Massachusetts 1822 Mayor, Boston

Office:: Mayor (City)
Title:: Mayor
Jurisdiction:: City

Label:: Massachusetts 1822 Mayor, Boston
Date:: 1822
State:: Massachusetts
Type:: General
Iteration:: First Ballot
Office/Role:: Mayor/Mayor
Candidates:: Josiah Quincy, Harrison G. Otis, Thomas L. Winthrop, George Blake, scattering

Candidates:	Josiah Quincy	Harrison G. Otis	Thomas L. Winthrop	George Blake	scattering
Affiliation:	Federalist	Federalist
Final Result: [1][2][3][4][5]	1736	1384	361	157	92
City of Boston	1736	1384	361	157	92
Ward One[6]	47	66	159	1	34
Ward Two	15	66	11	99	7
Ward Three	91	64	50	21	4
Ward Four	151	189	35	-	8
Ward Five[7]	129	108	45	-	10
Ward Six	128	79	11	1	2
Ward Seven	190	208	32	13	1
Ward Eight[8]	194	240	5	7	11
Ward Nine[9]	131	137	4	-	1
Ward Ten[10]	215	99	5	10	4
Ward Eleven	205	90	2	5	2
Ward Twelve	240	38	2	-	8

Notes:

[1]Boston incorporated as a city on March 4, 1822. This was the first election for a mayor.

[2]"Messrs. Otis and Quincy were the only candidates for Mayor who were publicly nominated. Mr. Winthrop had no notice the he would be vote for. There being no choice, the Selectmen will issue their warrant for a new election." The Repertory (Boston, MA). April 9, 1822.

[3]"The Federalist efforts were to no avail, however, for Quincy out polled Otis by 1,736 to 1,384 in the final count. Narrowly denied an outright victory by a few hundred votes cast for other candidates in traditionally Republican wards, the frontunner disappointed his followers by deciding he would rather withdraw than go in by a small majority on the second ballot, leaving the way open for a compromise candidate, John Phillips, a notional Federalist who commanded the respect of all parties. Nonetheless, the scale of Otis's defeat could not be disguised; in the wake of their upset in the senatorial elections, the Federalist share of the vote had slipped still further, to less than 40 percent." Era of Experimentation, p 33.

[4]"During the city's first mayoral race in 1822, a curious nonpartisan coalition formed between estranged members of the Boston Federalist elite and a diverse urban electorate, containing a majority membership of poor-to-middling Bostonians." The Magic of the Many, 2.

[5]The New England Palladium and Commercial Advertiser list 70 scattering votes.

[6]The Repertory (Boston, MA) and the Democrat Press list 4 scattering votes in Ward One.

[7]The Repertory (Boston, MA) and the Democrat Press list 102 votes for Josiah Otis, Zero votes for Thomas L. Winthrop, Zero votes for George Blake, and 45 total scattering votes, in Ward Five.

[8]The Repertory (Boston, MA) and the Democrat Press list Zero votes for Thomas L. Winthrop, Zero votes for George Blake, and Zero total scattering votes, in Ward Eight.

[9]The Repertory (Boston, MA) and the Democrat Press list Zero votes for Thomas L. Winthrop, Zero votes for George Blake, and 22 total scattering votes, in Ward Nine.

[10]The Repertory (Boston, MA) and the Democrat Press list 94 votes for Harrison Otis, Zero votes for George Blake in Ward Ten.

References:

New-England Palladium and Commercial Advertiser (Boston, MA). April 9, 1822.

The Repertory (Boston, MA). April 9, 1822.

Columbian Centinel (Boston, MA). April 10, 1822.

Independent Chronicle and Boston Patriot (Boston, MA). April 10, 1822.

American Statesman and Evening Advertiser (Boston, MA). April 11, 1822.

Boston Commercial Gazette (Boston, MA). April 11, 1822.

The Democratic Press (Philadelphia, PA). April 12, 1822.

New-England Palladium and Commercial Advertiser (Boston, MA). April 12, 1822.

The Union. United States Gazette and True American (Philadelphia, PA). April 13, 1822.

Hampshire Gazette (Northampton, MA). April 17, 1822.

Crocker, Matthew H. The Magic of the Many: Josiah Quincy and the Rise of Mass Politics in Boston, 1800-1830. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 1999. 2, 77-96.

Peart, Daniel. Era of Experimentation: American Political Practices in the Early Republic. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 2014. 33.

Page Images

handwritten notes — Phil's original notebook pages that were used to compile this election. These notes are considered a draft of the electronic version. Therefore, the numbers may not match. To verify numbers you will need to check the original sources cited. Some original source material is available at the American Antiquarian Society).

These election records were released on 11 January 2012. Versions numbers are assigned by state. Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia are complete and are in Version 1.0. All other states are in a Beta version. For more information go to the about page.