1866 and 1867 United States House of Representatives elections

Elections to the United States House of Representatives were held in 1866 to elect Representatives to the 40th United States Congress.

1866 and 1867 United States House of Representatives elections
June 4, 1866 – September 6, 1867[lower-alpha 1]
All 224[lower-alpha 2] seats in the U.S. House of Representatives
113 seats needed for a majority
  Majority party Minority party
 
Leader Schuyler Colfax Samuel Marshall
Party Republican Democratic
Leader's seat Indiana 9th Illinois 11th
Last election 150 seats [lower-alpha 3] 33 seats
Seats won 173 47
Seat change 23 14
Popular vote 2,611,309 1,919,507
Percentage 55.36% 40.69%
Swing 1.89% [lower-alpha 4] 1.28%
  Third party Fourth party
 
Party Conservative Independent
Last election 5 seats 1 seat
Seats won 2 2[lower-alpha 5]
Seat change 3 1
Popular vote 94,455 83,205
Percentage 2.00% 1.76%
Swing 0.19% 0.70%
Map of U.S. House elections results from 1866 elections for 40th Congress
Speaker before election

Schuyler Colfax
Republican

 Elected Speaker

Schuyler Colfax
Republican

The elections occurred just one year after the American Civil War ended when the Union defeated the Confederacy.

The 1866 elections were a decisive event in the early Reconstruction era, in which President Andrew Johnson faced off against the Radical Republicans in a bitter dispute over whether Reconstruction should be lenient or harsh toward the vanquished South.

Most of the congressmen from the former Confederate states were either prevented from leaving the state or were arrested on the way to the capital. A Congress consisting of mostly Radical Republicans sat early in the Capitol and aside from the delegation from Tennessee who were allowed in, the few Southern Congressmen who arrived were not seated.

Background

Johnson, a War Democrat, had been elected Vice President in the 1864 presidential election as the running mate of Abraham Lincoln, a Republican. (The Republicans had chosen not to re-nominate Hannibal Hamlin for a second term as Vice President).

Lincoln and Johnson ran together under the banner of the National Union Party, which brought together Republicans (with the exception of some hard-line abolitionist Radical Republicans who backed John C. Frémont, who eventually dropped out of the race after brokering a deal with Lincoln) and the War Democrats (the minority of Democrats who backed Lincoln's prosecution of the war, as opposed to the Peace Democrats, or Copperheads, who favored a negotiated settlement with the Confederates).

After the assassination of Lincoln, Johnson became President. He immediately became embroiled in a dispute with the Radical Republicans over the conditions of Reconstruction; Johnson favored a lenient Reconstruction, while Radical Republicans wanted to continue the military occupation of the South and force Southern states to give freedmen (the newly freed slaves) civil rights (and the right to vote).

Campaign and results

Johnson stumped the country in a public speaking tour known as the Swing Around the Circle; he generally supported Democrats but his speeches were poorly received.

The Republicans won in a landslide, capturing enough seats to override Johnson's vetoes. Only the border states of Delaware, Maryland, and Kentucky voted for Democrats. Recently Reconstructed Tennessee sent a Republican delegation. The other 10 ex-Confederate states did not vote. As a percentage of the total number of seats available in the House of Representatives, the Republican majority attained in the election of 1866 has never been exceeded in any subsequent Congress. The Democratic Party was able to achieve similar success only in the political environment of the era of the Great Depression in the 1930s.

Election summaries

Seven secessionist states were readmitted during this Congress, filling 32 vacancies, but are not included in this table if they were not elected within 1866 through 1867.[1]

↓
44 4 147
Democratic [lower-alpha 6] Republican
State Type Date Total
seats		 Democratic Conservative Republican Others
Seats Change Seats Change Seats Change Seats Change
Oregon At-large June 4, 1866 1 0 0 1 0
Vermont Districts September 4, 1866 3 0 0 3 0
Maine Districts September 10, 1866 5 0 0 5 0
Indiana Districts October 9, 1866 11 3 1 0 8 1 0
Iowa Districts October 9, 1866 6 0 0 6 0
Nebraska At-large October 9, 1866 1 0 0 1 0
Ohio Districts October 9, 1866 19 2 0 17 0
Pennsylvania Districts October 9, 1866 24 6 3 0 18 3 0
West Virginia Districts October 25, 1866 3 0 0 3 3 0 3[lower-alpha 7]
Delaware At-large November 6, 1866
(Election Day)[lower-alpha 8]		 1 1 0 0 0
Illinois District +
1 at-large		 14 3 0 11 0
Kansas At-large 1 0 0 1 0
Maryland Districts 5 3 1 1 1 1 1 0 3[lower-alpha 7]
Massachusetts Districts 10 0 0 10 0
Michigan Districts 6 0 0 6 0
Minnesota Districts 2 0 0 2 0
Missouri Districts 9 1 0 8 0
Nevada At-large 1 0 0 1 0
New Jersey Districts 5 2 1 0 3 1 0
New York Districts 31 10 1 0 21[lower-alpha 5] 1 0
Wisconsin Districts 6 1 0 5 0
Late elections (after the March 4, 1867 beginning of Congress)
New Hampshire Districts March 12, 1867 3 0 0 3 0
Connecticut Districts April 1, 1867 4 3 3 0 1 3 0
Rhode Island Districts April 3, 1867 2 0 0 2 0
Kentucky Districts May 4, 1867 9[lower-alpha 9] 7 2 0 1 1 0 4[lower-alpha 10]
Tennessee Districts August 3, 1867 8 0 0 8 8 0 8[lower-alpha 11]
California Districts September 6, 1867 3 2 2 0 1 2 0
Secessionist states not yet readmitted
Alabama Districts — 6 0 0 0 0
Arkansas Districts — 3 0 0 0 0
Florida At-large — 1 0 0 0 0
Georgia Districts — 7 0 0 0 0
Louisiana Districts — 5 0 0 0 0
Mississippi Districts — 5 0 0 0 0
North Carolina Districts — 7 0 0 0 0
South Carolina Districts — 4 0 0 0 0
Texas Districts — 4 0 0 0 0
Virginia Districts — 8 0 0 0 0
Total[lower-alpha 2] 193 44
22.8%		 4 1
0.5%		 1 147[lower-alpha 5]
76.2%		 12 0
0.0%		 18[lower-alpha 12]
House seats
Democratic
 
 22.8%
Conservative
 
 0.5%
Republican
 
 76.2%

The party affiliations of the 4 Representatives elected in Texas's rejected elections are unknown.

California
California elections
September 6, 1867
3 seats
  Majority party Minority party
 
Party Democratic Republican
Last election 0 3
Seats won 2 1
Seat change 2 2
Popular vote 48,346 44,436
Percentage 52.1% 47.9%
     Democratic gain     Republican hold
Main article: 1867 United States House of Representatives elections in California
See also: List of United States Representatives from California
District Incumbent This race
Representative Party First elected Results Candidates
California 1 Donald C. McRuer Republican 1864 Incumbent retired.
New member elected.
Democratic gain.
California 2 William Higby Republican 1863 Incumbent re-elected.
  • Y William Higby (Republican) 52.1%
  • James W. Coffrot (Democratic) 47.9%
California 3 John Bidwell Republican 1864 Incumbent retired.
New member elected.
Democratic gain.

Ohio
See also: List of United States Representatives from Ohio

Democrats gained one seat this election in Ohio. It was later contested and awarded to the Republican for a net gain of zero.

District Incumbent This race
Representative Party First elected Results Candidates[2]
Ohio 1 Benjamin Eggleston Republican 1864 Incumbent re-elected.
Ohio 2 Rutherford B. Hayes Republican 1864 Incumbent re-elected.
Ohio 3 Robert C. Schenck Republican 1862 Incumbent re-elected.
Ohio 4 William Lawrence Republican 1864 Incumbent re-elected.
Ohio 5 Francis C. Le Blond Democratic 1862 Incumbent retired.
New member elected.
Democratic hold.
  • Y William Mungen (Democratic) 55.4%
  • Moses B. Walker (Republican) 44.6%
Ohio 6 Reader W. Clarke Republican 1864 Incumbent re-elected.
Ohio 7 Samuel Shellabarger Republican 1864 Incumbent re-elected.
Ohio 8 James Randolph Hubbell Republican 1864 Incumbent retired.
New member elected.
Republican hold.
Ohio 9 Ralph P. Buckland Republican 1864 Incumbent re-elected.
  • Y Ralph P. Buckland (Republican) 52.2%
  • Thomas P. Finefrock (Democratic) 47.8%
Ohio 10 James M. Ashley Republican 1862 Incumbent re-elected.
  • Y James M. Ashley (Republican) 53.4%
  • Henry S. Commager (Democratic) 46.6%
Ohio 11 Hezekiah S. Bundy Republican 1864 Incumbent retired.
New member elected.
Republican hold.
Ohio 12 William E. Finck Democratic 1862 Incumbent retired.
New member elected.
Democratic hold.
Ohio 13 Columbus Delano Republican 1864 Incumbent lost re-election
New member elected.
Democratic gain.[lower-alpha 13]
Ohio 14 Martin Welker Republican 1864 Incumbent re-elected.
  • Y Martin Welker (Republican) 53.4%
  • James B. Young (Democratic) 46.6%
Ohio 15 Tobias A. Plants Republican 1864 Incumbent re-elected.
Ohio 16 John Bingham Republican 1864 Incumbent re-elected.
  • Y John Bingham (Republican) 52.8%
  • Charles H. Mitchner (Democratic) 47.2%
Ohio 17 Ephraim R. Eckley Republican 1862 Incumbent re-elected.
Ohio 18 Rufus P. Spalding Republican 1862 Incumbent re-elected.
Ohio 19 James A. Garfield Republican 1862 Incumbent re-elected.

Wisconsin
See also: List of United States Representatives from Wisconsin

Wisconsin elected six members of congress on Election Day, November 4, 1866.[3]

District Incumbent This race
Member Party First elected Results Candidates
Wisconsin 1 Halbert E. Paine National Union 1864 Incumbent won re-election as a Republican.
Republican hold.
Wisconsin 2 Ithamar Sloan National Union 1862 Incumbent was not a candidate for re-election.
New member elected.
Republican hold.
Wisconsin 3 Amasa Cobb National Union 1862 Incumbent won re-election as a Republican.
Republican hold.
Wisconsin 4 Charles A. Eldredge Democratic 1862 Incumbent re-elected.
Wisconsin 5 Philetus Sawyer National Union 1864 Incumbent won re-election as a Republican.
Republican hold.
Wisconsin 6 Walter D. McIndoe National Union 1862 Special Incumbent was not a candidate for re-election.
New member elected.
Republican hold.

Non-voting delegates

Montana Territory
District Incumbent This race
Delegate Party First elected Results Candidates
Montana Territory at-large Samuel McLean Democratic 1864 Incumbent retired.
New delegate elected.
Democratic hold.

See also

Notes
  1. Excludes states readmitted after the start of Congress.
  2. Including late elections.
  3. Represents the results of the National Union coalition in the last election cycle.
  4. In comparison to the vote for the National Union coalition in the last election cycle.
  5. Includes 1 Independent Republican, Lewis Selye, and 1 Conservative Republican, Thomas E. Stewart.
  6. Conservatives in Virginia took 4 seats
  7. Previous election had 3 Unionists.
  8. 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.
  9. One seat remained vacant throughout the 40th Congress.
  10. Previous election had 4 Unionists.
  11. 8 Unionists in previous election.
  12. Previous election had 18 Unionists.
  13. Morgan (Democratic) was initially seated (and thus is counted towards the party totals at this article), but the election was contested and the seat was subsequently awarded to Delano (Republican) during the 40th Congress's second session.

References
  1. Martis, pp. 120–121; Dubin, p. 209.
  2. Smith, Joseph P, ed. (1898). History of the Republican Party in Ohio. I. Chicago: the Lewis Publishing Company. pp. 228, 229.
  3. "Wisconsin U.S. House Election Results" (PDF). Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 5, 2012. Retrieved August 27, 2014.
  4. "Our Campaigns - MT Territorial Delegate Race - Nov 05, 1867". www.ourcampaigns.com.

Bibliography
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