United States House of Representatives elections, 1858 and 1859

United States House of Representatives elections, 1858

August 2, 1858 - November 8, 1859^{[Note 1]}

All 238^{[Note 2]} seats to the United States House of Representatives 120 seats were 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 House of Representatives for the 36th Congress were held in 1858-1859. Following these elections, the Republicans gained control of 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 several 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. A number of former Whigs who were dissatisfied with their short membership in the Republican Party, as well as some former Know Nothings, briefly formed a new Opposition Party 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.

Election summaries

One seat was added for the new State of Kansas,^[1] which was unrepresented for most of the 36th Congress. For several Southern states, these were the last congressional elections they took part in until Reconstruction.

↓
116	19	5	98
Republican	Opp.	AKN	Democratic

State	Type	Date	Total seats	Republican	Democratic	Opposition	Know-Nothing
State	Type	Date	Total seats	Seats	Change	Seats	Change	Seats	Change	Seats	Change
Delaware	At-large	November 2, 1858 (Election Day)^{[Note 4]}	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 5]}	1	0		0
New York	District		33	26	5	7^{[Note 6]}	5	0		0
Wisconsin	District		3	2	1	1	1	0		0
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 7]}	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 8]}	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 9]}	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
1859 elections
Alabama^{[Note 10]}	District	August 1, 1859	7	0		7		0		0
California	At-large	September 7, 1859	2	0		2		0		0
Connecticut	District	April 4, 1859	4	4	2	0	2	0		0
Georgia^{[Note 10]}	District	October 3, 1859	8	0		6		2	2	0
Kansas^{[Note 11]}	At-large	December 1, 1859	1	1	1	0		0		0
Kentucky	District	August 1, 1859	10	0		5	3	5	5	0	2
Louisiana^{[Note 10]}	District	November 7, 1859	4	0		3		0		1
Maryland	District	November 8, 1859	6	0		3		0		3
Minnesota	At-large	October 4, 1859	2	2	2	0	2	0		0
Mississippi^{[Note 10]}	District	October 3, 1859	5	0		5		0		0
New Hampshire	District	March 8, 1859	3	3		0		0		0
North Carolina^{[Note 10]}	District	August 4, 1859	8	0		4	3	4	4	0	1
Oregon	At-large	June 27, 1859	1	0		1		0		0
Rhode Island	District	April 7, 1859	2	2		0		0		0
Tennessee	District	August 4, 1859	10	0		3	4	7	7	0	3
Texas^{[Note 10]}	District	August 1, 1859	2	0		2^{[Note 12]}		0		0
Virginia	District	May 26, 1859	13	0		12^{[Note 13]}	1	1	1	0
Total^{[Note 2]}			238	116 48.9%	26	98^{[Note 3]} 41.4%	35	19 8.0%	19	5 2.1%	9

House seats

Republican			48.95%
Democratic			41.35%
Opposition			8.02%
Know-Nothing			2.11%

Complete returns

California

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

District	Incumbent	Party	First elected	Status	Candidates
California's 2 at-large seats	Charles L. Scott	Democratic	1856	Re-elected	John C. Burch (Democratic) 28.4% Charles L. Scott (Democratic) 28.1% Joseph C. McKibbin (Anti-Lecompton Democratic) 21.4% Edward D. Baker (Republican) 20.4% S. A. Booker (Anti-Lecompton Democratic) 1.5% P. H. Sibley (Republican) 0.1%
California's 2 at-large seats	Joseph C. McKibbin	Anti-Lecompton Democratic	1856	Lost re-election Democratic hold

Ohio

District	Incumbent	Party	First elected	Result	Candidates^[2]
Ohio 1	George H. Pendleton	Democratic	1856	Re-elected	George H. Pendleton (D) 51.2% Timothy C. Day (O) 48.8%
Ohio 2	William S. Groesbeck	Democratic	1856	Lost re-election Republican gain	John A. Gurley (R) 52.6% William S. Groesbeck (D) 47.4%
Ohio 3	Clement L. Vallandigham	Democratic	1856^{[Note 14]}	Re-elected	Clement L. Vallandigham (D) 50.5% Lewis D. Campbell (R) 49.5%
Ohio 4	Matthias H. Nichols	Republican	1852	Lost re-election Democratic gain	William Allen (D) 50.2% Matthias H. Nichols (R) 49.8%
Ohio 5	Richard Mott	Republican	1854	Retired Republican hold	James M. Ashley (R) 51.3% William Mungen (D) 48.7%
Ohio 6	Joseph R. Cockerill	Democratic	1856	Retired Democratic hold	William Howard (D) 53.0% Reader W. Clarke (R) 47.0%
Ohio 7	Aaron Harlan	Republican	1852	Lost renomination Republican hold	Thomas Corwin (R) 63.8% Charles W. Blair (D) 36.2%
Ohio 8	Benjamin Stanton	Republican	1854	Re-elected	Benjamin Stanton (R) 59.5% William Hubbard (D) 40.5%
Ohio 9	Lawrence W. Hall	Democratic	1856	Lost re-election Republican gain	John Carey (R) 50.3% Lawrence W. Hall (R) 49.7%
Ohio 10	Joseph Miller	Democratic	1856	Lost re-election Republican gain	Carey A. Trimble (R) 55.0% Joseph Miller (D) 45.0%
Ohio 11	Albert C. Thompson	Republican	1854	Retired Democratic gain	Charles D. Martin (D) 50.7% Nelson H. Van Vorhes (R) 49.3%
Ohio 12	Samuel S. Cox	Democratic	1856	Re-elected	Samuel S. Cox (R) 51.8% Lucius Case (D) 48.2%
Ohio 13	John Sherman	Republican	1854	Re-elected	John Sherman (R) 57.1% S. J. Patrick (D) 42.9%
Ohio 14	Philemon Bliss	Republican	1854	Retired Republican hold	Cyrus Spink (R) 56.3% J. P. Jeffries (D) 43.7%
Ohio 15	Joseph Burns	Democratic	1856	Lost re-election Republican gain	William Helmick (R) 50.7% Joseph Burns (D) 49.3%
Ohio 16	Cydnor B. Tompkins	Republican	1856	Re-elected	Cydnor B. Tompkins (R) 52.8% George W. Manypenny (D) 47.2%
Ohio 17	William Lawrence	Democratic	1856	Retired Republican gain	Thomas C. Theaker (R) 50.3% Benjamin T. Sprigg (D) 49.7%
Ohio 18	Benjamin F. Leiter	Republican	1854	Retired Republican hold	Sidney Edgerton (R) 53.3% J. L. Ranney (D) 46.7%
Ohio 19	Edward Wade	Republican	1852	Re-elected	Edward Wade (R) 65.1% J. W. Gray (D) 34.9%
Ohio 20	Joshua Reed Giddings	Republican	1842	Lost renomination Republican Hold	John Hutchins (R) 64.7% David Tod (D) 35.3%
Ohio 21	John Bingham	Republican	1854	Re-elected	John Bingham (R) 57.3% Thomas Means (D) 42.7%

Notes

↑ Excludes states admitted during this Congress
1 2 3 Includes late elections
1 2 Includes 8 Anti-Lecompton Democrats and 7 Independent Democrats.
↑ 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.
↑ Both Anti-Lecompton Democrats
↑ Includes 1 Independent Democrat (NY-04) and 3 Anti-Lecompton Democrats (NY-08, NY-09, and NY-14) – see Martis, pp. 112–113.
↑ Includes 1 Anti-Lecompton Democrat (IN-07).
↑ Includes 1 Independent Democrat (MO-02).
↑ Includes 2 Anti-Lecompton Democrats (PA-06 and PA-08).
1 2 3 4 5 6 Last election before Reconstruction
↑ New state. Representative seated January 29, 1861, and continued into the 37th Congress.
↑ Includes 1 Independent Democrat (TX-02).
↑ Includes 4 Independent Democrats (VA-03, VA-06, VA-09, and VA-13).
↑ Contested election

References

↑ 11 Stat. 269
↑ Smith, Joseph P, ed. (1898). History of the Republican Party in Ohio I. Chicago: the Lewis Publishing Company. pp. 84, 85.

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)

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