# 1818 Midterm Elections First-term [[James Monroe]] administration midterm during the early **Era of Good Feelings**. The Federalist Party effectively ceased to be a national electoral force; Democratic-Republicans had no organized opposition. ## Result - **House:** Democratic-Republicans held overwhelming majority of ~158 of 186 seats in the 16th Congress - **Senate:** Democratic-Republicans held majority (~36 of 46 seats) - **Chambers flipped:** None — Federalists effectively eliminated as national party - **Net change:** Continued Federalist decline; intra-Democratic-Republican factional sorting ## Notable - **Panic of 1819** (the first major American financial crisis) struck in the months after this election, producing the political-economic context for the 1820 Missouri Compromise debates - The 16th Congress (1819-1821) passed the **Missouri Compromise of 1820** — [[Henry Clay]]'s negotiated settlement of slavery in the Louisiana Purchase territory - Intra-party factional divisions within the Democratic-Republicans became more visible during this cycle; these factions would consolidate into the Jacksonian Democrat / National Republican split of 1824-1828 ## Connections - [[James Monroe]] — Sitting president.