United States House of Representatives elections, 1796

← 1794

August 12, 1796 - October 15, 1797

1798 →

All 106 seats to the United States House of Representatives
54 seats were needed for a majority

	Majority party	Minority party

Leader	Jonathan Dayton	Nathaniel Macon
Party	Federalist	Democratic-Republican
Leader's seat	New Jersey-AL	North Carolina-5th
Last election	47 seats	59 seats
Seats won	57	49
Seat change	10	10

Results:

Federalist majority

Anti-Federalist majority

Even split

Speaker before election

Jonathan Dayton
Federalist

Elected Speaker

Jonathan Dayton
Federalist

Elections to the United States House of Representatives for the 5th Congress took place in the various states took place between August 12, 1796 (in North Carolina), and October 15, 1797 (in Tennessee). The first session was convened on May 15, 1797, at the proclamation of the new President of the United States, John Adams. Since Kentucky and Tennessee had not yet voted, they were unrepresented until the second session.

A number of gains for the Federalist Party provided the president with a reliable majority in support of his policies. Many of the Federalist pick-ups in Congress came from the former Middle Colonies (New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware). New England remained heavily Federalist, whereas the South and West favored Democratic-Republican candidates. Federalist trade and infrastructure policies found widespread approval in the Mid-Atlantic states during this era. With the growth of cities in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York, government intervention in the interest of industrialization and mercantilism became more attractive to voting citizens in these areas.

...
Wikipedia