United States Senate elections, 1854

The United States Senate election of 1854 was an election which, after the dissolution of the Whig Party

Whig Party (United States)

The Whig Party was a political party of the United States during the era of Jacksonian democracy. Considered integral to the Second Party System and operating from the early 1830s to the mid-1850s, the party was formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his Democratic...

, had a coalition of former Whigs known as the Opposition Party

Opposition Party (United States)

The Opposition Party in the United States is a label with two different applications in Congressional history, as a majority party in Congress 1854-58, and as a Third Party in the South 1858-1860....

.

As this election was prior to ratification of the seventeenth amendment

Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

The Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution established direct election of United States Senators by popular vote. The amendment supersedes Article I, § 3, Clauses 1 and 2 of the Constitution, under which senators were elected by state legislatures...

, Senators were chosen by State legislatures.

Results

34th Congress

34th United States Congress

The Thirty-fourth United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1855 to March 4, 1857, during the last two years...

, 1855-1857

Majority Party: Democratic (39)
Minority Party: Opposition (21)
Other Parties: Republican (1);American
Know Nothing
The Know Nothing was a movement by the nativist American political faction of the 1840s and 1850s. It was empowered by popular fears that the country was being overwhelmed by German and Irish Catholic immigrants, who were often regarded as hostile to Anglo-Saxon Protestant values and controlled by...

(1)
Total Seats: 62

Change in Senate composition

Before the elections
D
D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D
D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D
D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D
D
D	D	D	D	D	D	D	F	F	O
O	O	O	O	O	O	O	O	O	O
O	O	O	O	O	O	O	O	O	O
O

In the next Congress 34th United States Congress The Thirty-fourth United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1855 to March 4, 1857, during the last two years...
D
D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D
D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D
D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D
D
D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	A	R
O	O	O	O	O	O	O	O	O	O
O	O	O	O	O	O	O	O	O	O
O

Key:

A	= American
D	= Democratic Democratic Party (United States) The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
F	= Free Soil
O	= Opposition Opposition Party (United States) The Opposition Party in the United States is a label with two different applications in Congressional history, as a majority party in Congress 1854-58, and as a Third Party in the South 1858-1860....
R	= Republican Republican Party (United States) The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

EWLINE

Majority

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