2nd Congress: Massachusetts 1790
In a shift from the First Congress, Massachusetts elected seven Federalists and one Anti-Federalist to the Second Congress.
Massachusetts used a district system for electing members to Congress. Massachusetts law required a majority vote for election and so congressional elections in districts five, six, seven, and eight required multiple ballots to determine a final winner.
| District | Candidate | Party | Vote | Percentage | Elected |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fisher Ames | Federalist | 1,850 | 73.7% | ✓ |
| 1 | Benjamin Austin, Jr. | Anti-Federalist | 397 | 15.8% | |
| 1 | Thomas Dawes, Jr. | Anti-Federalist | 248 | 9.9% | |
| 2 | Benjamin Goodhue | Federalist | 1,027 | 86.9% | ✓ |
| 2 | Samuel Holten | Anti-Federalist | 129 | 10.9% | |
| 3 | Elbridge Gerry | Anti-Federalist | 1,067 | 59.5% | ✓ |
| 3 | Nathaniel Gorham | Federalist | 699 | 39% | |
| 4 | Theodore Sedgwick | Federalist | 2,241 | 75% | ✓ |
| 4 | Samuel Lyman | Federalist | 487 | 16.3% | |
| 4 | Other candidates | 259 | 8.6% | ||
| 5 | Shearjashub Bourne | Federalist | 667 | 57.9% | ✓ |
| 5 | Joshua Thomas | 278 | 24.2% | ||
| 5 | James Warren | 85 | 7.4% | ||
| 5 | Thomas Davis | 77 | 6.7% | ||
| 6 | George Leonard | Federalist | 1,161 | 54% | ✓ |
| 6 | Phanuel Bishop | Anti-Federalist | 578 | 26.9% | |
| 6 | Peleg Coffin, Jr. | Anti-Federalist | 348 | 16.2% | |
| 7 | Artemas Ward | Federalist | 1,254 | 51% | ✓ |
| 7 | Jonathan Grout | Anti-Federalist | 1,119 | 45.5% | |
| 8 | George Thacher | Federalist | 2,738 | 51.2% | ✓ |
| 8 | William Lithgow, Jr. | 2,178 | 40.8% | ||
| 8 | Nathaniel Wells | Federalist | 347 | 6.5% |
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.
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“2nd Congress: Massachusetts 1790,” Mapping Early American Elections, https://earlyamericanelections.org/maps/meae.congressional.congress02.ma.county.html
