 | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
 County Results Porter: 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% 80-90% Ritner: 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| Elections in Pennsylvania |
|---|
 |
 Government |
The 1838 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election was a statewide contest for the office of Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the United States.[1]
Incumbent Governor Joseph Ritner, who was the last governor to serve under Pennsylvania's Constitution of 1790, ran as an Anti-Masonic candidate.[2] He was defeated by Jacksonian Democrat David R. Porter by less than 5,500 votes, following a divisive campaign marred by rising public prejudice against Freemasonry and a disinformation campaign that distributed biographical booklets with inaccurate information about Porter.[3][4]
Unhappy with the election's outcome, a group of Ritner supporters subsequently challenged the election results, sparking statewide violence that culminated in the Buckshot War.[5][6]
- ^ Foley, Edward. Ballot Battles: The History of Disputed Elections in the United States, pp. 79-84. New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.
- ^ "Governor Joseph Ritner" (biography). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, retrieved online December 30, 2022.
- ^ "Governor David Rittenhouse Porter" (biography). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, retrieved online December 30, 2022.
- ^ Pinsker, Matthew. "Be Kind, Rewind: My Time with Microfilm," in "History 204, 'Introduction to Historical Methods.'" Carlisle, Pennsylvania: Dickinson College, October 20, 2017 (retrieved online December 30, 2022).
- ^ "Governor Joseph Ritner, " Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
- ^ "Governor David Rittenhouse Porter," Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
© MMXXIII Rich X Search. We shall prevail. All rights reserved. Rich X Search