United States Senate elections, 1856

The United States Senate election of 1856 was an election which had the young Republican Party

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...

assume its position as one of the United States's two main political parties.

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

35th Congress

35th United States Congress

The 35th 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, 1857 to March 3, 1859, during the first two years of James...

, 1857-1859

Majority Party: Democratic (41)
Minority Party: Republican (20)
Other Parties: 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...

(5)
Total Seats: 66

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	V	A	O
O	O	O	O	O	O	O	O	O	O
O	O	O	O	O	O	O	O	O	O
R

In the next Congress 35th United States Congress The 35th 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, 1857 to March 3, 1859, during the first two years of James...
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	V	A	A	A	A
A	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R
R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R
R

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...
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...
V	= Vacant

EWLINE

Majority

divider

Results

Change in Senate composition

See also