1791 Vermont, Cumberland and Georgia By-Elections (user search)
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  1791 Vermont, Cumberland and Georgia By-Elections (search mode)
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Author Topic: 1791 Vermont, Cumberland and Georgia By-Elections  (Read 2111 times)
Lumine
LumineVonReuental
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« on: July 30, 2018, 06:57:57 PM »

1791 Vermont, Cumberland and Georgia By-Elections:


Four seats for the National Assembly up for grabs

1.- Turn: This by-election campaign lasts for the months of September and October 1791, the outcome being released on the first week of November. You will have exactly 48 hours to decide whether to stand and campaign for the various offices up for grabs, at which point the results will be announced - that means Wednesday night). Up for election are the Vermont and Cumberland seats to the National Assembly plus Governor and State Legislature, and the seat of Augusta in Georgia.
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Lumine
LumineVonReuental
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« Reply #1 on: August 02, 2018, 05:28:23 PM »
« Edited: August 07, 2018, 12:16:32 AM by Lumine »

1791 BY-ELECTIONS

FINAL RESULTS:


NATIONAL ASSEMBLY:

Hamiltonian: 18 (+1)
Democratic Republican: 14
Whig: 12 (+1)
Patriot: 11
Western: 8 (+1)
Radical: 2
Tory: 2
Independent: 1

Government Majority: +4 (36 out of 68 seats)

SENATE:

Hamiltonian: 12 (+2)
Democratic Republican: 7
Whig: 6 (+1)
Patriot: 4
Western: 2 (+1)
Radical: 1

Government Majority: -1 (15 out of 32 seats)

GOVERNORS:

Hamiltonian: 5
Whig: 4 (+1)
Democratic Republican: 3
Western: 2 (+1)
Radical: 1
Patriot: 1

OVERVIEW:

Right at the apparent end of the Westsylvania crisis and the new developing dilemma related to the assumption of the Pennsylvanian state debt and the proposal for a National Bank, the by-elections at the end of 1791 featured harsh infighting between Democratic Republicans, Whigs, Westerners, Patriots and Hamiltonians over four available seats, and while the results showed signs of improvement to the Madison government and its coalition partners it remains clear that the political situation in the United States is highly volatile. The simplest battle was held over James Gunn's Georgia seat, the Patriots fighting a Hamiltonian candidate as the Democratic Republicans chose not to stand.

Rather than a straight fight between both candidates much attention was given to the public fight between Governor Gunn and First Secretary Madison on the issue of debt, one which featured stinging attacks on the Patriots on the Blunt issue and of being unprepared for government, and harsh attacks on the DR's on the issue of debt - as the Pennsylvanian deal grows increasingly unpopular across the South -. Whilst it was generally believed Madison was winning the rhetorical battle, a crucial slip-up emerged as in the Republican Standard the First Secretary seemed to dare disaffected states to rebel, an expression which proved highly controversial. The Patriots defeated the Hamiltonians with more than 70% of the vote, leading a group of prominent Democratic-Republicans in the State Legislature to defect to the Patriots.

Cumberland was expected to be a more or less simple affair on account of the popularity of Mr. Blount, giving the Patriots a key edge over the rising Western faction. It was all to crash in unexpected and spectacular fashion as Mr. Blount's platform called for a series of very radical policies - some of which would have been unaccepted even to the most radical corner of New England - which led to state residents withdrawing their support in shock and disgust, with the Patriots even throwing Blount aboard to run a separate candidate. The resulting disaster - which the Westerners exploited to harm the Patriots across the South - led to a Western landside of 52% (the Hamiltonian candidate on 30%, the Patriot candidate garnering 10% and Mr. Blount 8%), a takeover of the Governorship and a plurality in the State Legislature against strong Hamiltonian and DR contingents (Whigs and Patriots left behind). The divided Legislature ended up electing a Westerner and a Hamiltonian (the Patriot candidate eliminated after the Blount debacle) to the Senate.

Vermont was seen as the largest battleground given the large battle between Democratic-Republicans, Whigs and Hamiltonians (the Tories running in fourth as a mostly symbolic effoort), one which featured significant divisions in a state which, on paper, seemed the most favorable to the pro-government forces in New England. Much like in the battle for Suffolk and Queen's it was believed Mr. Adams and his organization had once again waged the better campaign with their strong rebuke of Madison and the Democratic-Republicans as - among other things - a wasted vote, and yet they had to fight the fact that the Hamiltonian policies were indeed gaining popularity in New England and their own association with a government whose popularity has been on the descent this year. First Secretary Madison himself proved some noteworthy organizational skill by putting up a well-run and initially highly competitive effort with strong attacks on Hamiltonians and Whigs, up to the point in which Madison decided to embrace the Catholic cause to obtain access to their votes.

While successful in the sense that Catholics heavily voted for the DR candidate, the fact that less than a 100 of them resided on Vermont itself dramatically backfired on the First Secretary. The Hamiltonian campaign was seen as less successful than the others, but nonetheless aided by strong press offensives by Mr. Morris, the popularity of General Hamilton and the fact that New England was indeed fertile ground to the Hamiltonians on the debt and National Bank issue. Indeed, the main advantage of the Hamiltonians was that their supporters held the line - for the Tories proved a non-factor - whereas the more "Republican" voters found themselves split between the Whigs and the Democratic-Republicans, Mr. Adams's fiery attacks on the National Bank firing up his base but doing little to bring over "Federalist" votes towards his stance.

In the end, Vert was an indisputable Whig victory as the Hamiltonians and the Democratic-Republicans ended up far behind, and Champlain featured a Hamiltonian victory as the Catholic dilemma dragged the Democratic-Republicans down to second place with the Whigs right on their heels. The new Governor was a staunch Whig, but his Legislature would be divided between Hamiltonians and Whigs and a sizable - but still small - Democratic Republican contingent, with the result of one Hamiltonian and one Whig Senator being sent to Philadelphia right as President Hancock, the National Assembly and the Senate began to move to Baltimore.

As 1792 begins and polarization all but guarantees the creation of organized political parties, the Government has temporarily expanded its majority in the National Assembly.
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