Party Strength in Congress
Many Congressmen were very hard to classify in the first few years, but after 1796 there was less uncertainty.
| Election year | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| House | 1788 | 1790 | 1792 | 1794 | 1796 | 1798 | 1800 | 1802 | 1804 | 1806 | 1808 | 1810 | 1812 | 1814 | 1816 | 1818 | 1820 |
| Federalist | 37 | 39 | 51 | 47 | 57 | 60 | 38 | 39 | 25 | 24 | 50 | 36 | 68 | 64 | 39 | 26 | 32 |
| Democratic-Republican | 28 | 30 | 54 | 59 | 49 | 46 | 65 | 103 | 116 | 118 | 92 | 107 | 114 | 119 | 146 | 160 | 155 |
| % Democratic-Republican | 43% | 43% | 51% | 56% | 46% | 43% | 63% | 73% | 82% | 83% | 65% | 75% | 63% | 65% | 79% | 86% | 83% |
| Senate | 1788 | 1790 | 1792 | 1794 | 1796 | 1798 | 1800 | 1802 | 1804 | 1806 | 1808 | 1810 | 1812 | 1814 | 1816 | 1818 | 1820 |
| Federalist | 18 | 16 | 16 | 21 | 22 | 22 | 15 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 12 | 12 | 9 | 7 |
| Democratic-Republican | 8 | 13 | 14 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 17 | 25 | 27 | 28 | 27 | 30 | 28 | 26 | 30 | 37 | 44 |
| % Democratic-Republican | 31% | 45% | 47% | 34% | 31% | 31% | 53% | 74% | 71% | 82% | 79% | 83% | 78% | 68% | 71% | 80% | 92% |
Source: Kenneth C. Martis, The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress, 1789–1989 (1989); the numbers are estimates by historians.
The affiliation of many Congressmen in the earliest years is an assignment by later historians. The parties were slowly coalescing groups; at first there were many independents. Cunningham noted that only about a quarter of the House of Representatives, up until 1794, voted with Madison as much as two-thirds of the time, and another quarter against him two-thirds of the time, leaving almost half as fairly independent.
Read more about this topic: Federalist Party
Famous quotes containing the words party, strength and/or congress:
“It is well-known what a middleman is: he is a man who bamboozles one party and plunders the other.”
—Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881)
“There is a sort of subjection which is the peculiar heritage of largeness and of love; and strength is often only another name for willing bondage to irremediable weakness.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)
“I have been up to see the Congress and they do not seem to be able to do anything except to eat peanuts and chew tobacco, while my army is starving.”
—Robert E. Lee (1807–1870)