Election to the United States House of Representatives in 1862

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The election to the United States House of Representatives 1862 took place from June 2, 1862. The House of Representatives was elected on various election days in the United States . The election was part of the general election to the 38th 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 Republican President Abraham Lincoln ( Midterm Election ), they were also considered a vote on the previous policy of the President. The elections were overshadowed by the events of the American Civil War .

At the time of the elections, the United States consisted of 34 states from the northern point of view ( Kansas had now joined). In reality, the eleven southern states that had left the Union and now formed the Confederate States did not take part in the election. Hence, the number of MPs to be elected in the remaining 23 states was 184. The distribution of seats was based on the 1860 census .

The Republicans suffered significant losses in the election. You lost 23 seats and now only have 85 seats. At the same time, the Democrats managed to gain 28 seats. The majority, however, stayed with the Republicans. The unionists had 25 seats. The reasons for the Republican losses were the slow warfare, rising inflation, newly introduced taxes to finance the war, rumors of corruption in the Republican administration, the introduction of conscription, the temporary suspension of certain rights and the fear of exempted former slaves could flood the labor market .

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

Election result

Total: 184

Distribution of seats
    
A total of 184 seats
  • Dem .: 72
  • Otherwise: 2
  • UP : 25
  • Rep .: 85

The results of the last election two years earlier are in brackets. Changes in the course of the legislative period that do not affect the elections themselves are not included in these figures, but are noted in the article on the 38th 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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