In the 19th century, incumbents in the US House were
regularly swept out in large numbers.  Below is the
percentage of Republicans in the US House following
these election years:

1872:  68%
1874:  35%
1876:  46%
1878:  45%
1880:  52%
1882:  36%
1884:  43%
1886:  47%
1888:  54%
1890:  26%
1892:  35%
1894:  71%

(data from Historical Atlas of Political Parties in
the US Congress 1789-1989).  Of course, this rapid
turnover wasn't because state legislatures back then
were redrawing the district boundaries in the middle
of the decade.  Gerrymandering was not much of a
problem for US House districts before Wesberry v
Sanders in 1964.  Congressional district boundaries
mostly followed county boundaries until 1964.

--- "David J. Becker" <david.j.becker@comcast.net>
wrote:

Indeed, voters in the 19th century, for
better or for worse, rarely
had to experience changes in their districts or
incumbent representatives

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