United States House of Representatives elections, 1858 and 1859

United States House of Representatives elections, 1858 and 1859

August 2, 1858 - November 8, 1859[Note 1]
All 238[Note 2] seats in the U.S. House of Representatives 120 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader William Pennington Thomas Bocock Party Republican Democratic Leader's seat New Jersey-5th Virginia-5th Last election 90 seats 133 seats Seats won 116[Note 2] 98[Note 3] Seat change 26 35   Third party Fourth party   Leader John Adams Gilmer Henry Winter Davis Party Opposition Know Nothing Leader's seat North Carolina-5th Maryland-4th Last election 0 seats 14 seats Seats won 19 5 Seat change 19 9
Speaker before election James Orr Democratic Elected Speaker William Pennington Republican

Elections to the United States House of Representatives for the 36th Congress were held in 1858–1859 during James Buchanan's presidency. Following these elections, the Republicans won the most seats in the House for the first time, benefiting from the continued breakdown in the anti-immigration and anti-Catholic American Party of the Know Nothing Movement, and from strife within the Democratic Party.

The Republicans were actually 4 seats short of a numerical majority and were forced to form a minority government, but were able to exercise authority with assistance from members of the two smaller parties also elected to the House. The deeply divided Democrats continued to fall apart due to the slavery issue, losing a number of seats. The American Party all but collapsed as immigration became a less prominent issue and because of the party's vague stance on slavery. Southern politicians opposed to secession, Whigs who had been dissatisfied with the Republican Party during their short membership, as well as some former Know-Nothings, came together and ran on the Southern Opposition Party ticket (not to be confused with the Northern Opposition Party of 1854 which was opposed to the spread of slavery into the new territories),^[1] which generally allied more with the Republicans than Democrats.

For several states, this was the last Congressional election until the Reconstruction Era, and 29 of the Representatives elected in this election resigned near the end of the Congress following their states' secession from the Union.

Special elections

There were special elections in 1858 and 1859 during the 35th United States Congress and 36th United States Congress.

Election summaries

One seat was added for the new states of Kansas^[7] and Oregon^[8] which were unrepresented for most of the 36th Congress. For several Southern states, these were the last congressional elections they took part in until Reconstruction.

State	Type	Date	Total seats	Republican		Democratic		Opposition		Know-Nothing
				Seats	Change	Seats	Change	Seats	Change	Seats	Change
Special election(s), not counted in totals below
Oregon	At-large	June, 1858[Note 4]	1	0		1	1	0		0
Kansas[Note 5]	At-large	December 1, 1859	1	1	1	0		0		0
General elections
Arkansas	District	August 2, 1858	2	0		2		0		0
Florida	At-large	October 4, 1858	1	0		1		0		0
Indiana	District	October 12, 1858	11	7	2	4[Note 6]	2	0		0
Iowa	District	October 12, 1858	2	2		0		0		0
Maine	District	September 13, 1858	6	6		0		0		0
Missouri	District	August 2, 1858	7	1		5[Note 7]	1	0		1	1
Ohio	District	October 12, 1858	21	15	2	6	2	0		0
Pennsylvania	District	October 12, 1858	25	20	10	5[Note 8]	10	0		0
South Carolina	District	October 10–11, 1858	6	0		6		0		0
Vermont	District	September 7, 1858	3	3		0		0		0
Delaware	At-large	November 2, 1858 (Election Day)[Note 9]	1	0		1		0		0
Illinois	District		9	4		5		0		0
Massachusetts	District		11	11		0		0		0
Michigan	District		4	4		0		0		0
New Jersey	District		5	3	1	2[Note 10]	1	0		0
New York	District		33	26	5	7[Note 11]	5	0		0
Wisconsin	District		3	2	1	1	1	0		0
Late general elections (After the March 4, 1859 beginning of Congress)
New Hampshire	District	March 8, 1859	3	3		0		0		0
Connecticut	District	April 4, 1859	4	4	2	0	2	0		0
Rhode Island	District	April 7, 1859	2	2		0		0		0
Virginia	District	May 26, 1859	13	0		12[Note 12]	1	1	1	0
Oregon	At-large	June 27, 1859	1	0		1		0		0
Alabama	District	August 1, 1859	7	0		7		0		0
Kentucky	District	August 1, 1859	10	0		5	3	5	5	0	2
Texas	District	August 1, 1859	2	0		2[Note 13]		0		0
North Carolina	District	August 4, 1859	8	0		4	3	4	4	0	1
Tennessee	District	August 4, 1859	10	0		3	4	7	7	0	3
California	At-large	September 7, 1859	2	0		2		0		0
Georgia	District	October 3, 1859	8	0		6		2	2	0
Mississippi	District	October 3, 1859	5	0		5		0		0
Minnesota	At-large	October 4, 1859	2	2	2	0	2	0		0
Louisiana	District	November 7, 1859	4	0		3		0		1
Maryland	District	November 8, 1859	6	0		3		0		3
Total[Note 2]			238	115 48.5%	25	98[Note 3] 41.4%	35	19 8.0%	19	5 2.1%	9

Complete returns

See also

• United States elections, 1858
  • United States Senate elections, 1858
• List of United States House of Representatives elections, 1856–present
• 35th United States Congress
• 36th 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)