1820–21 United States Senate elections
elections for the U.S. Senate
The 1820–21 United States Senate elections were held on various dates in various states, corresponding with James Monroe's landslide re-election. 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 1820 and 1821, 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 1.
The Democratic-Republican Party gain one-to-five seats (in the general and special elections), assuming almost complete control of the Senate.
Results summary
Senate party division, 17th Congress (1821–1823)
Majority party: Democratic-Republican (39–43)
Minority party: Federalist (4)
Vacant: (3–1)
Total seats: 46–48
Change in composition
Before the elections
Composition after the June 13 and 14, 1820 elections in Maine.
Result of the general elections
Result of the special elections in the next Congress
Race summaries
Bold states link to specific election articles.
Special elections during the preceding Congress
In these special elections, the winner was elected during 1820 or before March 4, 1821; ordered by election date.
Races leading to the next Congress
In these general elections, the winner was seated on March 4, 1821; ordered by state.
All of the elections involved the Class 1 seats.
The public source identifies “1820–21 United States Senate elections” as elections for the U.S. Senate. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around United, States and Senate.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “1820–21 United States Senate elections”, the useful work is to connect “elections for the U.S. Senate” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q603031. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1820, 1913, 1821 and 1823.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. 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 “1820–21 United States Senate elections”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow 1820–21 United States Senate elections primary sources, 1820–21 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 “1820–21 United States Senate elections”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “1820–21 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.