1862–63 United States House of Representatives elections
Galusha Grow Republican Schuyler Colfax Republican The 1862–63 United States House of Representatives elections were held on various dates in various states between June 2, 1862, and November 3, 1863, during the American Civil War and President Abraham Lincoln's first term.The Civil War to date had been only weakly successful for the Union, but had wrought major, disruptive change in the size and reach of the Federal Government, which before the war had been small and little seen beyond post offices, customs houses in ports, and scattered military posts.The Republican Party was also relatively new, yet had led the Union down a radical path of rapid industrialization and destructive total war.Voters turned on the administration over its failure to deliver a swift victory over the Confederate rebellion (at times verging on military incompetence), along with rising inflation and new taxes to pay for the war effort, the suspension of habeas corpus, and the introduction of conscription.Expressing a typical sentiment, the Cincinnati Gazette had editorialized that voters "are depressed by the interminable nature of this war, as so far conducted, and by the rapid exhaustion of the national resources without progress."[3] Short of a majority, Republicans retained control with the support of the Unconditional Union Party.In September 1862, President Lincoln had warned the South that he planned by executive order, and as a war measure, to liberate all slaves in rebelling states as of January 1, 1863.While Democrats hailed the elections as a repudiation of emancipation, the results did not alter Lincoln's plan or hamper prosecution of the war.A fear of an influx of freed slaves competing for jobs and depressing wages, and a desire by white voters to prevent black suffrage, helped drive this result and others.Rhode Island elected its members April 1, 1863, after the term began but before the Congress convened.West Virginia elected three representatives on October 22, 1863, after becoming a state on June 20, 1863, but before the Congress convened.