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United States House of Representatives elections, 1788 and 1789

United States House of Representatives elections, 1788-89
United States
December 22, 1788 - March 5, 1789 1790 →

All 59 seats to the United States House of Representatives
30 seats were needed for a majority
  Majority party Minority party
  Muhlenberg.jpg James Madison by Gilbert Stuart 1804.jpeg
Leader Frederick Muhlenberg James Madison
Party Pro-Administration Anti-Administration
Leader's seat Pennsylvania-AL Virginia-5th
Seats won 37 28

1stHousewithseats.png
Results:
  Federalist majority
  Anti-Federalist majority
  Even split

Speaker before election

None

Elected Speaker

Frederick Muhlenberg
Pro-Administration


None

Frederick Muhlenberg
Pro-Administration

Elections to the United States House of Representatives for the 1st Congress were held in 1788 and 1789, coinciding with the election of George Washington as first President of the United States. The dates and methods of election were set by the states. Actual political parties did not yet exist, but new members of Congress were informally categorized as either "pro-Administration" (i.e., pro-Washington and pro-Hamilton) or "anti-Administration".

The first session of the first House of Representatives came to order in Federal Hall, New York City on March 4, 1789, with only thirteen members present. The requisite quorum (thirty members out of fifty-nine) was not present until April 1, 1789. The first order of business was the election of a Speaker of the House. On the first ballot, Frederick Muhlenberg was elected Speaker by a majority of votes. The business of the first session was largely devoted to legislative procedure rather than policy.

In the 18th and much of the 19th century, each state set its own date for elections. In many years, elections were even held after the legal start of the Congress, although typically before the start of the first session. In the elections for the 1st Congress, five states held elections in 1788, electing a total of 29 Representatives, and six held elections in 1789, electing a total of 30 Representatives. Two states, North Carolina and Rhode Island, did not ratify the Constitution until November 21, 1789 and May 29, 1790 respectively, well after the Congress had met for the first time, and, consequently, elected representatives late, in 1790, leaving North Carolina unrepresented in the 1st session and Rhode Island in the 1st and 2nd sessions of a total of 3 sessions.


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