New Hampshire 1798 U.S. Senate
- Office:
- U.S. Senate (Federal)
- Title:
- U.S. Senator
- Jurisdiction:
- Federal
- Label:
- New Hampshire 1798 U.S. Senate
- Date:
- 1798
- State:
- New Hampshire
- Type:
- Legislative
- Iteration:
- First Ballot
- Office/Role:
- U.S. Senate/U.S. Senator
- Candidates:
- Samuel Livermore, nay
| Candidates: | Samuel Livermore[1] | nay |
|---|---|---|
| Affiliation: | Federalist | |
| Final Result: [2][3][4] | - | - |
| General Court | - | - |
| House of Representatives | - | - |
| State Senate | 8 | 4 |
Notes:
[1]Elected.
[2]The House of Representatives re-elected Samuel Livermore to the U.S. Senate by a one vote majority on December 7, 1798. The State Senate met on December 7 and voted to postpone their election until December 11. On December 11, they voted to postpone until December 14. On December 14, they voted to postpone until December 21. On December 21, the State Senate approved Livermore by a vote of 8 yeas to 4 nays.
[3]"Livermore has been reelected in N. Hampshire by a majority of 1. in the lower 2. in the upper house." Letter from Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, printed in The Papers of James Madison, 194.
[4]"The business of electing a Senator in 1798 strained the Federalist party in New Hampshire almost to the breaking point. Samuel Livermore's Federalism was unimpeachable, and he had been a useful member of Congress, but in 1798 he had reached the age of sixty-six and had become too fond of adding alcohol to a constitutional intemperance which needed no stimulant. He had likewise the misfortune of having antagonized the Exeter Junto by too many sarcastic comments about their political pretensions (fn: William Plumer, "Autobiography", William Plumer Papers, Library of Congress, 77). The unforgiving Exeter influence fell in behind [Speaker of the House John] Prentice, even though he had been appointed to the superior court. Other Federalists supported James Sheafe, a Portsmouth merchant and former Tory, for the senatorshi The Federalist majority was so divided that the election had to be deferred from June until December. John Prentice, the speaker, appeared at the winter session with a judge's commission in his pocket, but still intriguing for the senatorshi A session of the superior court in Grafton County had failed for lack of a quorum because he had not attended. The Concord Courier printed a violent attack on him and many Federalist members became disgusted with his conduct (fn: The Courier of New Hampshire (Concord, NH). December 1, 1798). Taking advantage of this situation, the Republicans gave their votes to Livermore, the least popular of the Federalists, and the incumbent senator was renominated in the house by a majority of one vote. Realizing now that his temporizing was likely to influence the senate adversly as it had already injured him in the house, Prentice hastened to return his judge's commission to the governor. His decision came too late. Wearied with the struggle, the senate concurred in the election of the elder Livermore, and on the same day the governor and council appointed his son Arthur to the position that Prentice had surrendered. (fn: Plumer, "Autobiography" (LC), 78)" The Ninth State: New Hampshire's Formative Years. Lynn Warren Turner. 162-163.
References:
Journal of the New Hampshire Senate, 1799. 38-45, 50-51.
Journal of the New Hampshire House of Representatives, 1799. 42-45.
The Mirror (Concord, NH). December 10, 1798.
Mattern, David B., J. C. A. Stagg, Jeanne K. Cross and Susan Holbrook Perdue, ed. The Papers of James Madison, Congressional Series. Vol. 17. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 1991. 194-195.
Turner, Lynn Warren. The Ninth State: New Hampshire's Formative Years. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 1983. 162-163.
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