1856–57 United States House of Representatives elections

← 1854 & 1855 August 4, 1856 – November 4, 1857[a] 1858 & 1859 →
All 237 seats in theUnited States House of Representatives 118 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader James Orr Galusha A. Grow Party Democratic Republican Leader's seat South Carolina 5th Pennsylvania 14th Last election 81 seats 46 seats[b] Seats won 132 90 Seat change 51 45 Popular vote 1,805,827 1,425,265 Percentage 46.85% 36.98% Swing 2.90pp 21.36pp[c]   Third party Fourth party   Party Know Nothing Independent Last election 51 seats 1 seats[d] Seats won 14 1[e] Seat change 37 Popular vote 586,254 34,120[f] Percentage 15.21% 0.89% Swing 4.35pp 1.72pp
Results      Democratic gain     Democratic hold      Republican gain     Republican hold      Know Nothing gain     Know Nothing hold
Speaker before election Nathaniel Banks Know Nothing ElectedSpeaker James Orr Democratic

The1856–57 United States House of Representatives elections were held on various dates in various states between August 4, 1856, and November 4, 1857. Each state set its own date for its elections to theHouse of Representatives. 236 representatives were elected in 31 states and the pending new state of Minnesota before the first session of the35th United States Congress convened on December 7, 1857.

The elections briefly returned a semblance of normalcy to theDemocratic Party, restoring its House majority alongside the election of Democratic PresidentJames Buchanan. However, superficial victory masked severe, ultimately irretrievable divisions overslavery. Voters next would return a Democratic House majority only in1874.

Party realignments continued. In 1856, theWhig Party disbanded, theKnow Nothing movement declined, and its vehicle, the American Party, began to collapse. Many Northern Whig, American, and other Opposition Party Representatives joined the new, rapidly consolidatingRepublican Party, which contested the Presidency in1856. Though the Republican Party did not yet demand abolition, its attitude toward slavery was stridently negative. It was an openly sectional Northern party which opposedfugitive slave laws and slavery in the territories. For the first time, the party offered a mainstream platform to outspokenabolitionists.

In March 1857, after almost all Northern states had voted, the Supreme Court issued its infamousDred Scott decision, amplifying tensions and hardening voter divisions. Remaining elections were concentrated in the South. Southern voters widely drove the American Party from office, rallying to the Democrats in firm opposition to the Republicans.

In October 1857, the pending new state ofMinnesota elected its first Representatives, to be seated by the 35th Congress. Between the admissions ofVermont in 1791 andWisconsin in 1848, Congress had admitted new states roughly in pairs: one slave, one free.California was admitted alone as a free state in 1850 only as part of a comprehensivecompromise including significant concessions to slave state interests. Admission of Minnesota in May 1858, also alone but with no such deal, helped expose the declining influence of the South, destroying the formerly binding concept that slave and free state power was best kept in balance even in the Senate while solidifying a sense that the West would exclude slavery.

Two seats were added for the new state ofMinnesota,^[1] which was unrepresented for part of the 1st session.

State	Type	Date	Total seats	Democratic		Know Nothing		Republican
				Seats	Change	Seats	Change	Seats	Change[g]
Arkansas	District	August 4, 1856	2	2		0		0
Iowa	District		2	0	1	0		2	1
Missouri	District		7	5[e]	4	2	2	0	6
Vermont	District	September 2, 1856	3	0		0		3
Maine	District	September 8, 1856	6	0	1	0		6	1
Florida	At-large	October 6, 1856	1	1		0		0
South Carolina	District	October 13–14, 1856	6	6		0		0
Indiana	District	October 14, 1856	11	6	4	0		5	4
Ohio	District		21	9	9	0		12	9
Pennsylvania	District		25	15	8	0	1	10	7
California	At-large	November 4, 1856 (Election Day)[h]	2	2		0		0
Delaware	At-large		1	1	1	0	1	0
Illinois	District		9	5		0		4
Massachusetts	District		11	0		0	11	11	11
Michigan	District		4	0	1	0		4	1
New Jersey	District		5	3	2	0		2	2
New York	District		33	12	7	0	3	21	4
Wisconsin	District		3	0	1	0		3	1
New Hampshire	District	March 10, 1857	3	0		0	3	3	3
Rhode Island	District	April 1, 1857	2	0		0	2	2	2
Connecticut	District	April 6, 1857	4	2	2	0	4	2	2
Virginia	District	May 28, 1857	13	13	1	0	1	0
Alabama	District	August 3, 1857	7	7	2	0	2	0
Kentucky	District		10	8	4	2	4	0
Texas	District		2	2	1	0	1	0
North Carolina	District	August 6, 1857	8	7	2	1	2	0
Tennessee	District		10	7	2	3	2	0
Georgia	District	October 5, 1857	8	6		2		0
Mississippi	District	October 5–6, 1857	5	5	1	0	1	0
Minnesota	At-large	October 13, 1857[i]	2	2	2	0		0
Louisiana	District	November 3, 1857	4	3		1		0
Maryland	District	November 4, 1857	6	3	1	3	1	0
Total			236	133[e] 56.1%	50[e]	14 5.9%	37	90 38.0%	10[g]

There were a total of thirteen special elections in 1856 and 1857 during the34th and35th Congresses.

Seenon-voting delegates, below.

Elections were held November 3-4, 1857.

Minnesota Territory elected three members in advance of Minnesota's 1848 statehood. "Although three men won this election, which was held before Minnesota was actually a state, only two representatives from Minnesota were allowed in the congressional bill creating the state in 1858. George L. Becker lost in the drawing of lots to decide who would present their credentials, therefore he did not serve in Congress."^[9]

Elections held late, from October 5 to 6, 1857.

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Seenon-voting delegates, below.

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This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(December 2020)

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Seenon-voting delegates, below.

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District	Incumbent			This race
	Member	Party	First elected	Results	Candidates
Tennessee 1	Albert G. Watkins	Democratic	1855	Incumbent re-elected.	▌YAlbert G. Watkins (Democratic) 50.58% ▌Nathaniel G. Taylor (Know Nothing) 49.42%[15]
Tennessee 2	William H. Sneed	Know Nothing	1855	Incumbent retired. Know Nothing hold.	▌YHorace Maynard (Know Nothing) 50.89% ▌Wayne W. Wallace (Democratic) 49.11%[16]
Tennessee 3	Samuel A. Smith	Democratic	1853	Incumbent re-elected.	▌YSamuel A. Smith (Democratic) 52.98% ▌William Heiskell (Know Nothing) 47.02%[17]
Tennessee 4	John H. Savage	Democratic	1855	Incumbent re-elected.	▌YJohn H. Savage (Democratic) 55.16% ▌Joseph Pickett (Know Nothing) 44.84%[18]
Tennessee 5	Charles Ready	Know Nothing	1853	Incumbent re-elected.	▌YCharles Ready (Know Nothing) 51.25% ▌Joseph Guild (Democratic) 48.75%[19]
Tennessee 6	George W. Jones	Democratic	1842	Incumbent re-elected.	▌YGeorge W. Jones (Democratic) 100%[20]
Tennessee 7	John V. Wright	Democratic	1855	Incumbent re-elected.	▌YJohn V. Wright (Democratic) 83.81% ▌D. E. McElrath (Know Nothing) 16.19%[21]
Tennessee 8	Felix Zollicoffer	Know Nothing	1853	Incumbent re-elected.	▌YFelix Zollicoffer (Know Nothing) 52.18% ▌James M. Quarles (Democratic) 47.82%[22]
Tennessee 9	Emerson Etheridge	Know Nothing	1853	Incumbent lost re-election. Democratic gain.	▌YJohn D. C. Atkins (Democratic) 50.37% ▌Emerson Etheridge (Know Nothing) 49.63%[23]
Tennessee 10	Thomas Rivers	Know Nothing	1855	Incumbent retired. Democratic gain.	▌YWilliam T. Avery (Democratic) 51.32% ▌William H. Stevens (Know Nothing) 48.68%[24]

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• 1856 United States elections
  • 1856 United States presidential election
  • 1856–57 United States Senate elections
• List of United States House of Representatives elections (1856–present)
• 34th United States Congress
• 35th United States Congress

• Dubin, Michael J. (March 1, 1998).United States Congressional Elections, 1788-1997: The Official Results of the Elections of the 1st Through 105th Congresses. McFarland and Company.ISBN 978-0786402830.
• Martis, Kenneth C. (January 1, 1989).The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress, 1789-1989. Macmillan Publishing Company.ISBN 978-0029201701.
• Moore, John L., ed. (1994).Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections (Third ed.). Congressional Quarterly Inc.ISBN 978-0871879967.
• "Party Divisions of the House of Representatives* 1789–Present". Office of the Historian, House of United States House of Representatives. RetrievedJanuary 21, 2015.

• Office of the Historian (Office of Art & Archives, Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)

• 1856 United States House of Representatives elections
• 1857 United States House of Representatives elections
• Presidency of James Buchanan
• Schuyler Colfax

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