1818–19 United States Senate elections
elections for the U.S. Senate

The 1818–19 United States Senate elections were held on various dates in various states. As these U.S. Senate elections were prior to the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, senators were chosen by state legislatures. Senators were elected over a wide range of time throughout 1818 and 1819, and a seat may have been filled months late or remained vacant due to legislative deadlock. In these elections, terms were up for the senators in Class 3.
The Democratic-Republican Party gained two seats. The Federalist Party had only three seats being contested, of which they lost two and the third was left vacant due to a failure to elect.
Results summary
Senate party division, 16th Congress (1819–1821)
Majority party: Democratic-Republican (30–37)
Minority party: Federalist (9)
Vacant: 3–0
Total seats: 42–46
Change in composition
Before the elections
After the admission of Illinois.
Result of the general elections
Results of the 1819 special elections
Race summaries
Special elections during the 15th Congress
In these special elections, the winners were seated during 1818 or before March 4, 1819; ordered by election date.
Races leading to the 16th Congress
In these general elections, the winner was seated on March 4, 1819 (except where noted due to late election); ordered by state.
All of the elections involved the Class 3 seats.
“1818–19 United States Senate elections” enters the record as elections for the U.S. Senate. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what United, States and Senate can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“1818–19 United States Senate elections” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, United, States and Senate provides the most credible route into that argument.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q573418. The first chronological checks are 1818, 1913, 1819 and 1821.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “1818–19 United States Senate elections”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow 1818–19 United States Senate elections primary sources, 1818–19 United States Senate elections archive and United research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “1818–19 United States Senate elections”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “1818–19 United States Senate elections” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.