The 1862âÂÂ63 United States Senate elections were held from January 4, 1862, to November 13, 1863. Regularly scheduled elections were held for 20 out of the 70 seats in the United States Senate, and special elections were held in Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, Oregon, and Rhode Island. The Republican-Union coalition kept the majority they had held since 1861 despite an unfavorable national environment.
U.S. senators are divided into three classes whose six-year terms are staggered, such that one-third of the Senate is elected every two years. Senators in Class 1 were elected in 1862 and 1863. Prior to ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment, senators were elected by the U.S. state legislatures. There was no fixed calendar, and states held elections on various dates preceding the first session of Congress. In states with split partisan control of the legislature, multiple rounds of voting could be required to elect a senator, leading to extended vacancies.
The elections took place against the backdrop of civil war and emancipation in what was the first real test of Democratic opposition to the Lincoln administration. The war disrupted established party systems in the free states and the loyal border states, resulting in a partial political realignment. In the Lower North, Republicans and War Democrats contested these elections as the Union Party, while Republicans maintained a separate organization in New England and the Upper Midwest. In Massachusetts and Rhode Island, conservative opponents of the Republicans formed new political parties composed of most Democrats and Constitutional Unionists. In the border states, Unionists were ascendant but internally divided over issues relating to slavery and Reconstruction, resulting in protracted legislative battles in Missouri and West Virginia.
Emancipation and the status of freedpeople were major issues during the campaign and a significant factor in party alignments. Lincoln's initial plan of gradual, compensated emancipation paired with the colonization of freedpeople outside the United States was jointly rejected by abolitionists who favored immediate, unqualified emancipation, and by Democrats and conservatives who opposed emancipation altogether. Radical Republican opposition to any compromise with slavery was the catalyst for the formation of the People's Party in Massachusetts, who campaigned in support of Lincoln's proposal. The manner and timing of emancipation split the Missouri unionist movement, leading radical Immediate Emancipationists to organize the Radical Union Party in September 1863. The appearance of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation in September 1862 interrupted the campaign and undercut the momentum of pro-Lincoln conservatives. Democrats attempted to capitalize on racist backlash to the proclamation, warning that emancipation would precipitate slave rebellions and large-scale Black migration to the free states, and charging the administration of prolonging the war in service of religious fanaticism. While Radical Republicans celebrated the proclamation, Moderates and Conservatives feared the president's policy spelled electoral defeat. In Ohio, Republican-Unionists avoided mention of slavery in their state platform, and the Indiana Union Party called for the restoration of the Union with the rights of the states fully intact.
While Democrats made significant gains in the concurrent elections for the House of Representatives and won important state races in Illinois, Indiana, and New York, the party failed to improve its standing in the Senate and instead suffered a net loss of seats. Republican-Unionists flipped Democratic-held seats in California, Oregon, and Minnesota, while Democrats flipped Republican-held seats in Illinois and Pennsylvania. In Indiana and New Jersey, Democrats defeated Republican-Union incumbents appointed to fill vacancies caused by the expulsion or death of a Democratic senator less than a year before the election. Radical Unionists gained both Missouri seats held by Democrats prior to 1862, and Constitutional Unionists flipped a Republican-held seat in Rhode Island. No election was held in Tennessee following the resignation of Democrat Andrew Johnson, increasing the number of vacancies to 20.
The death of James A. Pearce of Maryland reduced the Democratic caucus to nine seats before the start of the 38th Congress. The Missouri Radical Unionists, both Union senators from West Virginia, and Constitutional Unionist William Sprague of Rhode Island subsequently caucused with the Republican-Union majority, increasing their caucus to 36 seats.
Each block represents one of the 68 seats in the U.S. Senate. (The admission of West Virginia on June 20, 1863, increased the number of seats in the Senate to 70.) "CU" is a Constitutional Union senator, "D" is a Democratic senator, "Rad" is a Radical Union senator, "R" is a Republican senator, "RU" is a Republican-Union senator, "U" is a Union senator, and "V" is a vacant seat. They are arranged so that the parties are separated, and a majority is clear by crossing the middle.
Unionist Thomas H. Hicks was appointed to fill the vacancy created by the death of James A. Pearce of Maryland, flipping the seat from Democratic to Union.
Five senators elected as border state Unionists (Peter G. Van Winkle and Waitman T. Willey of West Virginia), Radical Unionists (B. Gratz Brown and John B. Henderson of Missouri), or Constitutional Unionists (William Sprague of Rhode Island) caucused with the Republican-Union majority after the start of the 38th Congress, increasing their caucus to 36 seats.
Special elections were held to fill six vacancies in the 37th United States Congress.
Eighteen senators were elected for the term beginning March 4, 1863.
In these elections, the winners were elected in 1863 after March 4; ordered by election date.
Incumbent Democrat Milton Latham was elected in 1860 to fill the vacancy created by the death of David C. Broderick. He was not a candidate for re-election.
The Union members of the legislature held a caucus from January 13 to February 9, 1863. Timothy G. Phelps, John Conness, Aaron A. Sargent, and Trenor W. Park were the major candidates. Phelps led on the first ballot, but without a majority. During the balloting, an internal inquiry found that Phelps's supporters had offered bribes to several members in exchange for their votes. Although Phelps denied the allegations, the stigma of corruption in effect ended his candidacy. Conness was nominated on the final ballot with 60 votes to 29 for Sargent, three for Phelps, and eight for other candidates.
The California State Legislature met in joint session on February 10, 1863, to hold an election for the next term. Conness defeated the Democratic candidate Benjamin Shurtleff on the first ballot.
One-term Republican James Dixon was elected in 1856.
The Union members of the legislature held a caucus on May 15, 1862. Dixon, William A. Buckingham, Roger S. Baldwin, and Orris S. Ferry were the leading candidates. Dixon defeated the other candidates on the first ballot.
The Senate and the House of Representatives met separately on May 22, 1862, to hold an election for the next term. Dixon defeated the Democratic candidate Charles Chapman on the first ballot.
Two-term Democrat James A. Bayard was re-elected in 1857.
A coalition of Republicans and War Democrats organized the Union Party in Delaware ahead of the 1862 state elections. Unionist William Cannon won the 1862 Delaware gubernatorial election, but Democrats retained narrow majorities in both chambers of the legislature.
The Delaware General Assembly met in joint session on January 8, 1863, to hold an election for the next term. Bayard defeated the Union candidate Edward G. Bradford on the first ballot.
Two-term Democrat Stephen Mallory withdrew from the Senate on March 14, 1861, following the secession of Florida. The Florida Legislature did not hold an election for the next term, and the seat remained vacant until 1868.
Incumbent Republican Orville H. Browning was appointed in 1861 to fill the vacancy created by the death of Stephen A. Douglas. He was not a candidate for re-election.
The Union Party was initially confident in its ability to retain control of the Illinois General Assembly, a feat which would allow it to elect a successor to complete Douglas's unexpired term. The campaign was interrupted by the appearance of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation in September 1862, which placed the national Lincoln administration on ground long occupied by Radical Republicans. The proclamation inflamed factional conflict between Radicals and Moderates in the Union Party and emboldened the Democratic opposition, who accused the administration of seeking to "Africanize" Illinois. Illinois Democrats were victorious in state elections held in the fall of 1862, electing nine of the state's fourteen U.S. representatives and a 27-seat majority in the legislature.
The General Assembly met on January 12, 1863, to hold a special election for the unexpired term. The Democratic candidate William A. Richardson defeated the Union candidate Richard Yates on the first ballot.
Incumbent Unionist Joseph A. Wright was appointed in 1862 to fill the vacancy created by the expulsion of Jesse D. Bright. With Bright's expulsion coming little more than a year before the end of his term on March 4, 1863, the Indiana General Assembly would hold concurrent elections in January 1863: a special election for the remainder of the unexpired term, and the regularly scheduled election for the next term.
Wright and Bright had waged a bitter struggle for control of the Indiana Democratic Party during the preceding decade; by appointing Wright to Bright's former seat in the Senate, Indiana governor Oliver P. Morton helped to bring Wright's War Democratic supporters into Indiana's nascent Union Party. From the outset of the campaign, Democrats accused the national administration of using the war as a pretext for emancipation. These fears were seemingly vindicated by the appearance of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation in September 1862. Democrats launched an unprecedented racist campaign against the proclamation that confounded the attempts of moderate Unionists to defend emancipation as a military necessity. In the fall legislative elections, Democrats won majorities in both chambers of the General Assembly, paving the way for the election of a Democratic senator in January.
The Democratic members of the legislature held a caucus on January 9, 1863. David Turpie was nominated for the unexpired term and Thomas A. Hendricks was nominated for the next term.
The General Assembly met in joint session on January 14, 1863, to hold concurrent elections for both terms. Turpie and Hendricks were respectively elected.
Wright was not a candidate in the special election. Turpie defeated the Union candidate Daniel D. Pratt on the first ballot.
Turpie was not a candidate for the next term. Hendricks defeated Wright on the first ballot.
Incumbent Republican Lot M. Morrill was elected in 1861 to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Hannibal Hamlin.
The Senate and the House of Representatives met separately on January 13, 1863, to hold an election for the next term. Morrill defeated the Democratic candidate William P. Haines on the first ballot.
One-term Unionist Anthony Kennedy was elected in 1856 or 1857. He was not a candidate for re-election.
The Maryland General Assembly met on March 5, 1862, to hold an election for the next term. Voting proceeded separately in the Senate and the House of Delegates, after which the tellers withdrew and to count the ballots in the Senate chamber. The Union candidate Reverdy Johnson was elected on the first ballot.
Two-term Republican Charles Sumner was re-elected in 1857.
The Republican state convention met at Worcester, Massachusetts, on September 9, 1862. Sumner had earned the disapproval of Conservative Republicans when he opposed Lincoln's plan for gradual emancipation in March 1862, calling instead for Congress to use its authority under the War Powers Clause to abolish slavery immediately. Seeking to preempt a movement to replace Sumner at the next senatorial election, Sumner's allies took the unusual step of having the state convention endorse his bid for re-election. A resolution endorsing Sumner and approving his course in the Senate passed over the protests of Conservative delegates, in effect making Sumner's re-election the central issue of the fall campaign.
Conservative opponents of Sumner held a convention at Boston on October 7, 1862. Many of the organizers of the convention were former Whigs who had supported the Constitutional Union Party in 1860. In a nod to antipartisan wartime rhetoric, the movement called itself the People's Party; its express purpose was to defeat Sumner's bid for reelection. The convention adopted a pro-war, anti-abolitionist platform and selected candidates for the upcoming state elections; Charles F. Adams was nominated for U.S. senator, but declined. The preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, issued September 22, had brought the Lincoln administration into line with Sumner's position, while the endorsement of the People's ticket by the Massachusetts Democratic Party undermined the movement's claim to constitute the true pro-administration party in Massachusetts. Following these events, most Conservative Republicans returned to the fold, and the Republican ticket was elected by a large majority.
The Senate and the House of Representatives met separately on January 15, 1863, to hold an election for the next term. Sumner defeated the People's candidate Josiah G. Abbott on the first ballot.
There were two elections in Michigan, due to the death of Kinsley S. Bingham.
One-term Republican Kinsley S. Bingham was elected in 1858. Bingham died on October 5, 1861, causing a special election.
The Republican members of the legislature held a caucus on January 3, 1862. Jacob M. Howard, Austin Blair, Hezekiah G. Wells, and Henry Waldron were the leading candidates. Howard was nominated on the sixth ballot.
The Senate and the House of Representatives met separately on January 4, 1862, to hold a special election for the unexpired term. Howard defeated the Democratic candidate Alpheus Felch on the first ballot.
One-term Republican Zachariah Chandler was elected in 1857.
The Republican members of the legislature held a caucus on January 8, 1863. Chandler was renominated unanimously. The Democratic members met the same day and nominated James F. Joy over Alpheus Felch.
The Senate and the House of Representatives met separately on January 8, 1863, to hold an election for the next term. Chandler defeated Joy on the first ballot.
One-term Democrat Henry M. Rice was elected in 1858. He was not a candidate for re-election.
The Republican members of the legislature held a caucus from January 12âÂÂ13, 1863. Alexander Ramsey, Cyrus Aldrich, David Cooper, William R. Marshall, and James Smith, Jr. were the major candidates. Ramsey defeated Smith on the 25th ballot.
The Minnesota Legislature met in joint session on January 14, 1863. Ramsey defeated the Democratic candidate Andrew G. Chatfield on the first ballot.
One-term Democrat Jefferson Davis withdrew from the Senate on March 14, 1861, following the secession of Mississippi. The Mississippi Legislature did not hold an election for the next term, and the seat remained vacant until 1870.
Three elections were held in Missouri, due to the expulsions of Trusten Polk and Waldo P. Johnson. With Polk's expulsion coming little more than a year before the end of his term on March 4, 1863, the Missouri General Assembly would hold special elections for both seats, followed by the regularly-scheduled election for the Class 1 seat.
Missouri Unionists were divided in their responses to emancipation and the related issue of Reconstruction. Three main ideological camps emerged: radical Charcoals, who supported immediate emancipation; conservative Claybanks, who favored Lincoln's initial plan of gradual emancipation; and ultra-conservative Snowflakes, who opposed emancipation altogether. In St. Louis, the ideological divide resulted in a formal split between the Immediatist and Gradualist wings of the Emancipation Party. Elections held in the fall of 1862 resulted in a clear majority for the Emancipationists in the General Assembly, while five Conservatives and four Radicals were elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.
The Emancipation members of the legislature held a caucus on January 3, 1863. The Conservatives boycotted the proceedings. John B. Henderson was nominated for the Class 1 seat and B. Gratz Brown was nominated for the Class 3 seat.
The General Assembly met in joint session on January 6, 1863, to hold concurrent special elections for both seats. Henderson was elected to the Class 1 seat for the term ending March 4. The special election for the Class 3 seat remained deadlocked after multiple rounds of voting, and the joint session adjourned without making a choice.
The joint session reconvened in November 1863. In the interim, the Radicals held a convention at Jefferson City that organized the Radical Union Party. The meeting nominated Brown for the Class 3 seat and Benjamin F. Loan for the Class 1 seat. The two conservative factions were aligned in support of the administration of Hamilton R. Gamble, but lacked a formal party organization. Closely-fought judicial elections in the fall of 1863 helped to clarify party lines. In the legislature, the Radical Unionists had 65 votes on the joint ballot, just short of an overall majority. The Radical Union members and Henderson-aligned Conservatives held a caucus after the first round of voting on November 12 and agreed to form a coalition. Brown was subsequently elected to the Class 3 seat and Henderson was re-elected to the Class 1 seat for the next term as a Radical Unionist.
Incumbent Emancipationist John B. Henderson was appointed in 1862 to fill the vacancy created by the expulsion of Trusten Polk.
The General Assembly met on January 6, 1863, to hold a special election for the unexpired term. Henderson defeated the Conservative candidate Robert Wilson on the first ballot.
Incumbent Conservative Robert Wilson was appointed in 1862 to fill the vacancy created by the expulsion of Waldo P. Johnson. He was not a candidate for re-election to the Class 3 seat.
The General Assembly met from January 6âÂÂ11, 1863, to hold a special election for the unexpired term. Democrat John S. Phelps and Emancipationists B. Gratz Brown, Samuel T. Glover, Samuel M. Breckinridge, John W. Noell, and James Broadhead were candidates on the first ballot. No candidate had a majority after the sixth ballot, and the joint session adjourned.
The joint session met again from February 2âÂÂ11, 1863. Phelps, Brown, Glover, Breckinridge, and Broadhead were candidates. Noell's name was withdrawn, after which Phelps led on the seventh ballot, but without a majority. No candidate had a majority after the thirtieth ballot, and the joint session adjourned.
The joint session met a third time from November 12âÂÂ13, 1863. Brown was nominated by the Radical Unionists, while Broadhead received the votes of most of the Conservative members. Brown defeated Broadhead on the 32nd ballot.
Incumbent Emancipationist John B. Henderson was elected in 1863 to fill the vacancy created by the expulsion of Trusten Polk.
The General Assembly met on November 13, 1863, to hold an election for the next term. Henderson defeated Phelps on the first ballot.
Incumbent Unionist Richard S. Field was appointed in 1862 to fill the vacancy created by the death of John R. Thomson. With Thomson's death coming less than a year before the end of his term on March 4, 1863, the New Jersey Legislature would hold consecutive elections in 1863: a special election for the unexpired term, and the regularly scheduled election for the next term.
The Democratic members of the legislature held a caucus on January 14, 1863. William Cook, Charles Skelton, Charles Sitgreaves, and James W. Wall were candidates. Cook led on the first two ballots, but without a majority. Skelton and Sitgreaves then withdrew, and Wall defeated Cook on the third ballot.
The Legislature met in joint session on January 14, 1863, to hold a special election for the unexpired term. Wall defeated Field on the first ballot.
The Democratic members of the legislature held a caucus on February 25, 1863. Wall and William Wright were candidates. Wright was nominated on the 23rd ballot.
The Legislature met in joint session on February 26, 1863, to hold an election for the next term. Wright defeated the Union candidate William A. Newell on the first ballot.
One-term Republican Preston King was elected in 1857.
In the 1862 New York state elections, the Democratic candidate Horatio Seymour was elected governor, but Unionists retained a narrow majority in the New York State Legislature. The Democratic ticket was endorsed by the Constitutional Union state convention in a bid to unite conservative, anti-abolitionist opponents of the Union state administration. Democrats framed the election as a referendum on white supremacy; one Democratic congressional candidate remarked that "the negation of the white race and the elevation of the negro over the white man have hushed up or exiled all our past political differences." The failure of prominent Conservative Republicans to support the Union candidate for governor contributed to the Democratic victory in the gubernatorial race.
The Union members of the legislature held a caucus on February 2, 1863. Edwin D. Morgan, King, Daniel S. Dickinson, Charles B. Sedgwick, David D. Field, Henry J. Raymond, Ward Hunt, and Henry R. Selden were candidates. Morgan was nominated on the second ballot.
The Democratic members of the legislature held a caucus on February 2, 1863. The meeting found it inexpedient to nominate a candidate and advised members to vote their conscience in the senatorial election. The caucus met again on February 3 and voted to reconsider the previous day's motion. Erastus Corning defeated Fernando Wood on the first ballot.
The Senate and the Assembly met separately on February 3, 1863, to hold an election for the next term. Morgan and John A. Dix were selected by the Senate and the Assembly, on the first and second ballots, respectively. The two chambers being in disagreement, the New York State Legislature met in joint session to resolve the dispute. Morgan defeated Corning on the joint ballot.
Two-term Republican Benjamin Wade was re-elected in 1856.
The Union members of the legislature held a caucus from January 15âÂÂ16, 1863. Wade, Salmon P. Chase, David Tod, William S. Groesbeck, and Thomas Ewing were mentioned as candidates ahead of the caucus. Wade, a Radical Republican, had earned the enmity of Conservatives and personal rivals in the Union Party. At the first meeting of the caucus, a group of War Democrats expressed their opposition to Wade and requested his name be withdrawn from consideration. The meeting adjourned until the following day, when Wade's supporters refused to honor the War Democrats' request. Wade defeated Robert C. Schenck on the first ballot with 56 votes to Schenck's six.
The Ohio General Assembly met in joint session on January 22, 1863, to hold an election for the next term. Wade defeated the Democratic candidate Hugh J. Jewett and Ewing on the first ballot.
Incumbent Democrat Benjamin Stark was appointed in 1862 to fill the vacancy created by the death of Edward D. Baker. He was not a candidate for re-election.
The Oregon Legislative Assembly met in joint session from September 11âÂÂ12, 1862, to hold a special election for the unexpired term. With the Union Party in almost complete control of the legislature, the contest centered between the Republican and War Democrat wings of the coalition. Benjamin F. Harding defeated Henry W. Corbett, George H. Williams, and John Whiteaker on the 30th ballot.
Incumbent Republican David Wilmot was elected in 1861 to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Simon Cameron.
The Democratic members of the legislature held a caucus on January 12, 1863. Charles R. Buckalew, James Campbell, Francis W. Hughes, and Henry D. Foster were the leading candidates. Buckalew defeated Campbell on the sixth ballot.
The Union members of the legislature held a caucus from January 12âÂÂ13, 1863. Cameron and Wilmot were candidates for the nomination. A secret committee formed to assess the relative electability of the candidates in the closely-divided legislature found that the Democratic members were inflexibly opposed to Wilmot, while Cameron claimed several Democrats were prepared to vote for him if nominated. The caucus selected Cameron on the basis of these assurances in the final hours before the election.
The Pennsylvania General Assembly met in joint session on January 13, 1863, to hold an election for the next term. Buckalew defeated Cameron on the first ballot.
There were two elections in Rhode Island, due to the resignation of James F. Simmons.
Two-term Republican James F. Simmons was re-elected non-consecutively in 1857.
The Rhode Island General Assembly met in joint session on May 28, 1862, to hold an election for the next term. The Democratic and Constitutional Union candidate William Sprague defeated Simmons and Nathan F. Dixon on the first ballot. Sprague subsequently caucused with the Republican-Union majority in the Senate and served the remainder of his term as a Republican.
Simmons resigned from the Senate on August 15, 1862, less than a year before the end of his term.
The General Assembly met in joint session on September 5, 1862, to hold a special election for the unexpired term. The Democratic and Constitutional Union candidate Samuel G. Arnold defeated Nathan F. Dixon on the first ballot.
Incumbent Democrat Andrew Johnson resigned on March 4, 1862, following his appointment as the military governor of Tennessee. The Tennessee General Assembly did not hold an election for the next term, and the seat remained vacant until 1866.
Incumbent Democrat Louis T. Wigfall was expelled from the Senate on July 11, 1861. The Texas Legislature did not hold an election for the next term, and the seat remained vacant until 1870.
Two-term Republican Solomon Foot was re-elected in 1856.
The Senate and the House of Representatives met separately on October 14, 1862, to hold an election for the next term. Foot defeated Daniel Kellogg on the first ballot.
Incumbent Unionist Waitman T. Willey was elected in 1861 to fill the vacancy created by the expulsion of James M. Mason.
The Restored Virginia General Assembly met on January 23, 1863, to hold an election for the next term. Voting proceeded separately in the Senate and the House of Delegates, after which the votes were tallied jointly. Lemuel J. Bowden defeated Willey on the second ballot.
West Virginia elected two senators following its admission on June 20, 1863.
The West Virginia Legislature met on August 4, 1863, to hold elections for both seats. Members voted for two candidates on the first ballot; voting proceeded separately in the Senate and the House of Delegates, after which the votes were tallied jointly.
Waitman T. Willey was elected on the first ballot; Archibald W. Cambpell finished second, but without a majority. On subsequent ballots, each member cast one vote. Peter G. Van Winkle defeated Campbell on the sixth ballot.
One-term Republican James R. Doolittle was elected in 1857.
Doolittle was a prominent supporter of colonizing free people of color outside the United States, considering such essential to any plan of emancipation. His endorsement of Lincoln's gradual emancipation scheme proved divisive with Wisconsin Republicans during the 1862 state elections. Radical Republicans mocked Doolittle's "wild notions of colonization" and called on Lincoln to adopt immediate emancipation and Black enlistment as the basis of a national policy. The preliminary Emancipation Proclamation accepted the premise of the Radical position, helping to heal Republican divisions and sow discord among the opposition in the final weeks before the election.
The Wisconsin State Assembly met in joint session on January 22, 1863, to hold an election for the next term. Doolittle defeated the Democratic candidate Edward G. Ryan on the first ballot.