1854–55 United States Senate elections

← 1852 & 1853 Various dates 1856 & 1857 →
21 of the 62 seats in theUnited States Senate (with special elections) 32 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party Third party   Party Democratic Whig Republican Last election 34 seats 20 seats New party Seats before 36 18 Seats won 8 3 3 Seats after 33 14 3 Seat change 3 4 3 Seats up 11 7   Fourth party Fifth party   Party Free Soil American Last election 2 seats 1 seat Seats before 4 1 Seats won 1 0 Seats after 2 1 Seat change 2 Seats up 3 0
Results:      Democratic gain     Democratic hold      Whig hold      Free Soil Gain     American Gain      Republican Gain     Legislature failed to elect
Majority party before election Democratic Elected Majority party Democratic

The1854–55 United States Senate elections were held on various dates in various states. As theseU.S. Senate elections were prior to the ratification of theSeventeenth Amendment in 1913, senators were chosen bystate legislatures. Senators were elected over a wide range of time throughout 1854 and 1855, and a seat may have been filled months late or remained vacant due tolegislative deadlock.^[1] In these elections, terms were up for the senators inClass 3.

These elections saw the final decline of theWhig Party and the maintained majority of theDemocrats. Those Whigs in the South who were opposed to secession ran on the "Opposition Party" ticket, and were elected to a minority. Along with the Whigs, the Senate roster also includedFree Soilers,Americans, and a new party: theRepublicans. Only five of the twenty-one senators up for election were re-elected.

Senate party division,34th Congress (1855–1857)

• Majority party: Democratic (35)
• Minority party: Opposition (20) (Whigs, Republicans, Americans, Free Soilers)
• Vacant: 7
• Total seats: 62

After the October 14, 1854special election in Vermont.

In these special elections, the winners were seated during 1854 or in 1855 before March 4; ordered by election date.

In these general elections, the winners were elected for the term beginning March 4, 1855; ordered by state.

All of the elections involved the Class 3 seats.

In these elections, the winners were elected in 1855 after March 4.

On January 10, 1854, theKentucky legislature elected WhigU.S. Attorney General (and former-senator and former-Governor of Kentucky)John J. Crittenden to succeed Dixon, beating the then-incumbentGovernor of Kentucky,Lazarus W. Powell.

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1855 United States Senate election in Maryland

← 1849 January 1855 1861 →
80 members of theMaryland General Assembly
Candidate James Pearce Party Whig Legislative vote - Percentage -%

James Pearce won re-election by an unknown margin of votes, for the Class 3 seat.^[8]

The election was held on February 6, 1855.William H. Seward had been elected in 1849 to this seat and his term would expire on March 3, 1855. At the time theDemocratic Party was split into two opposing factions:the "Hards" and the "Softs". After most of the "Barnburners" had left the party, joining the Whigs, the majority of "Hunkers" split over the question of reconciliation with the minority of Barnburners who had remained Democrats. The Hard faction (led byDaniel S. Dickinson) was against it, in true Hunker fashion claiming all patronage for themselves; the Soft faction (led byWilliam L. Marcy, which included the former Barnburners, advocated party unity as a necessity to defeat the Whigs.

In 1854, theRepublican Party was founded as a national party, but in New York the Whigs and theAnti-Nebraska Party ran concurrently at the State election. The unification of these occurred in New York only during the nomination convention for theState election in November 1855. Also running in the 1854 election were theAmerican Party and nominees of theTemperance movement. In a general way, party lines were blurred until the re-alignment during the late 1850s after the disbanding of the American Party.

At theState election in November 1853, 23 Whigs, 7 Hards and 2 Softs were elected for a two-year term (1854–1855) in the State Senate. At theState election in November 1854, Whig State SenatorMyron H. Clark was electedGovernor of New York, and 82 Whigs, 26 Softs, 16 Hards and 3 Temperance men were elected for the session of 1855 to the New York State Assembly. "Know Nothings are sprinkled miscellaneously among Whigs, Hards and Softs; and exactly how many there are of these gentry in the Assembly Nobody Knows."^[9] The78th New York State Legislature met from January 2 to April 14, 1855, atAlbany, New York.

In the Assembly, Seward received 69 votes, given by 65 Whigs; 1 Democrat; 1 Temperance man; 1 Republican and 1 Whig-Republican. Dickinson received 14 votes, given by 13 Democrats and 1 American. Horatio Seymour received the votes of 12 Democrats. Dix received 7 votes, given by 5 Democrats; 1 Independent Democrat and 1 Temperance man. Fillmore received 4 votes, given by 2 Whigs; 1 Democrat and 1 Temperance-American. Horatio Seymour Jr., received the votes of 2 Americans. King, Butler, Lester, Wait and Bronson received 1 Democratic vote each. Campbell received 1 Temperance-American vote. Howell received 1 American vote. Hoffman and Haven received 1 Whig vote each.

In the State Senate, Seward received 18 Whig votes, Dickinson 5 Hard votes, and Allen 2 Whig votes. Preston and Church received 1 Soft vote each. Hoffman, Babcock, Ullmann and Fillmore received 1 American vote each.

Seward was the choice of both the Assembly and the Senate, and was declared elected.

• 1854 United States elections
  • 1854–55 United States House of Representatives elections
• 33rd United States Congress
• 34th United States Congress

• Party Division in the Senate, 1789-Present, via Senate.gov
• The New York Civil List compiled in 1858 (see: pg. 63 for U.S. Senators; pg. 137 for State Senators 1855; pg. 248ff for Members of Assembly 1855)
• Members of the 34th United States Congress
• STATE AFFAIRS; Election of a U.S. Senator for Six Years in NYT on February 7, 1855
• Taylor, William Alexander; Taylor, Aubrey Clarence (1899).Ohio statesmen and annals of progress: from the year 1788 to the year 1900. State of Ohio.
• Result Senate:Journal of the Senate (78th Session) (1855; pg. 198)

• 1854 United States Senate elections
• 1855 United States Senate elections

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