Election to the United States House of Representatives in 1858

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The election to the United States House of Representatives took place from August 2, 1858. The House of Representatives was elected on various election days in the United States . The election was part of the general election for the 36th United States Congress that year, which also elected a third of US Senators . Since the elections took place around the middle of the term of office of Democratic President James Buchanan ( midterm election ), they were also considered a vote on the previous policy of the president.

At the time of the election, the United States consisted of 33 states, Minnesota and Oregon were new members. The number of MPs to be elected was 238. The distribution of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the 1850 census . The election resulted in a gain of 26 seats for the Republicans, to 113 seats. They just missed the absolute majority. With the help of the smaller parliamentary groups they were then able to achieve a majority. The Democrats lost 49 seats and only got 83 seats. The reason was, among other things, the internal split of the party into two wings, each supporting the positions of the North and the South. The opposition party returned to the House of Representatives with 19 seats. In addition, 20 candidates who were independent from the other parties were elected. The elections were overshadowed by the events leading up to the American Civil War . It was about issues such as the expansion or abolition of slavery and the rights of the individual states. In fact, by the end of the legislative term of the Congress elected in 1858, war was already looming. Some MPs from the southern states left the Congress before the end of the legislative period on March 4, 1861, because their states had since left the Union.

Women and slaves were neither eligible nor eligible to vote. Free African Americans were also excluded from voting in many states .

Election result

Total: 238

Distribution of seats
    
A total of 238 seats
  • Dem .: 83
  • Otherwise: 20
  • OP : 19
  • Rep .: 116

The results of the last election two years earlier are in brackets. Changes during the legislative period that do not affect the elections themselves are not included in these figures, but are noted in the article on the 36th Congress in the section on the members of the House of Representatives under the relevant names of the representatives. The same applies to elections in states that did not join the Union until after the beginning of the legislative period. As a result, the sources sometimes contain different information, as changes during the legislative period were sometimes incorporated into the figures and sometimes not.

See also

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