United States House of Representatives elections, 1856

← 1854

August 4, 1856 - November 4, 1857

All 237 seats to the United States House of Representatives
118 seats were needed for a majority

	Majority party	Minority party	Third party

Leader	James Orr	Galusha Grow	Henry Winter Davis
Party	Democratic	Republican	Know Nothing
Leader's seat	South Carolina-5th	Pennsylvania-14th	Maryland-4th
Last election	83 seats	100 seats	51 seats
Seats won	133	90	14
Seat change	50	10	37

Speaker before election

Nathaniel Banks
American

Elected Speaker

James Orr
Democratic

Nathaniel Banks
American

James Orr
Democratic

Elections to the United States House of Representatives for the 35th Congress were held in 1856 and 1857. The elections returned a semblance of normality to the Democratic Party, as they retook a House majority and retained the presidency with the election of James Buchanan. However, the party was permanently divided over the slavery issue.

Earlier in the year, the Whig Party disbanded. With the majority of Whigs joining the Republican cause, the Republican Party finished second for their first time. Meanwhile, the short-lived Know-Nothing movement declined and the American Party began to fall apart. The Democrats (including Francis Preston Blair, Jr. who was elected as an Independent Democrat (a.k.a. a "Benton Democrat") to Missouri's 1st District), aided by much support from recent immigrants, took advantage of the situation and became the majority, despite fragmented support within the party.

Two seats were added for the new state of Minnesota and one seat for the new state of Oregon. Minnesota was unrepresented for part of the 1st session, while Oregon was unrepresented for all but the last few weeks of the 2nd session.

...
Wikipedia