Election to the United States House of Representatives in 1866

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The election to the United States House of Representatives took place from June 4, 1866. The House of Representatives was elected on various election days in the United States . The election was part of the general election for the 40th United States Congress that year, which also elected a third of US Senators . Since the elections took place around the middle of President Andrew Johnson's term of office ( Midterm Election ), they were also considered a vote on the previous policy of the President. The elections were overshadowed by the events that followed the end of the American Civil War . It was also about the politics of the reconstruction period .

At the time of the election, the United States consisted of 37 states ( Nebraska had since joined). In reality, however, with the exception of Tennessee, the southern states, which previously formed the Confederate States , were not yet officially reintegrated into the Union and excluded from the elections. Six more former southern states were admitted during the legislative period, the last four followed in the following legislative period. As a result, only 27 states took part in the 1866 elections. In some southern states, MPs were elected, but they were not allowed in Washington. The number of MPs to be elected in the remaining 27 states was 224. The distribution of seats was based on the 1860 census .

The election resulted in a victory for the Republicans, who were able to increase their two-thirds majority. The Democrats also won, but this was mainly due to the increase in the number of MPs. One of the campaign topics was the dispute over reconstruction policy. On this issue, President Johnson and the radical Republican wing were irreconcilable. Later there was even an impeachment trial against the president (which then just failed in the Senate). In 1866, many Northern voters viewed the Republicans as the party responsible for winning the Civil War. In addition, many support the policies of the party's radical wing, which have called for severe punishment of the southern states.

Women were neither eligible nor eligible to vote. In many states, African Americans were also excluded from voting.

Election result

Total: 224

Distribution of seats
   
A total of 224 seats
  • Dem .: 47
  • Otherwise: 4
  • Rep .: 173

The results of the last election two years earlier are in brackets. Changes during the legislative period that do not affect the elections as such are not included in these figures, but are noted in the article on the 40th 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 joined the Union 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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