1797 Massachusetts gubernatorial election

Election for Governor of Massachusetts

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April 3, 1797 (1797-04-03)

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Nominee	Increase Sumner	James Sullivan	Moses Gill
Party	Federalist	Democratic-Republican	Federalist
Popular vote	14,540	7,125	3,559
Percentage	56.21%	27.55%	13.76%

Governor before election

Samuel Adams
Democratic-Republican

Elected Governor

Increase Sumner
Federalist

The 1797 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was held on April 3.

Incumbent Governor Samuel Adams did not stand for election to a fourth term. The party system was still taking shape in the state, and the Federalists nominated Increase Sumner, while more populist factions that had previously supported Governors John Hancock and Samuel Adams nominated Moses Gill and James Sullivan, respectively. The principal issues in this and subsequent elections were over federal policy: specifically the national response to threats of war with Revolutionary France, and the consequent need for increased taxes to arm the nation.^[1] Sumner ultimately won a majority over the divided opposition.

General election

Candidates

Moses Gill, Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts (Federalist)
James Sullivan, Massachusetts Attorney General (Republican)
Increase Sumner, Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (Federalist)

Results

Although Gill polled well in Boston and the eastern counties of present-day Maine, the Federalists won a decisive victory over the divided opposition.^[2]

1797 Massachusetts gubernatorial election^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Federalist	Increase Sumner (incumbent)	14,540	56.21%
	Democratic-Republican	James Sullivan	7,125	27.55%
	Federalist	Moses Gill	3,559	13.76%
	Others	Scattering	641	2.46%
Total votes			25,865	100.00%
	Federalist gain from Democratic-Republican		Swing

References

^ Morse, pp. 175, 177
^ Morse, pp. 174–175
^ Burdick, Charles (1814). The Massachusetts Manual: or Political and Historical Register, for the Political Year from June 1814 to June 1815. Vol. I. Boston: Charles Callender. p. 26.
^ Glashan, Roy (1979). American Governors and Gubernatorial Elections, 1775-1978. Westport, Conn.: Meckler Books. p. 140.

Bibliography

Hart, Albert Bushnell, ed. (1927). Commonwealth History of Massachusetts. New York: The States History Company. OCLC 1543273.
Morse, Anson (1909). The Federalist Party in Massachusetts to the Year 1800. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. OCLC 718724.
Sumner, William Hyslop; Trask, William Blake (1854). Memoir of Increase Sumner, Governor of Massachusetts: Governor of Massachusetts. Boston: Samuel G. Drake.