United States House of Representatives elections, 1874

United States House of Representatives elections, 1874

November 3, 1874[Note 1]

All 293[Note 2] seats to the United States House of Representatives 147 seats were needed for a majority   Majority party Minority party   Leader Michael Kerr James Blaine Party Democratic Republican Leader's seat Indiana-3rd Maine-3rd Last election 89 seats[Note 3] 199 seats[Note 4] Seats won 183[1][Note 5] 106[1][Note 6] Seat change 94 93

Speaker before election James Blaine Republican Elected Speaker Michael Kerr Democratic Party (United States) Map of U.S. House elections results from 1874 elections for 44th Congress

Elections to the United States House of Representatives were held in 1874 and 1875 for Representatives to the 44th Congress, occurring in the middle of President Ulysses S. Grant's second term with a deep economic depression underway. It was an important turning point, as the Republicans lost heavily and the Democrats gained control of the House. It signaled the imminent end of Reconstruction, which Democrats opposed. Historians emphasize the factors of economic depression and attacks on the Grant administration for corruption as key factors in the vote.^[2]

With the election following the Panic of 1873, Grant's Republican Party was crushed in the elections, losing their majority and almost half their seats to the Democratic Party. This was the first period of Democratic control since the pre-war era. The economic crisis and the inability of Grant to find a solution led to his party's defeat. This was the second-largest swing in the history of the House (only behind the 1894 elections), and is the largest House loss in the history of the Republican Party.

In the south, the Democrats and Conservatives continued their systematic destruction of the Republican coalition. In the South, Scalawags moved into the Democratic Party. The Democratic landslide signaled the imminent end of Reconstruction, which Democrats opposed and a realignment of the Republican coalition that had dominated American politics since the late 1850s.^[3]

While the ongoing end of Reconstruction in the South was one of the main reasons for the shift, turn-of-the-century historian James Ford Rhodes explored the multiple causes of the results in the North:^[4]

"In the fall elections of 1874 the issue was clearly defined: Did the Republican President Ulysses S. Grant and Congress deserve the confidence of the country? and the answer was unmistakably No....

"The Democrats had won a signal victory, obtaining control of the next House of Representatives which would stand Democrats 168, Liberals and Independents 14, Republicans 108 as against the two-thirds Republican majority secured by the election of 1872. Since 1861 the Republicans had controlled the House and now with its loss came a decrease in their majority in the Senate....

Rhodes continues:

"The political revolution from 1872 to 1874 was due to the failure of the Southern policy of the Republican party, to the Credit Mobilier and Sanborn contract scandals, to corrupt and inefficient administration in many departments and to the persistent advocacy of Grant by some close friends and hangers-on for a third presidential term. Some among the opposition were influenced by the President's backsliding in the cause of civil service reform, and others by the failure of the Republican party to grapple successfully with the financial question. The depression, following the financial Panic of 1873, and the number of men consequently out of employment weighed in the scale against the party in power. In Ohio, the result was affected by the temperance crusade in the early part of the year. Bands of women of good social standing marched to saloons before which or in which they sang hymns and, kneeling down, prayed that the great evil of drink might be removed. Sympathizing men wrought with them in causing the strict law of the State against the sale of strong liquor to be rigidly enforced. Since Republicans were in the main the instigators of the movement, it alienated from their party a large portion of the German American vote."

Election summaries

Colorado was admitted as a State in 1876 adding one new seat.^[5] Colorado held two elections in 1876, one for the last part of the 44th Congress, and the second, in November, for the 45th Congress.

State	Type	Total seats	Democratic	Republican	Independent
			Seats	Change	Seats	Change	Seats	Change
Alabama	District + 2 at-large	8	6	4	2	4	0
Arkansas	District[Note 7]	4	4	4	0	4	0
California[Note 8]	District	4	3	2	1	2	0
Colorado[Note 9]	At-large	1	0		1	1	0
Connecticut[Note 8]	District	4	3	2	1	2	0
Delaware	At-large	1	1	1	0	1	0
Florida	District[Note 10]	2	1	1	1	1	0
Georgia[Note 11]	District	9	9[Note 5]	2	0	2	0
Illinois	District	19	11	6	6	8	2	2
Indiana[Note 11]	District[Note 7]	13	8	5	5	5	0
Iowa[Note 11]	District	9	1	1	8	1	0
Kansas	District[Note 10]	3	1	1	2	1	0
Kentucky	District	10	9	1	1	1	0
Louisiana	District[Note 7]	6	4	3	2	2	0
Maine[Note 11]	District	5	0		5		0
Maryland	District	6	6	2	0	2	0
Massachusetts	District	11	5	5	4	7	2	2
Michigan	District	9	3	3	6	3	0
Minnesota	District	3	0		3		0
Mississippi	District	6	4	3	2[Note 12]	3	0
Missouri	District	13	13	4	0	4	0
Nebraska[Note 11]	At-large	1	0		1		0
Nevada	At-large	1	0	1	1	1	0
New Hampshire[Note 8]	District	3	2	1	1	1	0
New Jersey	District	7	5	4	2	4	0
New York	District[Note 7]	33	17	8	16[Note 12]	8	0
North Carolina[Note 11]	District	8	7	2	1	2	0
Ohio[Note 11]	District	20	13	7	7	7	0
Oregon[Note 11]	At-large	1	1	1	0	1	0
Pennsylvania	District[Note 7]	27	17	12	10	12	0
Rhode Island	District	2	0		2		0
South Carolina	District[Note 7]	5	0		5		0
Tennessee	District[Note 7]	10	9	6	1	6	0
Texas	District[Note 7]	6	6		0		0
Vermont[Note 11]	District	3	0		3[Note 12]		0
Virginia	District	9	8	4	1	4	0
West Virginia[Note 11]	District	3	3	1	0	1	0
Wisconsin	District	8	3	1	5	1	0
Total		293[Note 2]	183[Note 5] 62.5%	94	106[Note 6] 36.2%	93	4 1.4%	4

Election dates

In 1845, Congress passed a law providing for a uniform nationwide date for choosing Presidential electors.^[6] 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 1874–75, there were still 10 states with earlier election dates, and 3 states with later election dates:

• Early elections (1874):
  • June 1 Oregon
  • August 6 North Carolina
  • September 1 Vermont
  • September 14 Maine
  • October 7 Georgia
  • October 13 Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio, West Virginia
• Late elections (1875):
  • March 9, 1875 New Hampshire
  • April 5, 1875 Connecticut
  • September 7, 1875 California

In addition, Colorado held its first election some time in 1876.

All races

California

Florida

In the 2nd district, Jesse J. Finley (D) successfully challenged the election of Josiah T. Walls (R) and took his seat April 19, 1876

South Carolina

In the 2nd district, Charles W. Buttz (R) successfully challenged the election of Edmund W. M. Mackey (IR). The seat was declared vacant July 19, 1876 and was filled in a special election held at the same time as the general election, which was won by Buttz.

See also

• United States elections, 1874
  • United States Senate elections, 1874 and 1875
• 43rd United States Congress
• 44th United States Congress

Notes

References

Bibliography

• Dubin, Michael J. (March 1, 1998). United States Congressional Elections, 1788-1997: The Official Results of the Elections of the 1st Through 105th Congresses. McFarland and Company. ISBN 978-0786402830. 
• Martis, Kenneth C. (January 1, 1989). The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress, 1789-1989. Macmillan Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0029201701. 
• Moore, John L., ed. (1994). Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections (Third ed.). Congressional Quarterly Inc. ISBN 978-0871879967. 
• "Party Divisions of the House of Representatives* 1789–Present". Office of the Historian, House of United States House of Representatives. Retrieved January 21, 2015. 

External links

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