1862–63 United States Senate elections
elections for the US Senate
The 1862–63 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 retained their majority 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 the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, 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.
While Democrats made significant gains in the 1862–63 United States House of Representatives elections 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.
“1862–63 United States Senate elections” enters the record as elections for the US Senate. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what United, States and Senate can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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