1862–63 United States House of Representatives elections

← 1860 & 1861 June 2, 1862– November 3, 1863[a] 1864 & 1865 →
All 183 seats[b][c] in theUnited States House of Representatives 92 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader Galusha A. Grow Samuel Cox Party Union Democratic Alliance Republican-Union Leader's seat Pennsylvania 12th (lost re-election) Ohio 7th Last election 123 seats 43 seats Seats won 98 73 Seat change 25 30 Popular vote 1,591,978 1,444,328 Percentage 49.7% 45.1% Swing 2.9pp 5.3pp   Third party Fourth party   Party Union Democratic Conservative Union Last election 9 seats New party Seats won 8 1 Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 59,550 9,937 Percentage 1.9% 0.3% Swing 0.5pp New party   Fifth party Sixth party   Party Unconditional Union Democratic Independent Last election New party 1[d] Seats won 1 2[e] Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 6,936 42,021[f] Percentage 0.2% 1.3%[f] Swing New party 2.9pp
General election Seats elected in 1862 Seats elected in 1863 Results      Democratic gain     Union gain     Republican gain      Democratic hold     Union hold     Republican hold      Union Democratic hold     Emancipation gain     Independent gain      Conservative Union gain     Unconditional Union Democratic gain
Speaker before election Galusha A. Grow Republican ElectedSpeaker Schuyler Colfax Republican-Union

The1862–63 United States House of Representatives elections were held between June 2, 1862, and November 3, 1863, to elect the 184 members and eight non-voting delegates of theHouse of Representatives. TheRepublican-Union coalition won a reduced majority against the backdrop of theAmerican Civil War.^[1]

In the first real test of opposition to theLincoln administration, theDemocratic Party made large gains in these andconcurrent elections held in 1862 and 1863 but failed to take control of the House.^[2] Much of the campaign focussed onemancipation and Lincoln's handling of the war. Lincoln issued the preliminaryEmancipation Proclamation on September 22, weeks before critical races inIndiana,Ohio,Pennsylvania, (October 14) andNew York (November 3). Democrats denounced emancipation astyrannical and a threat towhite supremacy. Democraticelection propaganda charged their opponents with bloodlust andreligious fanaticism and made frequent appeals toanti-Black racism.^[3] WhileRadical Republicans defended the measure, others felt compelled to distance themselves from the president's policy.^[4] In Indiana and Ohio, the Union Party downplayed theslavery issue.^[5] The issue was particularly troublesome forUnionists in theborder states.Kentucky's Union Democratic Party disavowed the proclamation ahead of congressional elections held in August 1863.^[6] InMaryland andMissouri, Unionists welcomed emancipation in principle but divided over questions overgradual versus immediate abolition and the enlistment ofBlack soldiers.^[7]

Other issues impacted the election, including Lincoln's suspension ofhabeas corpus,conscription, and the progress of the war. InconclusiveUnion victories atAntietam,Corinth, andPerryville contributed to a perception that theadministration's military strategy was ineffective. Democrats charged the administration with subordinating the restoration of theUnion to the radicalsocial policy of theabolitionist movement.^[8]

During this election, theRepublican Party formed acoalition withWar Democrats and border stateunionists who supported the war effort. In most states, this coalition was known as the Union Party or as the Republican-Union Party.^[9] In parts ofNew England and theUpper Midwest, pro-administration candidates still called themselves Republicans.^[10] The Missouri Unionists were known as the Emancipation Party and split between Immediate and Gradual Emancipationists during this election.^[11] The Republican-Union coalition became the basis for the National Union Party which contested thenext election.^[12]

While contemporary observers interpreted the elections as a "severe reproof" of the administration, the results of the elections were inconclusive.^[13] Democrats flipped more than 30 seats compared to thelast election, while Republican-Unionists suffered serious losses across the Lower North. The strong showing for Union candidates in the border states, however, salvaged the Republican-Unionist majority.^[14] Among the defeated Republican-Unionists was the incumbentspeaker of the House of RepresentativesGalusha A. Grow, who lost hisPennsylvania district to a Democratic challenger.^[15] This was the last election in which a sitting speaker of the House was defeated for re-election until1994, whenGeorge Nethercutt defeatedTom Foley inWashington's 5th congressional district.^[16]

1862–63 United States House of Representatives elections^[h]

Parties		Seats				Popular vote
		1860–61	1862–63	±	%	Votes	%
	Union Party	15	56	41	30.60	1,134,687	35.41
	Republican Party	108	36	72	19.67	412,647	12.88
	Immediate Emancipation Party	0	4	4	2.18	25,328	0.79
	Emancipation Party	0	1	1	0.55	14,415	0.45
	Gradual Emancipation Party	0	1	1	0.55	4,901	0.15
	Republican-Union coalition	123	98	25	53.55	1,591,978	49.68
	Democratic Party	43	73	30	39.89	1,444,328	45.07
	Union Democratic Party	9	8	1	4.37	59,550	1.86
	Independent Republican-Unionist	0	1	1	0.55	15,519	0.48
	War Democrat	0	1	1	0.55	13,255	0.41
	Conservative Union Party	0	1	1	0.55	9,937	0.31
	Unconditional Union Democratic Party	0	1	1	0.55	6,936	0.22
	People's Party	0	0		0.00	45,285	1.41
	Union Party (Kansas)	0	0		0.00	4,666	0.15
	Independent Democrat	1	0	1	0.00	4,393	0.14
	Peace Democrat	0	0		0.00	2,857	0.09
	Independent Union Democrat	0	0		0.00	2,487	0.08
Others		7	0	7	0.00	3,510	0.11
Total		183	183		100.00	3,204,701	100.00

State	Type	Date	Total seats		Democratic		Republican-Union[i]		Others[j]
			Seats	Change	Seats	Change	Seats	Change	Seats	Change
Oregon	At-large	June 2, 1862	1		0	1	1	1	0
Maine	Districts	September 8, 1862	5	1	1	1	4	2	0
Indiana	Districts	October 14, 1862	11		7	3	4	3	0
Iowa	Districts		6	4	0		6	4	0
Ohio	Districts		19	2	14	6	5	8	0
Pennsylvania	Districts		24	1	12[k]	6	12[l]	7	0
Delaware	At-large	November 1, 1862	1		1	1	0	1	0
Massachusetts	Districts		10	1	0		10		0	1[m]
Illinois	Mixed[n]	November 4, 1862 (Election Day)[o]	14	5	9	4	5	1	0
Kansas	At-large		1		0		1		0
Michigan	Districts		6	2	1	1	5	1	0
Minnesota	Districts		2		0		2		0
Missouri	Districts		9	2	2	3	6	5	1[p]
New Jersey	Districts		5		4	1	1	1	0
New York	Districts		31	2	17	7	14	9	0
Wisconsin	Districts		6	3	3	3	3		0
Late elections (after the March 4, 1863 beginning of the term)
New Hampshire	Districts	March 10, 1863	3		1	1	2	1	0
Rhode Island	Districts	April 1, 1863	2		0		2	2	2[q]	2
Connecticut	Districts	April 6, 1863	4		1	1	3	1	0
Kentucky	Districts	August 3, 1863	9	1	0		0		9[r]	1[s]
Vermont	Districts	September 1, 1863	3		0		3		0
California	At-large	September 2, 1863	3		0		3		0
West Virginia	Districts	October 22, 1863	3	3	0		3	3	0
Maryland	Districts	November 3, 1863	5	1	1	3	4	1	0	1[t]
Seceded states not holding elections
Alabama	Districts	None	6	1
Arkansas	Districts	None	3	1
Florida	At-large	None	1
Georgia	Districts	None	7	1
Louisiana	Districts	None	5	1				2
Mississippi	Districts	None	5
North Carolina	Districts	None	7	1
South Carolina	Districts	None	4	2
Tennessee	Districts	None	8	2				3
Texas	Districts	None	4	2
Virginia	Districts	None	11[u]	2				5
Total[b]			183		74	30	99	25	10	5
			58 Vacancies		40.4%		54.1%		5.5%

Reapportionment took place following the1860 United States census. The 1862 apportionment act increased the size of the House to 241 seats from 233.^[17] Fifty-eight seats were vacant due to secession.^[1]

Three seats were transferred fromVirginia toWest Virginia following the latter's admission on June 20, 1863.^[18] One seat was allocated toNevada upon its admission on October 31, 1864, increasing the size of the House to 242 seats and the number of elected members to 184.^[19]

Special elections were held in 1862 and 1863 to fill 12 vacancies in the37th Congress and four vacancies in the38th Congress.

Alabama did not hold elections as a result of secession.

Arkansas held no elections in 1862 or 1863 as a result of secession. Late elections were held in 1864, but the elected members were not seated by the House.^[21]

California elected its members on September 2, 1863, after the term began but before Congress convened. Voters chose three members on a statewidegeneral ticket to represent the state'sat-large congressional district.

Connecticut elected its members April 6, 1863, after the term began but before Congress convened.

Seenon-voting delegates, below.

Delaware elected its member on November 1, 1862.

Seenon-voting delegates, below.

Florida did not hold elections as a result of secession.

Georgia did not hold elections as a result of secession.

Seenon-voting delegates, below.

Illinois elected its members on November 4, 1862.

Indiana elected its members on October 14, 1862.

Iowa elected its members on October 14, 1862.

Kansas elected its member on November 4, 1862.

Whereas the Union Party replaced the Republicans in most states during the war, theKansas Republican Party remained active. In a factional schism, opponents ofU.S. senatorJim Lane split from the Republican Party in 1862 to form theUnion Party with the support of the state'sDemocrats. This party, which nominatedMarcus J. Parrott for Congress, was not affiliated with the national Republican-Union coalition and broke apart during the1864 presidential election.^[25]

Kentucky elected its members on August 3, 1863, after the new term began but before Congress convened.

Louisiana held no elections for the 38th Congress in 1862 or 1863 as a result of secession. Late elections were held on September 5, 1864, but the elected members were not seated by the House.

Maine elected its members on September 8, 1862.

Maryland elected its members on November 3, 1863, after the new term began but before Congress convened.

Massachusetts elected its members on November 1, 1862.

Massachusetts Republicans resisted incorporation into the Union Party in 1861 and 1862.Conservative Republicans, formerWhigs, and Democrats attended the state convention of theConstitutional Union Party which nominated candidates for the upcoming elections. The convention called itself the People's Party in order to attract votes from Democrats. Conservative former Whigs and Republicans in the party expressed strong support for the Lincoln administration during the spring and summer under the belief that the president firmly opposed emancipation. The Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, issued less than two weeks before the state convention met, helped to divide and defeat the new party in its infancy.^[28]

Michigan elected its members on November 4, 1862.

A Democratic proposal for a bipartisan Union ticket was rejected by the Radical leadership of theMichigan Republican Party. The Democrats went ahead with plans for a Union state convention and called themselves Union Democrats or Fusionists during the campaign in hopes of attracting votes from disaffected Conservative Republicans. Some conservatives did support the Union ticket, which was disavowed by the Republican state committee.^[29]

Minnesota elected its members on November 4, 1862.

Mississippi did not hold elections as a result of secession.

Missouri elected its members on November 4, 1862.

Missouri Unionists contested this election as the Emancipation Party.^[30] The party was divided ideologically between conservative Claybanks, who favored a plan ofgradual emancipation, and radical Charcoals, who supported immediate emancipation.^[31] InSt. Louis, Gradual and Immediate Emancipationists ran opposing tickets.^[32] Some sources list the Gradual Emancipation candidates as Republicans;^[33] however, the Republican state committee deliberately deemphasized old party labels in its call for the state convention which gave rise to the Emancipation Party.^[34]Francis Preston Blair Jr., the most prominent leader of the AntebellumMissouri Republican Party, was nominated on the Union Emancipation ticket inMissouri's 1st congressional district and contested the election as a Gradual Emancipationist.^[35]

Seenon-voting delegates, below.

Seenon-voting delegates, below.

New Hampshire elected its members on March 10, 1863.

Seenon-voting delegates, below.

New Jersey elected its members on November 4, 1862.

New York elected its members on November 4, 1862.

North Carolina did not hold elections as a result of secession.

Ohio elected its members on October 14, 1862.

Oregon elected its members on June 2, 1862.

Pennsylvania elected its members on October 14, 1862.