Mapping Early American Elections

New Jersey General Assembly, 1800

In 1800, New Jersey elected thirty-nine assemblymen to the state’s General Assembly. At least twenty-three were Federalists, and at least nine were Democratic-Republicans.

New Jersey’s state legislature was comprised of an upper house called the Legislative Council and a lower house called the General Assembly. Each of the state’s thirteen counties elected one councilor and three assemblymen to the legislature. Elections for both houses were held annually.

In 1800, New Jersey allowed unmarried women (single and widowed) and free blacks (who met the property requirement) to vote. New Jersey was the only state to allow women to vote, and one of a few that allowed African Americans to vote. However, this unique makeup of the electorate only lasted a short time. An 1807 law did away with property restrictions, but also limited the franchise to white males.

This era of New Jersey politics was marked by intense party competition between the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans. In 1800, elections for New Jersey’s General Assembly and for New Jersey’s delegation to the Seventh U.S. Congress show the beginning of a shift in party control in New Jersey’s state and federal elections. During the 1790s, New Jersey almost exclusively elected Federalist candidates to state and federal office. However after 1800, New Jersey Republicans gained control of the state legislature, the governorship, and the congressional delegation.

District Candidate Party Vote Percentage Elected
Bergen Peter Ward Federalist 1,150 19.2% ✓
Bergen John Dey Federalist 1,146 19.1% ✓
Bergen Thomas Blanch Federalist 1,144 19.1% ✓
Bergen Henry Van Dolsen Democratic-Republican 862 14.4%
Bergen John Benson Democratic-Republican 861 14.3%
Bergen Adam Boyd Democratic-Republican 832 13.9%
Cumberland Richard Wood, Jr. Federalist 759 27.1% ✓
Cumberland Jonathon Bowen Federalist 757 27.1% ✓
Cumberland Ebenezer Elmer Democratic-Republican 648 23.2%
Cumberland Azel Pierson Democratic-Republican 632 22.6%
Essex Charles Clark Democratic-Republican 1,666 33.3% ✓
Essex Abraham Speer Democratic-Republican 1,664 33.3% ✓
Essex Jabez Parkhurst Democratic-Republican 1,660 33.2% ✓
Gloucester Samuel French Federalist 1,446 22.4% ✓
Gloucester Samuel W. Harrison Federalist 1,435 22.3% ✓
Gloucester Abel Clement Federalist 1,415 21.9% ✓
Gloucester John Collins Democratic-Republican 755 11.7%
Gloucester Amos Cooper Democratic-Republican 708 11%
Gloucester Jeremiah Wood Democratic-Republican 688 10.7%
Hunterdon Benjamin Van Cleve Federalist 1,281 15.8% ✓
Hunterdon Simon Wyckoff Federalist 1,269 15.6% ✓
Hunterdon Stephen Burrowes Federalist 1,228 15.1% ✓
Hunterdon John Haas Democratic-Republican 1,211 14.9%
Hunterdon John Lequear Democratic-Republican 1,156 14.2%
Hunterdon Joseph Hankinson Democratic-Republican 1,079 13.3%
Hunterdon John E. Spencer Federalist 704 8.7%
Middlesex Gersham Dunn Federalist 1,617 22.6% ✓
Middlesex John Neilson Federalist 1,609 22.5% ✓
Middlesex William Edgar Federalist 1,606 22.4% ✓
Middlesex John Morgan Democratic-Republican 783 10.9%
Middlesex Phineas Manning Democratic-Republican 778 10.9%
Middlesex Joseph Randolph Democratic-Republican 769 10.7%
Monmouth Joseph Stillwell Federalist 1,085 21.9% ✓
Monmouth David Gordon Federalist 1,077 21.7% ✓
Monmouth William Lloyd Federalist 905 18.2% ✓
Monmouth James Cox Democratic-Republican 815 16.4%
Monmouth Edward Taylor Democratic-Republican 814 16.4%
Monmouth James Willets Federalist 260 5.2%
Morris David Welsch Democratic-Republican 1,681 31.8% ✓
Morris Cornelius Voorheis Democratic-Republican 1,677 31.7% ✓
Morris Silas Condit Democratic-Republican 1,451 27.5% ✓
Morris William Campfield Federalist 464 8.8%
Salem Eleazer Mayhew Federalist 929 17.9% ✓
Salem Anthony Keasley Federalist 927 17.9% ✓
Salem Isaac Moss Federalist 923 17.8% ✓
Salem Isiah Shinn Democratic-Republican 804 15.5%
Salem Artis Seagrove Democratic-Republican 800 15.4%
Salem Edward Hall Democratic-Republican 798 15.4%
Somerset James Van Duyn Federalist 1,401 25.9% ✓
Somerset William MacEowen Federalist 1,399 25.9% ✓
Somerset Frederick Frelinghuysen Federalist 1,389 25.7% ✓
Somerset Henry Southard Democratic-Republican 455 8.4%
Somerset Alexander Kirkpatrick Democratic-Republican 419 7.8%
Somerset Albert Dumont Democratic-Republican 339 6.3%
Sussex Levi Howell Democratic-Republican 1,636 16.3% ✓
Sussex Silas Dickerson Democratic-Republican 1,588 15.8% ✓
Sussex Joseph Gaston Democratic-Republican 1,547 15.4% ✓
Sussex Joseph Sharp Democratic-Republican 1,422 14.1%
Sussex John Gustin Federalist 1,090 10.8%
Sussex Thomas Stewart Federalist 1,070 10.6%
Sussex Other candidates 902 8.9%
Sussex Moses Moore Federalist 812 8.1%

In most cases, only candidates who received more than 5 percent of the vote in a district are reported. Other candidates are reported as a group, but only if they in aggregate received more than 5 percent of the vote. In addition, percentages for each district may not add up to 100 percent due to rounding. The term Dissenting Republican includes various breakaway factions of the Democratic-Republican party.

New Nation Votes Data
Legend
Legend for map of New Jersey General Assembly, 1800
Related Maps
How to Read This Map
Four steps to get started.
Citation

“New Jersey General Assembly, 1800,” Mapping Early American Elections, https://earlyamericanelections.org/maps/meae.staterepresentative.1800.nj.county.html

Mapping Early American Elections is generously funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and developed by the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University.

Creative Commons License This site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

RRCHNM logo NEH logo