 1 0
South Carolina District October 12–13, 1846 7 7 0 0
Ohio District October 13, 1846 21 10 3 11 3 0
Pennsylvania District October 13, 1846 24 7 5 16 6 1[lower-alpha 9] 1
Texas District November 2, 1846 2 2 0 0
Michigan District November 3, 1846
(Election Day)		 3 3 0 0
New Jersey District 5 1 4 0
New York District 34 11[lower-alpha 10] 10 23 14 0 4
Massachusetts District November 9, 1846 10 0 10 0
Delaware At-large November 10, 1846 1 0 1 0
Late elections (after the March 4, 1847 beginning of the term)
New Hampshire District[lower-alpha 7] March 9, 1847 4[lower-alpha 11] 2 1 1 1 1[lower-alpha 12] 1
Connecticut District April 5, 1847 4 0 4 0
Rhode Island District April 7, 1847 2 1 1 1 1 0
Virginia District April 22, 1847 15 9 5 6 5 0
Alabama District August 2, 1847 7 5 1 2 1 0
Indiana District August 2, 1847 10 6 2 4 2 0
Iowa District[lower-alpha 7] August 2, 1847 2 2 0 0
Kentucky District August 2, 1847 10 4 1 6 1 0
Tennessee District August 2, 1847 11 6 5 0
North Carolina District August 5, 1847 9 3 3 6 3 0
Maryland District October 6, 1847 6 2 2 4 2 0
Mississippi District[lower-alpha 7] November 1–2, 1847 4 3 1 1 1 0
Louisiana District November 2, 1847 4 3 1 0
Total[lower-alpha 2] 228 110[lower-alpha 5]
48.7%		 35 116
50.4%		 38 2
0.9%		 4
House seats
Democratic
 
 48.2%
Know-Nothing
 
 0.4%
Independent
 
 0.4%
Whig
 
 50.9%

Special elections
District Incumbent This race
Member Party First elected Results Candidates
Mississippi 1

Florida
Main article: 1846 United States House of Representatives election in Florida
See also: List of United States Representatives from Florida
District Incumbent This race
Member Party First elected Results Candidates
Florida at-large William H. Brockenbrough Democratic 1845 (Special) Incumbent retired.
New member elected.
Whig gain.

Wisconsin

Wisconsin was admitted to the union in 1848 and elected two representatives to the 30th congress on May 8, 1848.

District Incumbent Party First
elected		 Result Candidates[2]
1st New seat. New seat.
New member elected.
Democratic gain.
2nd New seat. New seat.
New member elected.
Democratic gain.

Non-voting delegates
District Incumbent Party First
elected		 Result Candidates
Wisconsin Territory Morgan Lewis Martin Democratic 1844 Incumbent was not renominated.
New member elected.
Whig gain.

See also

Notes
  1. Excludes states admitted during the 30th Congress.
  2. Includes late elections
  3. Includes a Congressman elected as a "Locofoco Democrat": William Collins from the 18th District of New York.
  4. Includes two Independent Democrats.
  5. Includes 2 Independent Democrats elected to Illinois's 1st congressional district and New York's 17th congressional district – see: Martis, p. 100-101.
  6. There was 1 Know Nothing and 1 Independent.
  7. Changed from at-large
  8. Includes Robert Smith, who was elected to IL-01 as an Independent Democrat.
  9. 1 Know Nothing
  10. Includes George Petrie, who was elected to NY-17 as an Independent Democrat.
  11. One seat had been vacant during the entire 29th Congress.
  12. Amos Tuck was elected to NH-01 as an Independent.

References
  1. 9 Stat. 58
  2. "Wisconsin Official Canvass". The Weekly Wisconsin. Milwaukee. June 21, 1848. p. 2. Retrieved May 23, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.

Bibliography
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