1874–75 United States House of Representatives elections

The 1874–75 United States House of Representatives elections were held on various dates in various states between June 1, 1874, and September 7, 1875. Each state set its own date for its elections to the House of Representatives before the first session of the 44th United States Congress convened on December 6, 1875. Elections were held for all 292 seats, representing 37 states.

These elections were held 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.

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 prewar 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 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.

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:

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.

Special elections

: 1874 : 1874 : 1875 : 1875 : 1875

Election summaries

+ ↓ 182 8 103 Democratic Republican

State Type Totalseats Democratic Republican Independent Seats Change Seats Change Seats Change Alabama District+ 2 at-large 8 6 4 2 4 0 Arkansas District 4 4 4 0 4 0 California District 4 3 2 1 2 0 Connecticut District 4 3 2 1 2 0 Delaware At-large 1 1 1 0 1 0 Florida District 2 1 1 1 1 0 Georgia District 9 9 2 0 2 0 Illinois District 19 11 6 6 8 2 2 Indiana District 13 8 5 5 5 0 Iowa District 9 1 1 8 1 0 Kansas District 3 1 1 2 1 0 Kentucky District 10 9 1 1 1 0 Louisiana District 6 4 3 2 2 0 Maine 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 3 0 Missouri District 13 13 4 0 4 0 Nebraska At-large 1 0 1 0 Nevada At-large 1 0 1 1 1 0 New Hampshire District 3 2 1 1 1 0 New Jersey District 7 5 4 2 4 0 New York District 33 17 8 16 8 0 North Carolina District 8 7 2 1 2 0 Ohio District 20 13 7 7 7 0 Oregon At-large 1 1 1 0 1 0 Pennsylvania District 27 17 12 10 12 0 Rhode Island District 2 0 2 0 South Carolina District 5 0 5 0 Tennessee District 10 9 6 1 6 0 Texas District 6 6 0 0 Vermont District 3 0 3 0 Virginia District 9 8 4 1 4 0 West Virginia District 3 3 1 0 1 0 Wisconsin District 8 3 1 5 1 0 Total 293 183 94 105 93 4 4

Election dates

In 1845, Congress passed a law providing for a uniform nationwide date for choosing Presidential electors.Statutes at Large, 28th Congress, 2nd Session, p. 721. 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

Alabama

Arkansas

Arizona Territory See Non-voting delegates, below.

California

Colorado Territory See Non-voting delegates, below.

Connecticut

Delaware

Florida

Georgia

Idaho Territory See Non-voting delegates, below.

Illinois

Indiana

1874–75 United States House of Representatives elections

Bron en licentie