1866–67 United States House of Representatives elections
The 1866–67 United States House of Representatives elections were held on various dates in various states between June 4, 1866, and September 6, 1867. They occurred during President Andrew Johnson's term just one year after the American Civil War ended when the Union defeated the Confederacy. Each state set its own date for its elections to the House of Representatives. Members were elected before or after the first session of the 40th United States Congress convened on March 4, 1867, including the at-large seat from the new state of Nebraska. Ten secessionist states still had not yet been readmitted, and therefore were not seated.
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All 224 seats in the United States House of Representatives 113 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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House election results map. Red represents seats won by the Republicans and blue denotes those won by the Democrats. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1866 elections were a decisive event in the early Reconstruction era, in which President Johnson faced off against the Radical Republicans in a bitter dispute over whether Reconstruction should be lenient or harsh toward the vanquished white South.
Most of the congressmen from the former Confederate states were either prevented from leaving the state or were arrested on the way to the capital. A Congress consisting of mostly Radical Republicans sat early in the Capitol and aside from the delegation from Tennessee who were allowed in, the few Southern Congressmen who arrived were not seated.