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The 1838–39 United States Senate elections were held on various dates in various states. As these U.S. Senate elections were prior to the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, senators were chosen by state legislatures. Senators were elected over a wide range of time throughout 1838 and 1839, and a seat may have been filled months late or remained vacant due to legislative deadlock.[1] In these elections, terms were up for the senators in Class 1.
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17 of the 52 seats in the United States Senate (plus special elections) 27 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Results: Democratic hold Whig gain Whig hold Legislature failed to elect | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Democratic Party lost seven seats, but still retained a majority.
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Senate party division, 26th Congress (1839–1841)
- Majority party: Democratic (28–29)
- Minority party: Whig (19–23)
- Total seats: 52
Before the elections
After the January 4, 1838 special election in Maryland.
| D1 | D2 | D3 | D4 | D5 | D6 | ||||
| D16 | D15 | D14 | D13 | D12 | D11 | D10 | D9 | D8 | D7 |
| D17 | D18 | D19 | D20 | D21 | D22 | D23 | D24 | D25 | D26 Maine Ran |
| Majority → | D27 N.Y. Ran in different party | ||||||||
| W17 Vt. Retired |
D35 Conn. Retired |
D34 Ind. Retired |
D33 Ohio Retired |
D32 Va. Retired |
D31 Pa. Unknown |
D30 Miss. Unknown |
D29 Mich. Unknown |
D28 Mo. Ran | |
| W16 R.I. Unknown |
W15 Tenn. (reg) Ran |
W14 N.J. Ran |
W13 Mass. Ran |
W12 Md. Ran |
W11 Del. Ran |
W10 | W9 | W8 | W7 |
| W1 | W2 | W3 | W4 | W5 | W6 | ||||
Result of the elections
| D1 | D2 | D3 | D4 | D5 | D6 | ||||
| D16 | D15 | D14 | D13 | D12 | D11 | D10 | D9 | D8 | D7 |
| D17 | D18 | D19 | D20 | D21 | D22 | D23 | D24 | D25 | D26 Maine Re-elected |
| Majority → | D27 Mo. Re-elected | ||||||||
| W17 Vt. Hold |
W18 Conn. Gain |
W19 Ind. Gain |
W20 Miss. Gain |
V4 Va. D Loss |
V3 Pa. D Loss |
V2 N.Y. D Loss |
V1 Mich. D Loss |
D28 Ohio Hold | |
| W16 R.I. Hold |
W15 Tenn. (reg) Re-elected |
W14 N.J. Re-elected |
W13 Mass. Re-elected |
W12 Md. Re-elected |
W11 Del. Re-elected |
W10 | W9 | W8 | W7 |
| W1 | W2 | W3 | W4 | W5 | W6 | ||||
Beginning of the next term
| D1 | D2 | D3 | D4 | D5 | D6 | ||||
| D16 | D15 | D14 | D13 | D12 | D11 | D10 | D9 | D8 | D7 |
| D17 | D18 | D19 | D20 | D21 | D22 | D23 | D24 | D25 | D26 |
| Majority → | D27 | ||||||||
| W17 | W18 | W19 | V5 Tenn. (reg) W Declined |
V4 | V3 | V2 | V1 | D28 | |
| W16 | W15 | W14 | W13 | W12 | W11 | W10 | W9 | W8 | W7 |
| W1 | W2 | W3 | W4 | W5 | W6 | ||||
| Key: |
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Special elections during the 25th Congress
In these special elections, the winners were seated during 1838 or before March 4, 1839; ordered by election date.
| State | Incumbent | Results | Candidates | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Senator | Party | Electoral history | |||
| Maryland (Class 1) |
Joseph Kent | Whig | 1833 | Incumbent died November 24, 1837. New senator elected January 4, 1838. Whig hold. Winner was also elected to the next term, see below. |
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| Tennessee (Class 1) |
Felix Grundy | Democratic | 1829 (special) 1833 |
Incumbent resigned July 4, 1838 to become U.S. Attorney General. New senator elected September 17, 1838. Whig gain. Winner was also elected to the next term (see below), but declined. |
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| Mississippi (Class 1) |
Thomas H. Williams | Democratic | 1838 (appointed) | Interim appointee elected January 30, 1839. Democratic hold. Winner was not elected to the next term; see below. |
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Races leading to the 26th Congress
In these regular elections, the winners were elected for the term beginning March 4, 1839; ordered by state.
All of the elections involved the Class 1 seats.
| State | Incumbent | Results | Candidates | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Senator | Party | Electoral history | |||
| Connecticut | John Niles | Democratic | 1835 (special) | Incumbent retired. Winner elected in 1838 or 1839. Whig gain. |
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| Delaware | Richard H. Bayard | Whig | 1836 (special) | Incumbent re-elected in 1838 or 1839. |
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| Indiana | John Tipton | Democratic | 1832 (special) 1832 |
Incumbent retired. Winner elected in 1838. Whig gain. |
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| Maine | Reuel Williams | Democratic | 1837 (special) | Incumbent re-elected in 1838 or 1839. |
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| Maryland | William Merrick | Whig | 1838 (special) | Incumbent re-elected in 1839. |
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| Massachusetts | Daniel Webster | Whig | 1827 (special) 1833 |
Incumbent re-elected in 1839. |
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| Michigan | Lucius Lyon | Democratic | 1835 | Incumbent retired. Legislature failed to elect until 1840. Democratic loss. |
[data missing] |
| Mississippi | Thomas H. Williams | Democratic | 1838 (appointed) 1839 (special) |
Incumbent retired or lost re-election. Winner elected in 1838. Whig gain. |
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| Missouri | Thomas H. Benton | Democratic | 1821 1827 1833 |
Incumbent re-elected in 1839. |
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| New Jersey | Samuel L. Southard | Whig | 1821 (appointed) 1820 1823 (resigned) 1833 |
Incumbent re-elected in 1839. |
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| New York | Nathaniel P. Tallmadge | Democratic | 1833 | Incumbent ran for re-election as a Whig. Legislature failed to elect. Democratic loss. |
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| Ohio | Thomas Morris | Democratic | 1833 | Incumbent retired. Winner elected in 1838. Democratic hold. |
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| Pennsylvania | Samuel McKean | Democratic | 1833 | Incumbent retired or lost re-election. Legislature failed to elect until 1840 after the December 1838 election was postponed due to the Buckshot War. Democratic loss. |
None. |
| Rhode Island | Asher Robbins | Whig | 1835 (special) 1827 1833 |
Incumbent retired or lost re-election. Winner elected November 3, 1838. Whig hold. |
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| Tennessee | Ephraim H. Foster | Whig | 1838 (special) | Incumbent re-elected. Incumbent then declined the seat. |
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| Vermont | Benjamin Swift | Whig | 1833 | Incumbent retired. Winner elected in 1839. Whig hold. |
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| Virginia | William C. Rives | Democratic | 1832 (special) 1834 (resigned) 1836 (special) |
Incumbent retired or lost re-election. Legislature failed to elect until 1841. Democratic loss. |
[data missing] |
Special election during the 26th Congress
In this special election, the winner was seated in 1839 after March 4.
| State | Incumbent | Results | Candidates | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Senator | Party | Electoral history | |||
| Tennessee (Class 1) |
Ephraim H. Foster | Whig | 1838 (appointed) 1838 or 1839 |
Incumbent had been elected to the next term (see above), but declined to serve the next term and left office at the end of the term. Winner elected November 19, 1839. Democratic gain. |
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Maryland (special)
![[icon]](#/media/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (November 2022) |
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80 members of the Maryland General Assembly | ||||||||||||||||
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William Duhurst Merrick won election over to fill the seat vacated by Joseph Kent by an unknown margin of votes, for the Class 1 seat.[3]
Maryland (regular)
| This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (November 2022) |
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80 members of the Maryland General Assembly | ||||||||||||||||
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William Duhurst Merrick won election to a full term by an unknown margin of votes, for the Class 1 seat.[4]
Mississippi (regular)
Mississippi (special)
The New York election was held February 5, 1839 by the New York State Legislature. Nathaniel P. Tallmadge had been elected as a Jacksonian Democratic in 1833 to this seat, and his term would expire on March 3, 1839.
On February 4, 1839, the State Legislature elected on joint ballot Spencer, Cooke, Hall and Haight to the offices they were nominated for, but on the next day they could not agree on a U.S. Senator.
The Assembly nominated Nathaniel P. Tallmadge "by the votes of all the Whig members." (see Hammond, page 512)
Although the Democratic State Senate majority did not object to be outvoted on joint ballot for the election of Whigs to State offices, they rejected the idea of electing a renegade Democratic to the U.S. Senate, and took refuge to the only means to defeat Tallmadge: They did not nominate anybody, following the precedents of 1819–1820 and 1825–1826, so that a joint ballot could not be held. On the first ballot, Tallmadge received 13 votes out of 31 cast, all Whigs.[a] The Democratic vote was scattered among many men, nobody receiving more than 2. Four more ballots were held with a similar result.[b] On the sixth ballot, all Whigs and two Democrats voted for Samuel Beardsley, who received 16 votes, one short of the necessary number for a nomination. The Democrats then abandoned further balloting, fearing that the Whigs would vote for anybody who received by chance three Democratic votes, just to force any nomination, thus enabling the Legislature to proceed to the joint ballot.
| Candidate | Party | New York Senate (32 members) |
Assembly (128 members) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First ballot |
Second ballot |
Third ballot |
Fourth ballot |
Fifth ballot |
Sixth ballot |
First ballot | ||
| Nathaniel P. Tallmadge | Whig | 13 | 13 | 13 |  82 | |||
| Samuel Nelson | Democratic | 2 | ||||||
| Samuel Beardsley | Democratic | 1 | 2 | 2 | 16 | |||
| William C. Bouck | Democratic | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Churchill C. Cambreleng | Democratic | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Hiram Denio | Democratic | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| John A. Dix | Democratic | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Charles E. Dudley | Democratic | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Azariah C. Flagg | Democratic | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Freeborn G. Jewett | Democratic | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Ebenezer Mack | Democratic | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Charles McVean | Democratic | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Joseph D. Monell | Democratic | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| John Savage | Democratic | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Jacob Sutherland | Democratic | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| John Tracy | Democratic | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Greene C. Bronson | Democratic | 1 | ||||||
| Reuben H. Walworth | Democratic | 1 | ||||||
| Levi Beardsley | Democratic | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Benjamin F. Butler | Democratic | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Abijah Mann Jr. | Democratic | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
No further action was taken by this Legislature, and the seat became vacant on March 4, 1839. Tallmadge would later be elected in 1840.
There were three elections to the same seat due to the July 4, 1838 resignation of Democrat Felix Grundy to become U.S. Attorney General.
Tennessee (special, 1838)
Whig Ephraim H. Foster was elected September 17, 1838 to finish the term.
Tennessee (regular)
Foster was also elected to the next term, but Foster declined the seat, refusing to take the Tennessee General Assembly's instructions on how to vote, so he left office March 3, 1839 and the seat was vacant when the term began.
Tennessee (special, 1839)
The legislature then elected Grundy back to the seat November 19, 1839, but he died a year later.
- Whig John Maynard did not vote on the first five ballots.
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