Rethinking the First Party Era: Middle Atlantic US House Elections, 1796–1824

Abstract

Political scientists have long accepted the “party eras” delineation of American political history. In this, the first party era (1789–1824) is characterized as a proto-democratic period lacking the party development and mass electoral engagement necessary to produce recognizably modern electoral democracy. This study uses newly available constituency-level House of Representatives election returns from the Middle Atlantic region to challenge this characterization. These data permit detailed study of voter turnout, the party vote and evidence of partisanship, geographic patterns of party support, and the effect of election rules on party ability to elect representatives. Interpreted in light of recent historical scholarship and received theories of party emergence, the returns show a more developed, party-centric, and competitive electoral politics than previously recognized.