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An election to the United States House of Representatives was held in Florida for the 39th Congress on November 29, 1865, shortly after the end of the Civil War.
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| Elections in Florida |
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An election to the United States House of Representatives was held in Florida for the 39th Congress on November 29, 1865, shortly after the end of the Civil War.
On January 21, 1861, Florida's Senate and House seats had become vacant when the State seceded from the Union, subsequently joining the Confederate States of America. Florida had been represented in the Confederate Congress by two Senators and two Representatives. The Civil War had ended in April 1865, and Florida held its first post-War election on November 29
The party affiliations of these candidates are unknown.
| Ferdinand McLeod | 2,192 | 43.4% |
| D. P. Hogue | 1,483 | 29.4% |
| J. W. Culpepper | 518 | 10.3% |
| W. M. Ives | 238 | 4.7% |
| W. H. Anson | 147 | 2.9% |
| J. F. Johnston | 141 | 2.8% |
| John W. Price | 102 | 2.0% |
| Scattering | 229 | 4.5% |
Along with the other former Confederate States, Florida was not permitted to be represented in Congress until after Reconstruction. Florida was readmitted in 1868, and held its first post-Reconstruction election on May 5, 1868, representation resuming on July 1, 1868, after nearly 7 and a half years' absence from Congress.
The 1868 United States presidential election was the 21st quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 1868. In the first election of the Reconstruction Era, Republican nominee Ulysses S. Grant defeated Horatio Seymour of the Democratic Party. It was the first presidential election to take place after the conclusion of the American Civil War and the abolition of slavery. It was the first election in which African Americans could vote in the reconstructed Southern states, in accordance with the First Reconstruction Act.
The Reconstruction era was a period in American history following the American Civil War (1861–1865) and lasting until approximately the Compromise of 1877. Its main goals were to rebuild the nation after the war, reintegrate the former Confederate states, and address the social, political, and economic impacts of slavery.
The Radical Republicans were a faction within the Republican Party originating from the party's founding in 1854—some six years before the Civil War—until the Compromise of 1877, which effectively ended Reconstruction. They called themselves "Radicals" because of their goal of immediate, complete, and permanent eradication of slavery in the United States. They were opposed during the war by the Moderate Republicans, and by the Democratic Party. Radicals led efforts after the war to establish civil rights for former slaves and fully implement emancipation. After unsuccessful measures in 1866 resulted in violence against former slaves in the rebel states, Radicals pushed the Fourteenth Amendment for statutory protections through Congress. They opposed allowing ex-Confederate officers to retake political power in the Southern U.S., and emphasized equality, civil rights and voting rights for the "freedmen", i.e., former slaves who had been freed during or after the Civil War by the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment.
From the first United States Congress in 1789 through the 116th Congress in 2020, 162 African Americans served in Congress. Meanwhile, the total number of all individuals who have served in Congress over that period is 12,348. Between 1789 and 2020, 152 have served in the House of Representatives, 9 have served in the Senate, and 1 has served in both chambers. Voting members have totaled 156, with 6 serving as delegates. Party membership has been, 131 Democrats, and 31 Republicans. While 13 members founded the Congressional Black Caucus in 1971 during the 92nd Congress, in the 116th Congress (2019-2020), 56 served, with 54 Democrats and 2 Republicans.
The Solid South or the Southern bloc was the electoral voting bloc of the states of the Southern United States for issues that were regarded as particularly important to the interests of Democrats in those states. The Southern bloc existed between the end of the Reconstruction era in 1877 and the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. During this period, the Democratic Party overwhelmingly controlled southern state legislatures, and most local, state and federal officeholders in the South were Democrats. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, Southern Democrats disenfranchised blacks in all Southern states, along with a few non-Southern states doing the same as well. This resulted essentially in a one-party system, in which a candidate's victory in Democratic primary elections was tantamount to election to the office itself. White primaries were another means that the Democrats used to consolidate their political power, excluding blacks from voting in primaries.
Howell Cobb was an American and later Confederate political figure. A southern Democrat, Cobb was a five-term member of the United States House of Representatives and the speaker of the House from 1849 to 1851. He also served as the 40th governor of Georgia (1851–1853) and as a secretary of the treasury under President James Buchanan (1857–1860).
The Joint Committee on Reconstruction, also known as the Joint Committee of Fifteen, was a joint committee of the 39th United States Congress that played a major role in Reconstruction in the wake of the American Civil War. It was created to "inquire into the condition of the States which formed the so-called Confederate States of America, and report whether they, or any of them, are entitled to be represented in either house of Congress.”
The 1868–69 United States House of Representatives elections were held on various dates in various states between June 1, 1868 and August 2, 1869. Each state set its own date for its elections to the House of Representatives before or after the first session of the 41st United States Congress convened on March 4, 1869. They coincided with the 1868 United States presidential election, which was won by Ulysses S. Grant. Elections were held for all 243 seats, representing 37 states. All of the former Confederate states were represented in Congress for the first time since they seceded from the Union.
Augustus Emmet Maxwell was an American lawyer and politician. Maxwell served in a number of political positions in the State of Florida including as one of Florida's Senators to the Confederate States Congress, Florida Secretary of State, and as Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court.
Josiah Thomas Walls was a United States congressman who served three terms in the U.S. Congress between 1871 and 1876. He was one of the first African Americans in the United States Congress elected during the Reconstruction Era, and the first black person to be elected to Congress from Florida. He also served four terms in the Florida Senate.
James Diament Westcott, III, also known as James Diament Westcott, Jr., was an American politician from the state of Florida who served as the 19th Justice of the Florida Supreme Court.
James M. Hinds was the first U.S. Congressman assassinated in office. He served as member of the United States House of Representatives for Arkansas from June 24, 1868 until his assassination by the Ku Klux Klan. Hinds—an advocate of civil rights for former slaves—was active during the Reconstruction era following the American Civil War.
Robert Bullock was an American state legislator and a United States representative from Florida. He was a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.
The presidency of Andrew Johnson began on April 15, 1865, when Andrew Johnson became President of the United States upon the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, and ended on March 4, 1869. He had been Vice President of the United States for only six weeks when he succeeded to the presidency. The 17th United States president, Johnson was a member of the Democratic Party before the Civil War and had been Lincoln's 1864 running mate on the National Union ticket, which was supported by Republicans and War Democrats. Johnson took office as the Civil War came to a close, and his presidency was dominated by the aftermath of the war. As president, Johnson attempted to build his own party of Southerners and conservative Northerners, but he was unable to unite his supporters into a new party. Republican Ulysses S. Grant succeeded Johnson as president.
Two elections to the United States House of Representatives were held in Florida in 1868, the first for the 40th Congress and the second for the 41st Congress
The 1866 United States elections occurred in the middle of National Union/Democratic President Andrew Johnson's term, during the Third Party System and Reconstruction. Johnson had become president on April 15, 1865, upon the death of his predecessor, Abraham Lincoln. Members of the 40th United States Congress were chosen in this election. As this was the first election after the Civil War, many ex-Confederates were barred from voting, and several Southern states did not take part in the election. Delegations from Arkansas, Florida, Alabama, North Carolina, Louisiana, and South Carolina were re-admitted during the 40th Congress.
Henry S. Harmon was an attorney and politician in Florida after the Civil War. He was the first African-American to be admitted to the bar in Florida.
The 1861 Confederate States House of Representatives election in Florida was held on Wednesday, November 6, 1861 to elect the two Confederate States Representatives from the state of Florida, one from each of the state's congressional districts, to represent Florida in the 1st Confederate States Congress. The election coincided with the elections of other offices, including the presidential election and various state and local elections.
The 1863 Confederate States House of Representatives election in Florida was held on Wednesday, November 4, 1863 to elect the two Confederate States Representatives from the state of Florida, one from each of the state's congressional districts, to represent Florida in the 2nd Confederate States Congress. The election coincided with the elections of other offices, including various state and local elections.
During his presidency, Andrew Johnson, the 17th president of the United States, saw multiple efforts during his presidency to impeach him, culminating in his formal impeachment on February 24, 1868, which was followed by a Senate impeachment trial in which he was acquitted.