United States House of Representatives elections, 1860 and 1861

United States House of Representatives elections, 1860

August 6, 1860 – October 24, 1861
All 183 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives 92 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader William Pennington (lost re-election) Samuel Cox Party Republican Democratic Leader's seat New Jersey 5th Ohio 12th Last election 116 seats 98 seats[Note 1] Seats won 108 45[Note 2] Seat change 8 53   Third party   Party Unionist Last election 0 seats Seats won 30 Seat change 30
Speaker before election William Pennington Republican Elected Speaker Galusha Grow Republican

Elections to the United States House of Representatives for the 37th United States Congress were held August 1860 through September 1861. Following the presidential election of 1860, Electoral College vote and Inauguration swearing-in, their term would coincide with the first two years of Abraham Lincoln's first administration.

United States Capitol, March 1861. By the time of Abraham Lincoln's first inauguration and the opening of the 37th Congress, many seats were empty, as Southern representatives and senators withdraw as their states seceded.

Republican candidates won increasing percentages of the House in 1856, 1858 and, in 1860, after secessionist losses, they amounted to 59% of the House. In the same six-year period of political chaos running up to the American Civil War, the Democratic Party atrophied from holding the presidency and a two-thirds majority, to a minority caucus of less than one-third and loss of supporting presidential patronage.

This election forged Northern unity behind the pro-union Republican Party of 108 Representatives, and broad based pro-union majorities in the north and south border states among the mostly Douglas Democrats with 45 members^{[Note 2]} and the Unionists and others amounting to another 30.

The last of a Democratic Party dominated by the slave-holding states was left to a remnant. The national party was destroyed by infighting over slavery, with minority cotton state delegates walking out in national conventions at Charleston and again at Baltimore. They were left with a rump session of cotton South delegates nominating John Breckinridge in Richmond. Those delegates returning to Congress withdrew, resigned, or were expelled. The nativist American Party completely collapsed in 1860.^[1]

Special elections

There were special elections in 1860 and 1861 during the 36th United States Congress and 37th United States Congress.

Elections are sorted here by state then district.

Election summaries

California was apportioned an additional seat for the 37th Congress,^[15] increasing the total seats to 239. Due to the secession of the Southern states, 58 of the 66 total seats held collectively by those states were vacant, all but 3 of Tennessee's seats and 5 of Virginia's seats. Arkansas, Florida, and South Carolina held elections for the 37th Congress, but seceded before the start of Congress, and so the winners of those elections never served. The rest of the secessionist states held no elections for 1860.

State	Type	Date	Total seats	Republican		Democratic		Unionist[Note 3]		Others
						and Independent Democratic
				Seats	Change	Seats	Change	Seats	Change	Seats	Change
Early election
Kansas[Note 4]	At-large	December 1, 1859	1	1	1	0		0		0
Regular elections
Oregon[Note 5]	At-large	June 4, 1860 November 6, 1860	1	0		1		0		0
Missouri	District	August 6, 1860	7	1	1	5	1	1	1	0	1[Note 6]
Vermont	District	September 4, 1860	3	3		0		0		0
Maine	District	September 10, 1860	6	6		0		0		0
Indiana	District	October 9, 1860	11	7		4		0		0
Iowa	District	October 9, 1860	2	2		0		0		0
Ohio	District	October 9, 1860	21	13	2	8	2	0		0
Pennsylvania	District	October 9, 1860	25	19	1	6	1	0		0
Delaware	At-large	November 6, 1860 (Election Day)[Note 7]	1	0		0	1	1	1	0
Illinois	District		9	4		5		0		0
Massachusetts	District		11	10	1	0		1	1	0
Michigan	District		4	4	1	0	1	0		0
Minnesota	At-large		2	2		0		0		0
New Jersey	District		5	2	1	3	1	0		0
New York	District		33	23	3	10[Note 2]	3	0		0
Wisconsin	District		3	3	1	0	1	0		0
Late elections (After the March 4, 1861 beginning of Congress)
New Hampshire	District	March 12, 1861	3	3		0		0		0
Connecticut	District	April 1, 1861	4	2	2	2	2	0		0
Rhode Island	District	April 3, 1861	2	0	2	0		2	2	0
Maryland	District	June 13, 1861	6	0		0	3	6	6	0	3[Note 6]
Kentucky	District	June 20, 1861	10	0		1	4	9	9	0	5[Note 8]
Tennessee	District	August 1, 1861	10[Note 9]	0		0	3	3	3	0	7[Note 8]
California	At-large	September 4, 1861	3[Note 10]	3	1	0		0		0
Virginia	District	October 24, 1861	13[Note 11]	0		0	12	5	5	0	1[Note 8]
Secessionist states with no representation
Alabama	District	None	7	0		0	7	0		0
Arkansas	District	August 6, 1860	2	0		2		0		0
Florida	At-large	October 1, 1860	1	0		1		0		0
Georgia	District	None	8	0		0	6	0		0	2[Note 12]
Louisiana	District	None	4	0		0	3	2	2	0	1[Note 8]
Mississippi	District	None	5	0		0	5	0		0
North Carolina	District	None	8	0		0	5	0		0	3[Note 8]
South Carolina	District	October 8–9, 1860	6	0		6		0		0
Texas	District	None	2	0		0	2	0		0
Total[Note 13]			181 58 vacancies	108 59.0%	8	45[Note 2] 24.6%	53	30 16.4%	30	0 0.0%	24[Note 14]

Impact of the secessionist movement

United States 37th Congress,1861.
Pro-union Free states: dark blue. Pro-Union Slave' states: light blue; (West Virginia abolished slavery with statehood.)
Secessionist Convention Slave states: red
The numbers in Congress are reduced by the 'vacant' seats

In the wake of the declared secession of South Carolina from the Union on December 20, 1860, many Southern House members, mostly Democrats, refused to take their seats, rejecting the election of Lincoln as illegitimate. Before 1872, different states held elections at various times; the first elections for the 37th Congress were held on August 6, 1860 in Arkansas and Missouri, while the last election took place in California on September 4, 1861, a year later. Three Southern states – Arkansas, Florida, and South Carolina – chose Representatives before the presidential election, electing seven Democrats and two independents. These were the only House elections from the seceding states to the 37th Congress. After South Carolina resolved disunion and the Confederate States of America was formed, other Southern states declared as well and elected Representatives to the new Congress of the Confederate States instead of the United States Congress.

Since the states not holding elections had many strong Democratic districts – in the previous 36th Congress their Representatives included a total of 46 Democrats, 14 Oppositionists, five independents, and one member of the American Party – when Congress was called into session on July 4, 1861 (five months earlier than usual at the time) the size of the Democratic House caucus had been drastically reduced, resulting in a huge Republican majority.

Of the 183 seats, 102 were held by Republicans, 45 by Democrats,^{[Note 2]} 23 by Unionists, and five others by one party each. There were several vacancies, and California had not held its election when Congress assembled.

End of a Congressional era

In 1860, Lincoln's campaign brought the Republicans the Presidency. Likewise, the congressional elections also marked the transition from one major era of political parties to another. In just six years, over the course of the 35th, 36th and 37th Congresses, a complete reversal of party fortunes swamped the Democrats.^[17]

Columbia switches Stephen A. Douglas labeled with early election date 'news from Maine'.
Uncle Sam looks on approvingly.
Other early returns in PA, OH and IN showed good prospects for Republicans in the upcoming federal elections^[18]

Elections for Congress were held from August 1860 to June 1861. They were held before, during and after the pre-determined Presidential campaign. And they were held before, during and after the secessionist campaigns in various states as they were reported throughout the country. Political conditions varied hugely from time to time during the course of congressional selection, but they had been shifting to a considerable extent in the years running up to the crisis.^[19]

In the 1856 elections, the Democrats had taken the Presidency for the sixth time in the last 40 years, with James Buchanan's victory over John C. Fremont and Millard Fillmore. They held almost a two-thirds majority in both the US House and Senate. Democrats held onto the Senate during the midterm elections, but the four opposition parties then amounted to two-thirds of the House. The congressional elections in 1860 transformed Democratic fortunes: Republican and Unionist candidates won a two-thirds majority in both House and Senate.^[20]

After the secessionist withdrawal, resignation and expulsion, the Democrats would have less than 25% of the House for the 37th Congress, and that minority divided further between pro-unionists (Stephen Douglas), and anti-war (Clement Vallandingham) factions.^[21]

Results by region

The politics of these elections were distinctive in every region of the country. The more conventional listing of Members in their state delegations, alphabetically by state, can be found at the 37th Congress article.

Each Region below lists the states composing it using Freehling's descriptions from 1860. The Representative's biographies are linked at their names. Each Congressional District has a link, named by its state abbreviation and its assigned number or noted At-large election. In a time before the Census Department published aggregate population data by Congressional District, the reader may have ready access to census data identifying the make up of those each district by referring to their respective articles.

The articles use different formats. The constituent counties of Congressional Districts are sometimes listed in a contents heading "List of representatives" within tables. These tables have a column naming the District's counties for each election, such as (a) "District Area" for Massachusetts, or (b) "Area" for Illinois and Maryland. Virginia uses "Historical composition of the district" to describe composition at each reapportionment. Pennsylvania notes the home county of the elected representative, sometimes holding the largest population for respective districts. Minnesota makes a geographical allusion for its 1st District applicable to the 37th Congress. Michigan uses "History" since 1852 for its 4th district. In some states, previous district composition is not described.

Alabama

Arkansas

California

From statehood to 1864, California's representatives were elected at-large, with the top two vote-getters winning election from 1849 to 1858. In the 1860 Census, California gained a seat in the House.

The top three vote-getters were elected, but only the top two were seated at the beginning of session. When Congress later authorized California a third seat, Frederick Low was seated June 3, 1862.

Connecticut

Delaware

Florida

Georgia

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Louisiana seceeded January 26, 1861 and did not elect members of the 37th Congress.

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi

Mississippi seceeded January 9, 1861 and did not elect members of the 37th Congress.

Missouri

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New York

North Carolina

North Carolina seceeded May 20, 1861 and did not elect members of the 37th Congress.

Ohio

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

Tennessee

Texas

Texas seceeded February 1, 1861 and did not elect members of the 37th Congress.

Virginia

Vermont

Wisconsin

Non-voting members

All are trans-Mississippi west non-voting delegates in the 37th Congress. Nevada was admitted as a state in the next Congress.

• Colorado Territory at-large. Hiram P. Bennet (Republican)
• Dakota Territory at-large. John B. S. Todd (Democratic)
• Nebraska Territory at-large. Samuel G. Daily (Republican)
• Nevada Territory. John Cradlebaugh (I)
• New Mexico Territory at-large. John S. Watts (Republican)
• Utah Territory. John M. Bernhisel (I)
• Washington Territory at-large. William H. Wallace (Republican)

See also

• United States elections, 1860
  • United States presidential election, 1860
  • United States Senate elections, 1860 and 1861
• 36th United States Congress
• 37th United States Congress

Notes

References

Bibliography

• Dubin, Michael J. (March 1, 1998). United States Congressional Elections, 1788-1997: The Official Results of the Elections of the 1st Through 105th Congresses. McFarland and Company. ISBN 978-0786402830.
• Martis, Kenneth C. (January 1, 1989). The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress, 1789-1989. Macmillan Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0029201701.
• Moore, John L., ed. (1994). Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections (Third ed.). Congressional Quarterly Inc. ISBN 978-0871879967.
• "Party Divisions of the House of Representatives* 1789–Present". Office of the Historian, House of United States House of Representatives. Retrieved January 21, 2015.

External links

• Office of the Historian (Office of Art & Archives, Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)