The Electoral Connection in the Early United States : The U . S . Congressional Elections of 1826-27

Students of American political development are divided over the extent to which an electoral connection existed in the antebellum United States. In this paper, we provide a critical test of the electoral connection in early American politics by examining the electoral aftershocks of the disputed presidential election of 1824. Specifically, we focus on the midterm congressional elections (1826-27) that followed this watershed presidential election. Using newly available data of county-level presidential voting, we construct the presidential vote by congressional district. Our central test will concern those members who voted for Adams in the House election, yet were from districts that supported Jackson. We find that these members were targeted for ouster and suffered a substantial vote-loss in the midterm elections. We also find that the entry of a quality challenger had a substantial impact on the fortunes of incumbent legislators. These results have direct implications for pinpointing the historical timing, and hence institutional pre-conditions, for the development of a strong electoral connection in the United States. Prepared for presentation at the 2004 Annual Meeting of the Southern Political Science Association, New Orleans, LA. We thank Nathan Monroe and Jason Roberts for helpful comments and suggestions. Students of American political development are divided over the extent to which an electoral connection existed in the antebellum United States. In this paper, we provide a critical test of the electoral connection in early American politics by examining the electoral aftershocks of the disputed presidential election of 1824. Specifically, we focus on the midterm congressional elections (1826-27) that followed this watershed presidential election. The failure of the 1824 presidential vote to produce a majority winner in the Electoral College sent the election to the House of Representatives. The eventual selection of John Quincy Adams was bitterly contested, forced House members to make a very public vote, and led to charges of a corrupt bargain between Adams and Henry Clay (Remini 1963; Jenkins and Sala 1998). While this is well known, less studied is the aftermath of this election. How members of the House voted on the presidential question became a defining campaign issue in the next midterm election, with some representatives being placed on black-lists for voting in contradiction to the revealed opinion (i.e. the presidential vote) of their district (Ratcliffe 2000; Leonard 2002). The presidents party lost ten seats along with their majority in the House to the upstart Jacksonians. This outcome marked the first time in U.S. political history that an out-party captured control of the House during a midterm election. In addition, this election marked the beginning of mass political organization that would culminate in the triumph of Jackson in 1828 and the emergence of the second party system (Remini 1963; McCormick 1966; Aldrich 1995, ch.4). Yet despite the importance of the 1826-7 election for American political development, there has been no systematic study ever conducted of this historic election. The only previous political science study that touches on it is Jenkins and Sala (1998), who in the course of 1 Congressional elections in this era were not all held in November. Some were held months before or months after November.