United States House of Representatives elections, 1870 and 1871

United States House of Representatives elections, 1870 and 1871
All 243 seats to the United States House of Representatives; 122 seats needed for a majority
Speaker before election; James Blaine; Republican	Elected Speaker; James Blaine; Republican

Elections to the United States House of Representatives were held in 1870 and 1871 to elect Representatives for the 42nd Congress, and were held in the middle of President Ulysses S. Grant's first term.

With Grant's administration rocked by a number of scandals (including a shady deal for gold speculation that led to a crash in the market and several business deals that saw high-ranking governmental officials gain kickbacks) and Reconstruction winding down, his Republican Party lost seats to the opposition Democratic Party but retained an overall majority. Also, since the Democratic Party controlled governments were reestablishing themselves in some portions of the South, the Democrats were able to make huge gains in this election.

Overall results

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Party	Total seats	Seat change	Seat percentage	Vote percentage	Popular vote
Republican	139^{[Note 4]}	32	57.2%	48.2%	2,560,655
Democratic	104	37	42.8%	45.4%	2,408,655
Others	–	–	0.0%	6.4%	341,794
Totals	243		100.0%	100.0%	5,311,104

Election summaries

↓
137	2	104
Republican	LR	Democratic

State	Type	Total seats	Republican		Democratic
State	Type	Total seats	Seats	Change	Seats	Change
Mississippi^{[Note 5]}^{[Note 6]}	District	5	5		0
Alabama	District	6	3	1	3	1
Arkansas	District	3	2		1
California^{[Note 7]}	District	3	3	2	0	2
Connecticut^{[Note 7]}	District	4	3		1
Delaware	At-large	1	0		1
Florida	At-large	1	0	1	1	1
Georgia	District	7	3		4
Illinois	District + 1 at-large	14	8	2	6	2
Indiana^{[Note 5]}	District	11	6	1	5	1
Iowa^{[Note 5]}	District	6	6		0
Kansas	At-large	1	1		0
Kentucky	District	9	0		9
Louisiana	District	5	5		0
Maine^{[Note 5]}	District	5	5		0
Maryland	District	5	0		5
Massachusetts	District	10	10		0
Michigan	District	6	5	1	1	1
Minnesota	District	2	2	1	0	1
Missouri	District	9	5^{[Note 8]}	2	4	2
Nebraska^{[Note 5]}	At-large	1	1		0
Nevada	At-large	1	0	1	1	1
New Hampshire^{[Note 7]}	District	3	0	3	3	3
New Jersey	District	5	3	1	2	1
New York	District	31	15	3	16	3
North Carolina^{[Note 5]}	District	7	2	4	5	4
Ohio^{[Note 5]}	District	19	14	1	5	1
Oregon^{[Note 5]}	At-large	1	0		1
Pennsylvania^{[Note 5]}	District	24	13^{[Note 9]}	3	11	3
Rhode Island	District	2	2		0
South Carolina^{[Note 5]}	District	4	4		0
Tennessee	District	8	2	6	6	6
Texas^{[Note 7]}	District	4	0	3	4	3
Vermont^{[Note 5]}	District	3	3		0
Virginia	District	8	3		5	5^{[Note 10]}
West Virginia^{[Note 5]}	District	3	1	2	2	2
Wisconsin	District	6	4	1	2	1
Total		243	139^{[Note 4]} 57.2%	32	104 42.8%	37

House seats

Republican			57.20%
Democratic			42.80%

The previous election included 5 Conservatives

Election dates

In 1845, Congress passed a law providing for a uniform nationwide date for choosing Presidential electors.^[1] This law did not affect election dates for Congress, which remained within the jurisdiction of State governments, but over time, the States moved their Congressional elections to this date as well. In 1870, there remained 12 States that held elections before Election Day, and 4 that held it after at this time:

Early elections:
- December 1, 1869 Mississippi
  - Mississippi was a special case, having held elections for both the 41st Congress upon readmission and for the 42nd Congress on the same day
- June 6 Oregon
- August 4 North Carolina
- September 6 Vermont
- September 12 Maine
- October 11 Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio, Pennsylvania
- October 25 West Virginia
- November 1 South Carolina
Late elections:
- March 14, 1871 New Hampshire
- April 4, 1871 Connecticut
- September 6, 1871 California
- October 6, 1871 Texas

All Races

California

District	Incumbent	Party	Elected	Status	Opponent
California 1	Samuel Beach Axtell	Democratic	1867	Incumbent retired. Republican Gain	√ Sherman O. Houghton (Republican) 51.6% Lawrence Archer (Democratic) 48.4%
California 2	Aaron Augustus Sargent	Republican	1868	Incumbent re-elected	√ Aaron Augustus Sargent (Republican) 54% James W. Coffroth (Democratic) 46%
California 3	James A. Johnson	Democratic	1867	Incumbent retired. Republican gain	√ John M. Coghlan (Republican) 51.7% George Pearce (Democratic) 48.3%

Florida

District	Incumbent	Party	First elected	Result	Candidates
Florida at-large	Charles M. Hamilton	Republican	1868	Incumbent retired. Republican hold	√ Josiah T. Walls (Republican) 51.3% Silas L. Niblack (Democratic) 48.7%

Niblack subsequently successfully challenged Walls' election, and took Florida's at-large seat on January 29, 1873.^[2]

Ohio

District	Incumbent	Party	First elected	Result	Candidates^[3]
Ohio 1	Peter W. Strader	Democratic	1868	Incumbent retired. Republican gain	<templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> √ Aaron F. Perry (Republican) 52.4% Milton Sayler (Democratic) 47.6%
Ohio 2	Job E. Stevenson	Republican	1868	Incumbent re-elected.	<templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> √ Job E. Stevenson (Republican) 54.5% Samuel F. Cary (Democratic) 45.5%
Ohio 3	Robert C. Schenck	Republican	1862	Incumbent lost re-election. Democratic gain	<templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> √ Lewis D. Campbell (Democratic) 50.1% Robert C. Schenck (Republican) 49.9%
Ohio 4	William Lawrence	Republican	1864	Incumbent retired. Democratic gain	<templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> √ John F. McKinney (Democratic) 50.5% William B. McClung (Republican) 49.5%
Ohio 5	William Mungen	Democratic	1866	Incumbent retired. Democratic hold	<templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> √ Charles N. Lamison (Democratic) 57.4% John B. Clark (Republican) 42.6%
Ohio 6	John Armstrong Smith	Republican	1868	Incumbent re-elected.	<templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> √ John Armstrong Smith (Republican) 50.8% James W. Denver (Democratic) 49.2%
Ohio 7	James J. Winans	Republican	1868	Lost renomination Republican hold	<templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> √ Samuel Shellabarger (Republican) 52.8% Hugh J. Jewett (Democratic) 47.2%
Ohio 8	John Beatty	Republican	1868 (s)	Incumbent re-elected.	<templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> √ John Beatty (Republican) 52.9% James Randolph Hubbell (Democratic) 47.1%
Ohio 9	Edward F. Dickinson	Democratic	1868	Incumbent lost re-election. Republican gain	<templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> √ Charles Foster (Republican) 51.5% Edward F. Dickinson (Democratic) 48.5%
Ohio 10	Erasmus D. Peck	Republican	1870 (s)	Incumbent re-elected.	<templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> √ Erasmus D. Peck (Republican) 52.5% William F. Lockwood (Democratic) 47.5%
Ohio 11	John Thomas Wilson	Republican	1866	Incumbent re-elected.	<templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> √ John Thomas Wilson (Republican) 52.4% Ralph Leete (Democratic) 47.6%
Ohio 12	Philadelph Van Trump	Democratic	1866	Incumbent re-elected.	<templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> √ Philadelph Van Trump (Democratic) 57.9% Charles Elwood Brown (Republican) 42.1%
Ohio 13	George W. Morgan	Democratic	1868	Incumbent re-elected.	<templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> √ George W. Morgan (Democratic) 54.1% Charles W. Potwin (Republican) 45.9%
Ohio 14	Martin Welker	Republican	1864	Incumbent retired. Republican hold	<templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> √ James Monroe (Republican) 51.5% Lyman R. Critchfield (Democratic) 48.5%
Ohio 15	Eliakim H. Moore	Republican	1868	Incumbent retired. Republican hold	<templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> √ William P. Sprague (Republican) 51.6% John Cartwright (Democratic) 48.4%
Ohio 16	John Bingham	Republican	1864	Incumbent re-elected.	<templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> √ John Bingham (Republican) 52.4% Robert A. Chambers (Democratic) 47.6%
Ohio 17	Jacob A. Ambler	Republican	1868	Incumbent re-elected.	<templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> √ Jacob A. Ambler (Republican) 55.1% John Ball (Republican) 44.9%
Ohio 18	William H. Upson	Republican	1868	Incumbent re-elected.	<templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> √ William H. Upson (Republican) 62.2% John M. Coffinberry (Democratic) 37.8%
Ohio 19	James A. Garfield	Republican	1862	Incumbent re-elected.	<templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> √ James A. Garfield (Republican) 65.1% William Howard (Democratic) 34.9%

Notes

↑ Majority of states held elections on November 8, 1870 (i.e. Election Day).
↑ Includes 1 Independent Republican.
↑ Note that Dubin (p. 221) records 9–10 "Conservatives", and approximately 94 Democrats, as being elected to the 42nd Congress. This contrasts with Martis (pp. 124–125) which offers no separate accounting of "Conservatives" from Democrats and thus records a total of 104 Democratic members of the 42nd Congress.
↑ ^4.0 ^4.1 Includes 2 Liberal Republicans and 1 Independent Republican.
↑ ^5.00 ^5.01 ^5.02 ^5.03 ^5.04 ^5.05 ^5.06 ^5.07 ^5.08 ^5.09 ^5.10 ^5.11 Elections held early.
↑ Elections held at the same time as elections for 41st Congress.
↑ ^7.0 ^7.1 ^7.2 ^7.3 Elections held late.
↑ Includes 2 Liberal Republicans: Gustavus A. Finkelnburg elected to A, and James G. Blair elected to A.
↑ Includes 1 Independent Republican, John V. Creely, elected to A.
↑ Previous election had 5 Conservatives.

References

↑ Statutes at Large, 28th Congress, 2nd Session, p. 721.
↑ Forty-Second Congress (membership roster)
↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

Bibliography

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External links

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

[1] Majority of states held elections on November 8, 1870 (i.e. Election Day).

[IR-2] Includes 1 Independent Republican.

[Dubin-3] Note that Dubin (p. 221) records 9–10 "Conservatives", and approximately 94 Democrats, as being elected to the 42nd Congress. This contrasts with Martis (pp. 124–125) which offers no separate accounting of "Conservatives" from Democrats and thus records a total of 104 Democratic members of the 42nd Congress.

[Rs-4] 4.0 ^4.1 Includes 2 Liberal Republicans and 1 Independent Republican.

[early-5] 5.00 ^5.01 ^5.02 ^5.03 ^5.04 ^5.05 ^5.06 ^5.07 ^5.08 ^5.09 ^5.10 ^5.11 Elections held early.

[6] Elections held at the same time as elections for 41st Congress.

[late2-7] 7.0 ^7.1 ^7.2 ^7.3 Elections held late.

[8] Includes 2 Liberal Republicans: Gustavus A. Finkelnburg elected to A, and James G. Blair elected to A.

[9] Includes 1 Independent Republican, John V. Creely, elected to A.

[10] Previous election had 5 Conservatives.

[11] Statutes at Large, 28th Congress, 2nd Session, p. 721.

[roster-12] Forty-Second Congress (membership roster)

[13] Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

[Note 1]

[Note 2]

[Note 3]

[Note 4]

[Note 5]

[Note 6]

[Note 7]

[Note 8]

[Note 9]

[Note 10]

[1]

[2]

[3]

United States House of Representatives elections, 1870 and 1871

Contents

Overall results

Election summaries

Election dates

All Races

California

Florida

Ohio

See also

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links

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