Representatives had been elected in April 1816 to a term in the 15th United States Congress beginning on March 4, 1817.

Representative-elect Henry B. Lee died on February 18, 1817, and James Tallmadge, Jr. was elected in April 1817 to fill the vacancy.

Note: It is difficult to ascertain the party affiliation of these candidates: At this time began the split of the Democratic-Republican Party into two opposing factions: on one side, the supporters of DeWitt Clinton and his Erie Canal project; on the other side, the Bucktails (including the Tammany Hall organization in New York City), led by Martin Van Buren.

[10] On December 10, Nathaniel Allen presented a petition on behalf of James Guyon, Jr. to contest the election of Ebenezer Sage in the 1st District.

They found that the election inspectors in the towns of Northfield (on Staten Island), Brooklyn, Hempstead and Oyster Bay had returned 391 votes for "James Guyon" although all these votes had in fact been given for "James Guyon, Jr."[11] The Secretary of State of New York, receiving the abovementioned result, issued credentials for Sage who never took or claimed the seat.