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1866–67 United States House of Representatives elections
House elections for the 40th U.S. Congress From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The 1866–67 United States House of Representatives elections were held on various dates in various states between June 4, 1866, and September 6, 1867. They occurred during President Andrew Johnson's term just one year after the American Civil War ended when the Union defeated the Confederacy. Each state set its own date for its elections to the House of Representatives. Members were elected before or after the first session of the 40th United States Congress convened on March 4, 1867, including the at-large seat from the new state of Nebraska. Ten secessionist states still had not yet been readmitted, and therefore were not seated.
The 1866 elections were a decisive event in the early Reconstruction era, in which President Johnson faced off against the Radical Republicans in a bitter dispute over whether Reconstruction should be lenient or harsh toward the vanquished white 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.
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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).
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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.
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Election summaries
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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 | [f] | Republican |

The party affiliations of the 4 Representatives elected in Texas's rejected elections are unknown.
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Special elections
39th Congress
40th Congress
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California
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Colorado Territory
See non-voting delegates, below.
Connecticut
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Dakota Territory
See non-voting delegates, below.
Delaware
Idaho Territory
See non-voting delegates, below.
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Montana Territory
See non-voting delegates, below.
Nebraska
There were two elections in the new state of Nebraska in 1866: on June 6 for the remainder of the current term, and October 9 for the next term.
39th Congress
40th Congress
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico Territory
See non-voting delegates, below.
New York
Ohio
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Democrats gained one seat this election in Ohio. It was later contested and awarded to the Republican for a net gain of zero.
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
Tennessee
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Elections held late, on August 1, 1867.
Utah Territory
See non-voting delegates, below.
Vermont
Washington Territory
See non-voting delegates, below.
West Virginia
Wisconsin
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Wisconsin elected six members of congress on Election Day, November 4, 1866.
Non-voting delegates
See also
Notes
- Includes 1 Independent Republican, Lewis Selye, and 1 Conservative Republican, Thomas E. Stewart.
- Conservatives in Virginia took 4 seats
References
Bibliography
External links
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