United States House of Representatives elections, 1856
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All 237[Note 2] seats in the U.S. House of Representatives 118 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Elections to the United States House of Representatives for the 35th Congress were held in 1856 and 1857. The elections returned a semblance of normality to the Democratic Party, as they retook a House majority and retained the presidency with the election of James Buchanan. However, the party was permanently divided over the slavery issue.
Earlier in the year, the Whig Party disbanded. With the majority of Whig and People's Party Representatives joining the Republican cause, the Republican Party finished second for their first time. Meanwhile, the short-lived Know-Nothing movement declined and the American Party began to fall apart. The Democrats (including Francis Preston Blair Jr. who was elected as an Independent Democrat (a.k.a. a "Benton Democrat") to Missouri's 1st District), aided by much support from recent immigrants, took advantage of the situation and became the majority, despite increasingly fragmented support within the party.
Special elections
There were special elections in 1858 and 1859 during the 34th United States Congress and 35th United States Congress.
35th Congress
District | Vacator | Reason for Vacancy | Candidates | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Representative | Party | First elected | |||
Minnesota at-large (Seat A) |
New state | Minnesota was admitted May 11, 1858. New member elected October 13, 1857. Republican gain. |
√ William Wallace Phelps (Democratic) 17.31% (Seat A) √ James Michael Cavanaugh (Democratic) 17.17% (Seat B) George Loomis Becker (Democratic) 17.12% Henry Adoniram Swift (Republican) 16.19% Cyrus Aldrich (Republican) 16.11% Morton S. Wilkinson (Republican) 16.10% | ||
Minnesota at-large (Seat B) |
New state | Minnesota was admitted May 11, 1858. New member elected October 13, 1857. Republican gain. |
Election summaries
Two seats were added for the new state of Minnesota[1], which was unrepresented for part of the 1st session.
133 | 14 | 90 |
Democratic | AKN | Republican |
State | Type | Date | Total seats |
Democratic | Republican | Know-Nothing | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Seats | Change | Seats | Change[Note 4] | Seats | Change | ||||
Arkansas | District | August 4, 1856 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |||
Iowa | District | August 4, 1856 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |||
Missouri | District | August 4, 1856 | 7 | 5[Note 5] | 0 | 2 | |||
Vermont | District | September 2, 1856 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |||
Maine | District | September 8, 1856 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | |||
Florida | At-large | October 6, 1856 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||
South Carolina | District | October 13–14, 1856 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | |||
Indiana | District | October 14, 1856 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 0 | |||
Ohio | District | October 14, 1856 | 21 | 9 | 12 | 0 | |||
Pennsylvania | District | October 14, 1856 | 25 | 15 | 10 | 0 | |||
California | At-large | November 4, 1856 (Election Day)[Note 6] |
2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |||
Delaware | At-large | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||
Illinois | District | 9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | ||||
Massachusetts | District | 11 | 0 | 11 | 0 | ||||
Michigan | District | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | ||||
New Jersey | District | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | ||||
New York | District | 33 | 12 | 21 | 0 | ||||
Wisconsin | District | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | ||||
Late elections (after the Congress began on March 4, 1857) | |||||||||
New Hampshire | District | March 10, 1857 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |||
Rhode Island | District | April 1, 1857 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |||
Connecticut | District | April 6, 1857 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | |||
Virginia | District | May 28, 1857 | 13 | 13 | 0 | 0 | |||
Alabama | District | August 3, 1857 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | |||
Kentucky | District | August 3, 1857 | 10 | 8 | 0 | 2 | |||
Texas | District | August 3, 1857 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |||
North Carolina | District | August 6, 1857 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | |||
Tennessee | District | August 6, 1857 | 10 | 7 | 0 | 3 | |||
Georgia | District | October 5, 1857 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | |||
Mississippi | District | October 5–6, 1857 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | |||
Minnesota | At-large | October 13, 1857[Note 7] | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |||
Louisiana | District | November 3, 1857 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | |||
Maryland | District | November 4, 1857 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | |||
Total[Note 2] | 236 | 132[Note 3] 56.1% |
90 38.0% |
14 5.9% |
California
District | Incumbent | Party | First elected |
Result | Candidates |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
California at-large 2 seats on a general ticket |
James W. Denver | Democratic | 1854 | Incumbent retired. New member elected. Democratic hold. |
√ Charles L. Scott (Democratic) 29.9% √ Joseph C. McKibbin (Democratic) 21% A. B. Dibble (Know Nothing) 20.7% Ira P. Rankin (Independent) 13% J. N. Turner (Republican) 12.5% |
Philemon T. Herbert | Democratic | 1854 | Incumbent retired after manslaughter acquittal. New member elected. Democratic hold. |
Florida
District | Incumbent | Party | First elected |
Result | Candidates |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Florida at-large | Augustus Maxwell | Democratic | 1852 | Incumbent retired. New member elected. Democratic hold. |
√ George S. Hawkins (Democratic) 53.1% James McNair Baker (Know Nothing) 46.9% |
See also
Notes
- ↑ Excludes states admitted during this Congress
- 1 2 3 Includes late elections.
- 1 2 Includes one Independent Democrat (a.k.a. a "Benton Democrat"): Francis Preston Blair Jr. of MO-01.
- 1 2 Compared to the 100 Opposition Party members in previous election of 1854.
- ↑ Includes one Independent Democrat (a.k.a. a "Benton Democrat"): Francis Preston Blair Jr. of MO-01. Note that while Martis (p. 110) and Dubin (p. 176) list him as an "Independent Democrat" or "Benton Democrat", others sources (e.g. the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress) list Blair as a "Republican".
- ↑ In 1845, Congress passed a law providing for a uniform date for choosing presidential electors (see: Statutes at Large, 28th Congress, 2nd Session, p. 721). Congressional elections were unaffected by this law, but the date was gradually adopted by the states for Congressional elections as well.
- ↑ New state. Representatives seated May 11, 1858, during the 1st session.
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)