|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
All 106 seats to the United States House of Representatives 54 seats were needed for a majority |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
Results:
Federalist majority
Anti-Federalist majority
Even split
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
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.