1797 United States Federal Election (Parliamentary U.S.)

The 1797 United States federal election was the fifth United States federal election for the United States House of Representatives. It was held from September 3rd to October 3rd, 1797 and resulted in the incumbent Prime Minister, Thomas Jefferson, being defeated by the leader of the Federalists, Alexander Hamilton who managed to win a narrow majority in the House, thus becoming the new Prime Minister. This election marks the second time in a row that a new Prime Minister was elected.

The run-up to the election was marked by a dark and bitter environment fueled by the negativity and contempt between Jefferson and Hamilton in addition to the worsening conditions overseas due to the ongoing French Revolution. The Democratic-Republicans under Jefferson were supportive of the French and passed an embargo against Britain which proved to be heavily unpopular across the nation. The Federalists painted Jefferson and his cabinet as "warmongers" and the campaign quickly devolved into accusations being levied by both sides to hurt the other.

While the Democratic-Republicans economic policies were immensely more popular than the Federalists, the Federalists successfully managed to paint the Democratic-Republicans as harmful to the nation, resulting in a gain of 11 seats, giving them the majority in the House. The Federalists also won the popular vote with 52.7% to the Democratic-Republican's 47.3%, a 5.4% margin. This election marked the third time overall that Federalists had managed to win control of the House.