Mapping Early American Elections

6th Congress: Massachusetts 1798

Massachusetts elected twelve Federalists and two Democratic-Republicans to the Sixth Congress.

Massachusetts used the district system for electing members to Congress.

On August 25, 1800, and October 20, 1800, two special elections were held in which Federalist Nathan Read was elected to replace Samuel Sewall, who had resigned from office on January 10, 1800.

In 1800, a special election was held in which Federalist Ebenezer Mattoon was elected to replace Federalist Samuel Lyman, who had resigned from office on November 6, 1800.

Starting in August 1800, three special elections were held after which Democratic-Republican Levi Lincoln replaced Federalist Dwight Foster (listed as “Samuel Foster” in A New Nation Votes), who had resigned from the House of Representatives to replace Federalist Samuel Dexter in the Senate: special election 1, special election 2, special election 3.

District	Candidate	Party	Vote	Percentage	Elected
1	Theodore Sedgwick	Federalist	1,765	75.9%	✓
1	Thomas Ives	Federalist	437	18.8%
1	Other candidates		122	5.1%
2	William Shepard	Federalist	1,032	87%	✓
2	William Lyman	Democratic-Republican	118	9.9%
3	Samuel Lyman	Federalist	1,195	88.4%	✓
3	Daniel Bigelow	Federalist	86	6.4%
3	Other candidates		71	5.4%
4	Dwight Foster	Federalist	1,358	80.5%	✓
4	Levi Lincoln	Democratic-Republican	323	19.2%
5	Lemuel Williams	Federalist	636	72.4%	✓
5	Micajah Coffin	Democratic-Republican	214	24.4%
6	John Read	Federalist	1,255	52.5%	✓
6	John Swift		583	24.4%
6	Daniel Snow	Democratic-Republican	327	13.7%
6	Other candidates		225	9.3%
7	Phanuel Bishop	Democratic-Republican	1,583	52%	✓
7	Stephen Bullock	Federalist	1,454	47.8%
8	Harrison G. Otis	Federalist	2,167	55.9%	✓
8	William Heath	Democratic-Republican	1,690	43.6%
9	Joseph B. Varnum	Democratic-Republican	1,764	63.5%	✓
9	Timothy Bigelow	Federalist	839	30.2%
9	Other candidates		176	6.3%
10	Samuel Sewall	Federalist	692	70.3%	✓
10	Loammi Baldwin	Federalist	202	20.5%
10	Benjamin Pickman, Jr.	Federalist	67	6.8%
11	Bailey Bartlett	Federalist	588	89.2%	✓
11	Other candidates		71	11%
12	Silas Lee	Federalist	872	57.2%	✓
12	Henry Dearborn	Democratic-Republican	512	33.6%
12	Nathaniel Dummer	Federalist	127	8.3%
13	Peleg Wadsworth	Federalist	909	72.3%	✓
13	Charles Turner	Democratic-Republican	324	25.8%
14	George Thacher	Federalist	772	63.6%	✓
14	John Fairfield		406	33.5%

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.

Mapping Early American Elections

6th Congress: Massachusetts 1798

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