| Election Name: | 1856–57 United States Senate elections |
| Country: | United States |
| Flag Year: | 1851 |
| Type: | legislative |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1854–55 United States Senate elections |
| Next Election: | 1858–59 United States Senate elections |
| Seats For Election: | 21 of the 62 seats in the United States Senate (with special elections) |
| Majority Seats: | 32 |
| Election Date: | Various dates |
| 1Blank: | Seats up |
| Party1: | Democratic Party (US) |
| Last Election1: | 33 seats |
| Seats Before1: | 37 |
| Seats1: | 9 |
| Seats After1: | 34 |
| Seat Change1: | 3 |
| 1Data1: | 12 |
| Party2: | Republican Party (US) |
| Last Election2: | 3 seats |
| Seats Before2: | 11 |
| Seats2: | 10 |
| Seats After2: | 18 |
| Seat Change2: | 7 |
| 1Data2: | 3 |
| Party3: | Whig Party (US) |
| Last Election3: | 20 seats |
| Seats Before3: | 8 |
| Seats3: | 0 |
| Seats After3: | 3 |
| Seat Change3: | 5 |
| 1Data3: | 5 |
| Party4: | Know Nothing |
| Last Election4: | 1 seat |
| Seats Before4: | 1 |
| Seats4: | 1 |
| Seats After4: | 2 |
| Seat Change4: | 1 |
| 1Data4: | 0 |
| Party5: | Free Soil Party |
| Last Election5: | 2 seats |
| Seats Before5: | 2 |
| Seats5: | 0 |
| Seats After5: | 1 |
| Seat Change5: | 1 |
| 1Data5: | 1 |
| Majority Party | |
| Before Party: | Democratic Party (US) |
| After Party: | Democratic Party (US) |
| Map Size: | 380px |
The 1856–57 United States Senate elections were held on various dates in various states. As these U.S. Senate elections were prior to the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, senators were chosen by state legislatures. Senators were elected over a wide range of time throughout 1856 and 1857, and a seat may have been filled months late or remained vacant due to legislative deadlock.[1] In these elections, terms were up for the senators in Class 1.
The young Republican Party assumed its position as one of the United States's two main political parties. The Whigs and Free Soilers were gone by the time the next Congress began.
Senate party division, 35th Congress (1857–1859)
After the January 14, 1856 special election in Pennsylvania.
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In these elections, the winners were seated during 1856 or in 1857 before March 4; ordered by election date.
| State | Incumbent | Results | Candidates | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Senator | Party | Electoral history | ||||||
| Pennsylvania (Class 3) | Vacant | Legislature had failed to elect. Winner elected January 14, 1856. Democratic gain. | nowrap | |||||
| Missouri (Class 3) | Vacant | Legislature had failed to elect. Winner elected January 12, 1857. Democratic gain. | nowrap | |||||
| California (Class 3) | Vacant | Legislature had failed to elect. Incumbent was then elected January 13, 1857. Democratic gain. | nowrap | |||||
| Delaware (Class 2) | Joseph P. Comegys | Whig | 1856 | Interim appointee retired. Winner elected January 14, 1857. Democratic gain. | nowrap | |||
| Maine (Class 1) | Hannibal Hamlin | Democratic | 1856 | Incumbent resigned to become Governor of Maine. Winner elected January 16, 1857. Republican gain. Winner was not elected to the next term, see below. | nowrap | |||
| Iowa (Class 3) | James Harlan | Free Soil | 1855 | Election invalidated January 5, 1857. Incumbent re-elected January 29, 1857 to a different party. Republican gain. | nowrap | |||
| Indiana (Class 3) | Vacant | Legislature had failed to elect. Winner elected February 4, 1857. Democratic gain. | nowrap | |||||
In these general elections, the winners were elected for the term beginning March 4, 1857; ordered by state.
All of the elections involved the Class 1 seats.
| State | Incumbent | Results | Candidates | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Senator | Party | Electoral history | ||||||||
| California | John B. Weller | Democratic | nowrap | 1852 | Incumbent lost re-election. Winner elected in 1856. Democratic hold. | nowrap | ||||
| Connecticut | Isaac Toucey | Democratic | nowrap | 1852 | Incumbent retired. Winner elected in 1856. Republican gain. | nowrap | ||||
| Delaware | James A. Bayard Jr. | Democratic | nowrap | 1851 | Incumbent re-elected in 1857. | nowrap | ||||
| Florida | Stephen Mallory | Democratic | 1851 | Incumbent re-elected in 1857. | nowrap | |||||
| Indiana | Jesse D. Bright | Democratic | nowrap | 1844 1850 | Incumbent re-elected in 1856. | nowrap | ||||
| Maine | Amos Nourse | Republican | nowrap | 1857 | Unknown if incumbent lost re-election or retired. Winner elected in 1857. Republican hold. | nowrap | ||||
| Maryland | Thomas Pratt | Whig | nowrap | 1850 1851 | Unknown if incumbent lost re-election or retired. Winner elected in 1856 or 1857. Know Nothing gain. | nowrap | ||||
| Massachusetts | Charles Sumner | Free Soil | nowrap | 1851 | Incumbent re-elected in 1857 to a different party. Republican gain. | nowrap | ||||
| Michigan | Lewis Cass | Democratic | nowrap | 1844 or 1845 1848 1849 | Unknown if incumbent lost re-election or retired. Winner elected in January 1857. Republican gain. | nowrap | ||||
| Mississippi | Stephen Adams | Democratic | nowrap | 1852 | Unknown if incumbent lost re-election or retired. Winner elected in 1856 or 1857. Democratic hold. | nowrap | ||||
| Missouri | Henry S. Geyer | Whig | nowrap | 1851 | Incumbent retired. Winner elected in 1857. Democratic gain. | nowrap | ||||
| New Jersey | John Renshaw Thomson | Democratic | nowrap | 1853 | Incumbent re-elected in 1857. | nowrap | ||||
| New York | Hamilton Fish | Whig | nowrap | 1851 | Incumbent retired. Winner elected February 3, 1857. Republican gain. | nowrap | ||||
| Ohio | Benjamin Wade | Republican | nowrap | 1851 | Incumbent re-elected in 1856. | nowrap | ||||
| Pennsylvania | Richard Brodhead | Democratic | nowrap | 1851 | Unknown if incumbent lost re-election or retired. Winner elected January 13, 1857. Republican gain. | nowrap | ||||
| Rhode Island | Charles T. James | Democratic | nowrap | 1850 or 1851 | Incumbent retired. Winner elected in 1856. Republican gain. | nowrap | ||||
| Tennessee | James C. Jones | Whig | nowrap | 1851 | Incumbent retired. Legislature failed to elect. Whig loss. Seat would remain vacant until October 8, 1857, see below. | nowrap | ||||
| Texas | Thomas J. Rusk | Democratic | nowrap | 1846 1851 | Incumbent re-elected in 1857. | nowrap | ||||
| Vermont | Solomon Foot | Republican | nowrap | 1850 | Incumbent re-elected in 1856. | nowrap | ||||
| Virginia | James M. Mason | Democratic | nowrap | 1847 1850 | Incumbent re-elected in 1856. | nowrap | ||||
| Wisconsin | Henry Dodge | Democratic | nowrap | 1848 1851 | Incumbent retired. Winner elected in 1857. Republican gain. | nowrap | ||||
In these elections, the winners were elected in 1857 after March 4; ordered by election date.
| State | Incumbent | Results | Candidates | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Senator | Party | Electoral history | |||||||
| New Hampshire (Class 3) | James Bell | Republican | 1855 | Incumbent died May 25, 1857. Winner elected June 27, 1857. Republican hold. | nowrap | ||||
| Tennessee (Class 1) | Vacant | Legislature had failed to elect. Winner elected October 8, 1857. Democratic gain. | nowrap | ||||||
| South Carolina (Class 3) | Andrew Butler | Democratic | 1846 ? 1848 1854 | Incumbent died May 25, 1857. Winner elected December 7, 1857. Democratic hold. | nowrap | ||||
See also: List of United States senators from Maryland.
| Election Name: | 1857 United States Senate election in Maryland |
| Popular Vote1: | - |
| Colour1: | D99FE8 |
| Percentage1: | -% |
| Party1: | Whig Party (United States) |
| Candidate1: | Anthony Kennedy |
| Image1: | Senator Anthony Kennedy, standing.jpg |
| Next Year: | 1863 |
| Next Election: | 1863 United States Senate election in Maryland |
| Previous Year: | 1851 |
| Previous Election: | 1851 United States Senate election in Maryland |
| Votes For Election: | 80 members of the Maryland General Assembly |
| Vote Type: | Legislative |
| Election Date: | 1857 |
| Type: | presidential |
Anthony Kennedy won election by an unknown margin of votes, for the Class 1 seat.[2]
See main article: United States Senate election in New York, 1857. The New York election was held February 3, 1857, by the New York State Legislature. Whig Hamilton Fish had been elected in 1851 to this seat, and his term would expire on March 3, 1857.
In 1855, the Whig Party and the Anti-Nebraska Party merged in New York to form the Republican Party.
At the State election in November 1855, 16 Republicans, 11 Americans, 4 Democrats and 1 Temperance man were elected for a two-year term (1856–1857) in the State Senate. At the State election in November 1856, 81 Republicans, 31 Democrats and 8 Americans were elected to the Assembly for the session of 1857. The 80th New York State Legislature met from January 6 to April 18, 1857, at Albany, New York.
Preston King was nominated by a caucus of Republican State legislators. King had been a Democratic congressman from 1843 to 1847, a Free Soil congressman from 1849 to 1853, and had joined the Republican Party upon its foundation at the State convention in September 1855. The convention nominated King for Secretary of State, but he was defeated by Joel T. Headley in a four-way race. Secretary of State Joel T. Headley was the candidate of the American Party. State Senator Daniel E. Sickles was the candidate of the Democratic Party.
In the Assembly the vote confirmed the party caucus selections. When State Senator Sickles received votes, the same objection to his eligibility was raised as was in 1833 regarding Nathaniel P. Tallmadge. This time, Speaker DeWitt C. Littlejohn ruled that the objection was "partially tenable and partially not so." However, the Speaker held that any member could vote for anybody, and only if the candidate received sufficient votes to win the election, a decision would be required. Otherwise, like in this case, the eligibility of an also-ran was irrelevant.
In the State Senate, only 24 votes were given. Zenas Clark (Rep.) and John B. Halsted (Rep.) were sick at home. Eaton J. Richardson (Rep.) paired with Sidney Sweet (Am.). Joseph H. Petty (Am.) was absent. William Kelly (Dem.), Mark Spencer (Dem.), and the Democratic candidate Sickles himself, declined to vote.
State Senator Justin A. Smith (Am.) raised the question if the vote for Sickles could be counted. A new State Constitution had been adopted in 1846, which had clarified the question of eligibility of State legislators. Smith quoted from the State Constitution: "No member of the Legislature shall receive any civil appointment within this State, or to the Senate of the United States, from the Governor, the Governor and Senate, or from the Legislature, during the term for which he shall have been elected; and all votes given for any such member, for any such office or appointment, shall be void." Lt. Gov. Henry R. Selden (later a judge of the New York Court of Appeals) decided to count the vote, holding that the United States Constitution described the eligibility for the office and devolved on the State legislatures only the power to prescribe the "times, places and manners of holding the elections for that office", thus not implying a right for the State governments to exclude any person who would be eligible under the U.S. Constitution.[3]
Preston King was the choice of both the Assembly and the Senate, and was declared elected.
| House | Republican | Democrat | American | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State Senate (32 members) | Preston King | 14 | Daniel E. Sickles | 1 | Joel T. Headley | 9 | ||
| State Assembly (128 members) | Preston King | 77 | Daniel E. Sickles | 33 | Joel T. Headley | 6 | ||
See main article: 1856 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania. The Class 3 election was held on January 14, 1856. William Bigler was elected by the Pennsylvania General Assembly to the United States Senate.[4]
The Pennsylvania General Assembly had previously convened on February 13, 1855, for the regularly scheduled Senate election for the term beginning on March 4, 1855. Two ballots were recorded on February 13, followed by three on February 27, 1855. On the fifth and final ballot during this convention, former Senator Simon Cameron had led with 55 votes to future Senator Charles R. Buckalew's 23. No candidate was elected, however, and the hung election convention adjourned by a vote of 66 to 65. Upon the expiration of incumbent James Cooper's term on March 4, 1855, the seat was vacated and would remain vacant until William Bigler's election in January 1856.[5]
On January 14, 1856, the election convention of the General Assembly re-convened and elected Democratic former Governor of Pennsylvania William Bigler on the first ballot to serve the remainder of the term that began on March 4, 1855, and would expire on March 4, 1861. The results of the vote of both houses combined are as follows:
|-| colspan="3" align="right" | Totals| align="right" | 133| align="right" | 100.00%
See main article: 1856 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania.
The Class 1 election in Pennsylvania was held on January 13, 1857. Simon Cameron was elected by the Pennsylvania General Assembly to the United States Senate.[6]
The Pennsylvania General Assembly convened on January 13, 1857, to elect a Senator to serve the term beginning on March 4, 1857. The results of the vote of both houses combined are as follows:
|-bgcolor="#EEEEEE"| colspan="3" align="right" | Totals| align="right" | 133| align="right" | 100.00%