1868 New York state election, History
The Republican state convention met on July 8 at Syracuse, New York. Henry Smith was Temporary Chairman until the choice of John Cochrane as president. John A. Griswold was nominated for governor on the first ballot (vote: Griswold 247, Horace Greeley 95, Stewart L. Woodford 36). Alonzo B. Cornell was nominated for lieutenant governor on the first ballot (vote: Cornell 219, Augustus Frank 88, Franz Sigel 6). Alexander Barkley for Canal Commissioner, the incumbent Prison Inspector Henry A. Barnum, and Campbell H. Young for Clerk of the Court of Appeals, were nominated by acclamation.


1868 New York state election, History
The Democratic state convention met on September 2 and 3 at Tweddle Hall in Albany, New York. H. O. Cheesbro was temporary chairman until the choice of Robert Earl as president. Mayor of New York City John T. Hoffman, the Democratic candidate of 1866, was nominated again for governor by acclamation. Allen C. Beach was nominated for lieutenant governor after an informal ballot (vote: Beach 68, Albert P. Lanning 47, William J. Averill 9, S. T. Ahnot 1).


1868 New York state election, History
A German Democratic state convention met on September 2 at Schreiber's Hotel in Albany, New York with Henry Clausenger as president, and endorsed the nomination of John T. Hoffman for governor.


1868 New York state election, Result
75 Republicans and 53 Democrats were elected for the session of 1869 to the New York State Assembly.


1868 New York state election, Result
This was the last time the Clerk of the Court of Appeals was elected. At this time, the term was three years, and the next election of the Clerk would occur in 1871, but in 1870 the Court of Appeals was re-organized and the office became appointive.


1868 North Carolina gubernatorial election
The 1868 North Carolina gubernatorial election was held on April 21, 1868. Republican nominee William Woods Holden defeated Democratic nominee Thomas Samuel Ashe with 55.49% of the vote.


1868 North Carolina railroad bonds scandal
The 1868-1869 North Carolina railroad bonds scandal took place in North Carolina after Milton S. Littlefield and George W. Swepson defrauded North Carolina of $4 million by issuing fraudulent bonds for a railroad project.


1868 North Carolina railroad bonds scandal, Summary
In the state of North Carolina during the Reconstruction era of the United States, railroad bonds were often issued by Republican legislators. Littlefield, who bought into the bonds, soon defrauded the state of North Carolina, causing a scandal between him and Swepson, described by some as being "rascals".


1868 North Carolina railroad bonds scandal, Impact
The scandal most likely hurt the government of North Carolina more than any other party. The state's railroad development from the bonds issued stagnated until the year 1880.


1868 Northumberland colonial by-election
A by-election was held for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly electorate of Northumberland on 1868 because Atkinson Tighe had been appointed Postmaster-General in the second Martin ministry. Such ministerial by-elections were usually uncontested.


1868 Northumberland colonial by-election
Alexander Black was a former Crown Lands Commissioner, the brother of John Black, the former Secretary for Lands. He campaigned against an unpopular government. This was the first occasion on which he stood for parliament.


1868 Norwegian parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Norway in 1868. As political parties were not officially established until 1884, all those elected were independents. Voter turnout was 47.6%, although only 4.7% of the country's population was eligible to vote.


1868 Omata by-election
The 1868 Omata by-election was a by-election held  on 7 February in the Omata electorate in Taranaki during the 4th New Zealand Parliament.


1868 Omata by-election
The by-election was caused by the resignation of the incumbent, Arthur Atkinson in 1867.


1868 Omata by-election
Brown was the only nomination, so was declared elected unopposed.


1868 Open Championship
The 1868 Open Championship was the ninth Open Championship and was held on 23 September at Prestwick Golf Club. Tom Morris, Jr. won the championship for the first time, by three shots from his father Tom Morris, Sr.. Tom Morris, Jr. was just 17 years old and remains the youngest Open Championship winner.


1868 Open Championship
Tom Morris, Jr. lead after the first round with a score of 51. Robert Andrew was in second place on 53 with John Allan and Tom Morris, Sr. tied for third on 54. Tom Morris, Sr. and Willie Park, Sr. both scored 50 in their second rounds. This gave Tom Morris, Sr. a one stroke lead over his son. Tom Morris, Jr. then scored  49 in his final round for a total of 154. His father finished second, three shots behind with Robert Andrew third, a further two strokes behind. 154 was a new record for the Open Championship, the old record having been 162, set by Andrew Strath in 1865.


1868 Open Championship, Final leaderboard
Other sources give Tom Morris, Sr. a total of 155 and Willie Dow a score of 180.


1868 Oxford by-election
The Oxford by-election of 1868 was fought on 22 December 1868. The by-election was fought due to the incumbent Liberal, Edward Cardwell, becoming Secretary of State for War. It was retained by Cardwell who was unopposed.


1868 Philadelphia mayoral election
The Philadelphia mayoral election of 1868 saw the election of Daniel M. Fox.


1868 Philadelphia mayoral election
The margin of the election was close, and the results were contested and resolved in court.


1868 Picton by-election
The 1868 Picton by-election was a by-election held on 11 June 1868 in the Picton electorate during the 4th New Zealand Parliament.


1868 Picton by-election
The by-election was caused by the resignation of the incumbent MP William Adams on 10 May 1868.


1868 Picton by-election
The by-election was won by Courtney Kenny. As no other candidates were nominated, he was declared duly elected. Dr Sickler (or Sickles), described as a "foreign resident" and the nominee of the Superintendent, William Henry Eyes) had retired from the contest, and John Godfrey "who appears to be a local political firebrand, unceasingly moving and restlessly scheming" had apparently not been nominated.


1868 Plymouth by-election
The Plymouth by-election of 1868 was fought on 21 December 1868. The by-election was fought due to the incumbent Liberal MP, Sir Robert Porrett Collier, becoming Attorney General for England and Wales. It was retained by Collier who was unopposed.


1868 Pontefract by-election
The Pontefract by-election of 1868 was held on 21 December 1868. The by-election was held due to the incumbent Liberal MP, Hugh Childers, becoming First Lord of the Admiralty. It was retained by Childers who was unopposed.


1868 Portuguese legislative election
Parliamentary elections were held in Portugal on 22 March and 12 April.


1868 Queensland colonial election
Elections were held in the Australian state of Queensland between 14 September 1868 and 6 October 1868 to elect the members of the state's Legislative Assembly.


1868 Queensland colonial election, Key dates
Due to problems of distance and communications, it was not possible to hold the elections on a single day.


1868 Rangitikei by-election
The 1868 Rangitikei by-election was a by-election held on 22 June 1868 in the Rangitikei electorate during the 4th New Zealand Parliament.


1868 Rangitikei by-election
The by-election was caused by the resignation of the incumbent MP William Hogg Watt on 15 June 1868.


1868 Rangitikei by-election
The by-election was won by William Fox. As no other candidates were nominated, he was declared duly elected.


1868 Republican National Convention
The 1868 Republican National Convention of the Republican Party of the United States was held in Crosby's Opera House, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, on May 20 to May 21, 1868.


1868 Republican National Convention
Commanding General of the U.S. Army Ulysses S. Grant was the unanimous choice of the Republicans for president. At the convention he was unopposed and chosen by acclamation on the first ballot. For vice president the delegates chose Speaker Schuyler Colfax, who was Grant's choice. In Grant's acceptance telegram he said "Let us have peace", which captured the imagination of the American people.


1868 Ripon by-election
The Ripon by-election of 1868 was held on 21 December 1868. The by-election was held due to the incumbent Liberal MP, John Hay, becoming Junior Naval Lord. It was retained by Hay who was unopposed.


1868 Romanian Senate election
Elections for the Senate were held in Romania on July 7–11 (New Style: July 19–23), 1868. They were called by Prime Minister Nicolae Golescu to strengthen his majority in the 1867 legislature, and, although party affiliations remain unclear, ensured a victory for Golescu and the various liberal-radical factions (or "Reds"). The snap election followed standoffs between Senate and the Assembly of Deputies, in particular one over the issue of constructing a Romanian railways system. It also came after major disagreements between "Red" politicians and the Free and Independent Faction, which had previously backed Golescu, before moving closer to the center.


1868 Romanian Senate election
Conservative voters (the "Whites") were reportedly taken by surprise, and the election, like many others of the period, was marred by malpractices favoring government. The resulting Senate was overall "reddish" or "pink", combining a majority of "Reds" and their occasional allies. Despite general defeat, various leading figures of the opposition, including Nicolae Ionescu, Gheorghe Costaforu, and Ioan Manu, managed reelection. Campaigning was prolonged by some by-elections for the Assembly, with Ilfov and several other counties still voting on July 13–15 (July 25–27).


1868 Romanian Senate election
The period witnessed new developments in the long crisis over the issue of Jewish emancipation, with its regular outbursts of antisemitic violence at Bacău and elsewhere. It also brought the early stages of the Strousberg Affair, and diplomatic incidents related to Bulgarian revolutionary activity on Romanian soil, including Hadzhi Dimitar's conspiracy at Pietroșani. Despite helping to consolidate executive power, the election, which had remarkably low voter presence, could not tackle these obstacles. Government was also weakened by diplomatic intrigues—the Ottoman Empire, Romania's suzerain power, resented its radicalism, as did the French Empire, Austria-Hungary, and eventually Prussia. Some four months after his victory, Golescu resigned to be replaced by the "White" Dimitrie Ghica, who overturned the liberal majority in the elections of March 1869.


1868 Romanian Senate election, Context, Early clashes
The 1866 Constitution had consolidated the "United Principalities" into a centralized monarchy, ruled by Domnitor Carol of Hohenzollern. Nevertheless, political life remained troubled, with government instability and passionate disputes about the proposed emancipation of Romanian Jews. With support from the Domnitor, "Red" liberal factions, holding a slim plurality in the Assembly, had fused into a "Concordia Agreement". Also backed by the antisemitic Free and Independent Faction, it came to power with Constantin A. Crețulescu, but created an international scandal by endorsing the eviction of Jewish "vagabonds" from the countryside. This affair was engineered by the Interior Minister, Ion Brătianu. Although in and out of office during that period, he was, by various accounts, a behind-the-scenes leader of the executive.


1868 Romanian Senate election, Context, Early clashes
This "Red" consolidation was viewed with displeasure in the French Empire, where Brătianu was remembered chiefly for his youthful involvement with a political conspirator and regicide, Giuseppe Marco Fieschi. Early 1868 came with a noticeable strain in Franco–Romanian relations, with French officials suspecting that Carol and Brătianu were seeking to create a secret alliance with Prussia and the Russian Empire. This was partly validated when Carol sent Ioan C. Cantacuzino and Melchisedec Ștefănescu to Saint Petersburg, where they negotiated an end to the privileged status of Russian citizens on Romanian soil—and, in effect, the recognition of Romania as self-governed.


1868 Romanian Senate election, Context, Early clashes
Delaporte, the French consul in Iași, alleged in January 1868 that Brătianu exercised a hypnotic power on the Domnitor, but also that the "Reds" and the Romanian Freemasonry had an ultimate plan to topple the monarchy altogether. In reality, the monarch was pursuing his own foreign policy, which implied ending Romania's subservience toward the Ottoman Empire and establishing a Balkan Federation of "Christian states".


1868 Romanian Senate election, Context, Early clashes
A reshuffled Concordia government, headed by Ștefan Golescu, organized general elections in late 1867. These were widely believed to have been manipulated by government through intimidation and fraud, and as such a pattern for the following elections. Although the "Reds" had overall control of Parliament, splits and disputes continued to present obstacles: in the Assembly, the Factionalists proposed a radically antisemitic bill that was only defeated with support from moderate "Reds"; at the time, the Prime Minister was under foreign pressure to limit antisemitic excesses.


1868 Romanian Senate election, Context, Early clashes
Having supported the expulsion of Jews from the countryside, and still embracing generic economic antisemitism, Brătianu backed down to some extent, noting that the Factionalists were being excessive, "inhumane and un-Romanian". However, he also continued tolerate the expulsions of Jews by his subordinate Gheorghe Lecca, with antisemitic incidents concentrated in places such as Bârlad and Bacău.


1868 Romanian Senate election, Context, Early clashes
By then, the Concordia alliance was under strain, with the Factionalists, who were centered in Western Moldavia, pressuring government to inaugurate a working Court of Cassation at Focșani. Visiting Bacău and Iași to canvass among the local liberals and thus create a moderate alliance, Brătianu was met by a riotous mob of Factionalist voters. The continued discrimination against Jews also became a rally point for some conservatives (or "Whites"), including Vaslui deputy Petre P. Carp, who had a number of public disputes with the Interior Minister.


1868 Romanian Senate election, Context, Early clashes
Despite their differences on the issue of emancipation, it became apparent that the "Whites", mostly aristocratic "boyars", were reaching out to the middle-class Factionalists, united in their rejection of "Red" liberalism. Factionalist deputies (including Alexandru Gheorghiu, Alecu D. Holban, Ioan Negură, and Ianache Lecca) attacked government at the same time as Carp, citing concerns about limitations on press freedom. The left-leaning humorist Nicor satirized this alliance by claiming that the Factionalist senator Nicolae Ionescu was trying to pass for a "boyar" or "young lord", "avoiding democracy like the plague."


1868 Romanian Senate election, Context, General Golescu's ascendancy
Following the international backlash after particularly violent antisemitic activities in Bacău, the Prime Minister resigned, officially because of illness. Leadership of the cabinet was assigned to General Nicolae Golescu, his brother, who was even more of a moderate. When General Golescu apologized to European governments for the intolerance cultivated in earlier years, the Faction began voting with the opposition, and the majority was again undermined; this weakening continued as centrist "Reds" began demanding that Brătianu and his radicals be shuffled out of Golescu's cabinet.


1868 Romanian Senate election, Context, General Golescu's ascendancy
Nevertheless, moderation greatly improved Romania's standing in Europe, and, although still an Ottoman vassal, she came to be treated as a nation-state by Prussia, Russia, and Austria-Hungary. After having been highly critical of Romania's stance on Jewish migration, France was also coming to show signs of leniency: in March 1868 Delaporte contended that Jews had a monopoly on all trade in Moldavia, and therefore that economic antisemitism was justified.


1868 Romanian Senate election, Context, General Golescu's ascendancy
During the same months, however, a scandal erupted over revelations that Golescu may have been backing a Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee (BRCK) to foment anti-Ottoman revolts in the Danube Vilayet. The allegations were received with concern in France, were Lionel de Moustier, the Foreign Minister, asked Romanians to report on the issue. The matter was taken up in Parliament by Carp, in clashes with Brătianu, where the junior deputy issued warnings about the consolidation of Pan-Slavism around Romania.


1868 Romanian Senate election, Context, General Golescu's ascendancy
The Assembly eventually followed the minister's explanation, voting to reject Carp's accusations as false; the liberal press followed suit, claiming that Carp was using the "Bulgarian bands" issue and the "Israelite question" to filibuster. However, in April–May, news of antisemitic repression gave Factionalists in the Senate an opportunity to demand that government present its diplomatic correspondence for senatorial review. This request erupted into a conflict between Assembly and Senate, with the former controlled by the "Reds" and Brătianu.


1868 Romanian Senate election, Context, General Golescu's ascendancy
Much debate between the two houses involved concession awarded by government for the creation of a Romanian railways system, with Senate questioning the details of such grants. The incipient scandal, or "Strousberg Affair", began on May 16 (New Style: May 28), when rapporteur Constantin Hurmuzachi pleaded for subcontracting to the Prussian venture capitalists, Bethel Strousberg and Abraham Oppenheim.


1868 Romanian Senate election, Context, General Golescu's ascendancy
According to Nicor, the Assembly had a vested interest: "the deputies, as men of the people, with few means at their disposal, [wanted] something to take them from the provinces to the capital and vice versa, [...] whereas Senate, made up of bigwigs, fat cats with incomes of no less than 800 ducats, people of inspired pockets, most of them owners of coaches and postilions in bandit clothes, wanted to censure the rabble's taste for traveling and pulled off that blunder that was heard around the country." The liberals at Românul also described Senate as obstructionist and driven by "personal interest", "putting the nation at risk of having no railways."


1868 Romanian Senate election, Campaign
The dispute then turned to different readings of the Constitution: following a literal interpretation and breaking with established procedure, Senate asked to be involved in the passing of financial regulation. Conservative senators also attacked General Golescu for tolerating new antisemitic incidents which threatened to upset diplomatic gains; meanwhile, in the Assembly, Panait Donici tried to push through a new law banning Jews from commercial life.


1868 Romanian Senate election, Campaign
On May 31 (June 12), an alliance of Factionalist and "White" senators drafted a motion of no confidence; of the 54 elected and ex officio members present for that session, 32 voted in favor, 8 against, and 14 abstained. Assembly deputies reacted and, on July 1 (July 13), vetoed the motion, returning advantage to the "Reds".


1868 Romanian Senate election, Campaign
Two days later, Domnitor Carol took notice that government had the deputies' confidence, and proceeded to dissolve the upper chamber. Upon leaving the session, outgoing legislators were followed and booed by a group of "Reds" recruited from the lower classes of Bucharest. Elections for a new Senate were immediately called in by Golescu. In his circular letter to the prefectures, Brătianu argued that convening elections had been imperative, since the Assembly had been "dealt a blow in its prerogatives".


1868 Romanian Senate election, Campaign
Assembly and government, he argued, had the authority to dissolve Senate, preventing the state from "descending into paralysis, if not indeed dissolution." The message was also carried by poet Dimitrie Bolintineanu, the liberal candidate in Ismail, who wrote to his voters that: "Everything [should be] done for the country and nothing can be achieved without union and harmony between parties and government".


1868 Romanian Senate election, Campaign
Reportedly, the original interval for the election was July 3–5 (New Style: July 15–17), but these were postponed by 4 days. Officially, this was because several town halls had failed to register voters on such short notice. According to Nicor, cancellation was requested by the Commune of Bucharest, allowing the "fathers of the city" to sanitize the streets and thus hope to impress the voters. Nicor also argues that Golescu and Brătianu's pick of a dog-days schedule decreased the likelihood of "Whites" being elected.


1868 Romanian Senate election, Campaign
Comparatively wealthier voters "have this comfort of traveling abroad to relieve themselves of the boredom in these here parts", while committed middle-class clients "fell into somnolence." Reportedly, the trend had been noticed in advanced by conservative writer Cezar Bolliac, whose Trompetta Carpaților urged "boyars" not to take their leave. Other conservative and Factionalist voices were more confident: the newspaper Térra published a forecast that said "just about every electoral college" would vote against Golescu. Similarly, Dreptatea predicted that the government "would be unable to exert any moral influence [on the electorate]."


1868 Romanian Senate election, Campaign
The campaign was not entirely uneventful, with a scandal over accusations of lèse-majesté by the newspaper Strechia, and a deputation of Bucharest entrepreneurs asking Carol to uphold press freedoms. Campaigning became harsh in Râmnicu Sărat County, where Alexandru Plagino, a conservative First-College candidate, accused the "Reds" of undignified attacks. Voting also coincided with a new alert over revolutionary activities in Romania. As "all eyes were set on the election", it was discovered that a Bulgarian Romanian cell, revolving around Hadzhi Dimitar and Stefan Karadzha, had prepared a military raid over the Danube from their base in Pietroșani. As revealed by later investigations, the BRCK had a secret covenant, the "Sacred Coalition", signed with members of the "Red" party elite—including Grigore Serrurie and Eugeniu Carada. Such incidents sparked indignation in the conservative press, which saw its claim about Pan-Slavist subversion apparently confirmed.


1868 Romanian Senate election, Results
Absentee voters were a major problem: most precincts failed to produce 100 electors, and some also struggled to meet the 25 minimum required by law. Some seats were taken after complicated runoff procedures. At Iași, Factionalist leader Nicolae Ionescu faced Filaret Scriban and won 35 votes to 34, with an additional blank vote between them. The issue was settled during a token repeat vote, confirming Ionescu's victory only because Scriban's voters had left the hall in-between rounds.


1868 Romanian Senate election, Results
Similarly, the Senate seat assigned to the University of Bucharest, widely believed to be a secure win for the liberal Constantin Bosianu, remained vacant, with most teaching staff absent for the vote. Some, including incumbent senator Alexandru Orăscu, reportedly abstained on purpose. The University of Iași seat went to Ștefan Micle after another postponed election.


1868 Romanian Senate election, Results
The overall tally of votes for each competing camp is hard to assess, due to the intermittent custom of presenting senators as independent of party politics. Disputes raged at the time about Golescu's decision to designate his "government candidates", in defiance of established practice. This allowed some tallies to be published after, and even during, the election. Românul of July 22 counted 4 of 33 Second College senators as belonging to the old "White" and Factionalist opposition, decisively "a condemnation of how the old Senators had handled themselves." Of the 29 pro-government victors, 28 had "Red" credentials.


1868 Romanian Senate election, Results
In neighboring Austria-Hungary, the Romanian-language newspaper Telegrafulu Romanu noted during the late stages of the tally that, in the Second College, "of 33 senators only 10 are old ones" (as in: incumbents or senior senators); in the First College, "it would appear [...] that incumbents from the previous senate are in the minority." The few solid wins for the "Whites" included Ilfov's First College, which went to the arch-conservative Ioan Manu. He defeated Nicolae Nicolescu 39 votes to 8 (other counts have 38 to 10).


1868 Romanian Senate election, Results
On July 23, shortly before reporting on the Bulgarians' defeat by the Ottoman Army at Ruschuk, Havas announced that: "The Senate elections, in the first college, have favored the government. Despite the reelection of opposition doyens, the Senate majority was taken by government." The political majority for both Colleges was somewhat established deductively: on July 26, Telegrafulu indicated that the majority was yet to be determined, while commenting that political parties in Romania were overall "useless", even counterproductive for tackling the economic and social hurdles faced by a young country.


1868 Romanian Senate election, Results
However, a day later, Havas reported that "three quarters of the candidates elected favor the current government." Nicor noted with satisfaction that the new Senate was "if not scarlet red, then at least reddish or pink." Historian Silvia Marton also writes that "radical liberals" had a "wide majority". The near-complete list of senators, carried in the daily press of mid and late July, appeared as follows:


1868 Romanian Senate election, Aftermath
Immediately after the Senate election, Ștefan Golescu resigned from his Assembly seat in Ilfov's Second College (including Bucharest). Registered voters were asked to meet for by-elections in Ghica Square in the evening of July 13 (July 25), a date again postponed for the morning of July 14 (26). They ended up electing the entrepreneur Matache Atanasiu, while a similar election for the Second College of Vâlcea went to Dumitru Filip. Deputy elections also took place for the Third Colleges of Covurlui and Mehedinți.


1868 Romanian Senate election, Aftermath
The results were still being tabulated as the cabinet was facing Ottoman scrutiny over its complicity in the Pietroșani affair. After defeating the BRCK, Mehmed Sabri Pasha pressed Bucharest to answer specific questions about how the invasion could take place. An anonymous report, carried by various French newspapers, noted that there was a "certain affectation" in how General Golescu responded to Sabri's demands, and claimed that Romanian authorities had created the incident, then the BRCK's repression, precisely to convince Europe that they did not approve of Pan-Slavism. Investigation into the issue continued during August, by which time Panait Costache, the Bulgarian Mayor of Bucharest, "was accused by one of the local families of having played a very active part in organizing and arming Bulgarian bands"; Costache dismissed the claim as libel.


1868 Romanian Senate election, Aftermath
Returning from vacation with its solidified "Red" majority, Parliament resumed work with extraordinary sessions on September 2 (September 14), 1868. This reopening took place at the same time as the spread of rumors about 330 Bulgarian revolutionaries crossing over into Ottoman territory—dismissed by the authorities as "pure invention". Four days later, Senate had verified the tallies and mandates in most precincts, validating senators; Ștefan Golescu was voted Senate Chairman. With Gheorghe Miller as rapporteur, it also proceeded to debate and vote on railway concessions, validating the Assembly verdict: 39 senators voted in favor, 5 against, with only one abstention (Plagino).


1868 Romanian Senate election, Aftermath
This vote was again mired by controversy, as four "members of the old majority"—Ionescu, Plagino, Gheorghe Costaforu and Christian Tell—apparently conspired to filibuster, including by bringing up issues related to the July campaign; Ionescu also insisted that the Assembly was driving the country bankrupt, and urged his colleagues to take lessons in political economy. Ordinary activity only resumed for both chambers on November 15 (November 27), five days after work officially started on Strousberg's Bucharest—Galați railway line.


1868 Romanian Senate election, Aftermath
Despite such consolidation, internationally and locally the government was still weak. During the parliamentary vacation, Agenor de Gramont was instructed by France's government to meet with Alexandru Ioan Cuza, the exiled former Domnitor, and discuss his potential return on the throne in Bucharest. Brătianu was still disliked abroad, for both his antisemitic past and his new endeavors, including overtures to Prussia which angered France; at home, Carol was becoming unsure of his minister's competence. On September 21 (October 3), an antisemitic mob, tacitly supported by Romanian Police, ransacked Jewish property in Galați.


1868 Romanian Senate election, Aftermath
The affair ended with government deposing the local head of police and compensating the victims. Meanwhile, Golescu's celebration of Romanian nationalism proved encouraging for the Romanian communities in Austria-Hungary, which threatened the empire's survival. The Prime Minister of Hungary, Gyula Andrássy, openly asked Prussia to censure the Domnitor, or risk an alliance between Austria-Hungary and France. A French envoy to Romania, Paul Lamy, was also adamant that Carol and his government were equally involved in the conspiracy to arm the BRCK, and that Carol was using his connections in Prussia for this very purpose. In November, Carol and his Prime Minister attempted to quell diplomatic protests by visiting Sabri Pasha at his residence in Ruschuk.


1868 Romanian Senate election, Aftermath
This show of loyalty failed to convince the European powers, with Prussia joining in to ask for Golescu's ouster. Later that month, as Senate was again returning to work, and having been notified of the Domnitor's opposition, General Golescu resigned, then replaced his brother as the Senate leader; Brătianu was elected Assembly President. "White" leader Dimitrie Ghica took over government, and inaugurated a longer interval of conservative rule, with backing from Concordia defector Mihail Kogălniceanu. According to some accounts, there was a brief stalemate between the two camps, but only because Brătianu expected to be returned into office. In November, Ghica reassured the Ottoman government of its "loyalty and conciliatory intent", moving in to punish "Red" dissenters such as General Alexandru D. Macedonski, and calling for new elections in March 1869.


1868 Romanian Senate election, Aftermath
Celebrated by Cezar Bolliac as a "constructive coalition", the new cabinet announced that it would punish antisemitic outbursts, but also that it would uproot "Jewish colonies" in Romania. This stance was backed over the following months by a new string of expulsions and the official censure of Jewish self-help organizations, including assimilated bodies. Such overtures notwithstanding, and despite winning decisively in the March elections, "cohabitation was impossible" between "Reds" and "Whites"; Ghica became the radicals' "hobbyhorse". The Prime Minister was permanently contested from the left, and deplored the parliamentary situation as a "war among brethren". Marginalized "Reds", now frustrated by the Domnitor's rejection of their other policies, explored conspiratorial ventures—leading, in 1870, to the short and bloodless rebellion known as "Republic of Ploiești".


1868 South Australian colonial election
Colonial elections were held in South Australia from 6 April to 7 May 1868. All 36 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election.


1868 South Australian colonial election
Since the inaugural 1857 election, no parties or stable groupings had been formed, which resulted in frequent changes of the Premier. If for any reason the incumbent Premier of South Australia lost sufficient support through a successful motion of no confidence at any time on the floor of the house, he would tender his resignation to the Governor of South Australia, which would result in interested members declaring their intent to run for the vacant position. A parliamentary ballot would then take place, resulting in the member with the most votes being sworn in by the Governor as the next Premier.


1868 South Australian colonial election
Informal groupings began and increased government stability occurred from the 1887 election. The United Labor Party would be formed in 1891, while the National Defence League would be formed later in the same year.


1868 South Carolina gubernatorial election
The 1868 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held for three days from April 14 to April 16, 1868 to select the governor of South Carolina. The election for statewide offices was held simultaneously with the vote on the South Carolina Constitution of 1868. Robert Kingston Scott won the election largely by the support of the newly franchised black voters and became the 74th governor of South Carolina.


1868 South Carolina gubernatorial election, Campaign
The Republican Party was formed in South Carolina in 1867 to contest the elections of 1868. Members were chiefly composed of former slaves, and much of their support was derived from the Union League. They nominated Robert Kingston Scott, an Ohioan and assistant commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau, as their nominee for governor. The platform of the state Republican party for the election was to enact Radical Republican reconstruction of the state.


1868 South Carolina gubernatorial election, Campaign
Reorganizing for the election were the Democrats who had not been active in state politics since the Civil War. They nominated William D. Porter for governor, although he declined the nomination and instead pressed for the voters to simply vote against the constitution. Nonetheless, he remained a Democratic candidate on the ballot. The Democratic platform for the election called for maintaining a policy of white supremacy and disapproval of the Constitution of 1868.


1868 South Carolina gubernatorial election, General election
The general election was held for three days from April 14 to April 16, 1868 and Robert Kingston Scott was elected as the first Republican governor of South Carolina. The huge vote by the blacks of the state enabled Scott to cruise to a comfortable win over the Democratic nominee, William Porter.


1868 Thersites
1868 Thersites /θərˈsaɪtiːz/ is a large Jupiter trojan from the Greek camp, approximately 70 kilometers (43 miles) in diameter. Discovered during the Palomar–Leiden survey at Palomar in 1960, it was later named after the warrior Thersites from Greek mythology. The presumed carbonaceous C-type asteroid belongs to the 50 largest Jupiter trojans and has a rotation period of 10.48 hours.


1868 Thersites, Discovery
Thersites was discovered on 24 September 1960, by Dutch astronomer couple Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten at Leiden, on photographic plates taken by Tom Gehrels at the Palomar Observatory in California. On the same day, the group discovered another Jupiter trojan, 1869 Philoctetes.


1868 Thersites, Discovery
The body's observation arc begins with a precovery taken at Palomar in March 1954, more than 6 years prior to its official discovery observation.


1868 Thersites, Discovery, Palomar–Leiden survey
The provisional survey designation "P-L" stands for Palomar–Leiden, named after the Palomar and Leiden observatories, which collaborated on the fruitful Palomar–Leiden survey in the 1960s and 1970s. Gehrels used Palomar's Samuel Oschin telescope, also known as the 48-inch Schmidt Telescope, and shipped the photographic plates to Cornelis and Ingrid van Houten at Leiden Observatory, where astrometry was carried out. The trio are credited with the discovery of several thousand minor planets.


1868 Thersites, Orbit and classification
Thersites is a dark Jovian asteroid orbiting in the leading Greek camp at Jupiter's L4 Lagrangian point, 60° ahead of the Gas Giant's orbit in a 1:1 resonance (see Trojans in astronomy). It is also a non-family asteroid in the Jovian background population. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 4.7–5.9 AU once every 12 years and 3 months (4,478 days; semi-major axis of 5.32 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.11 and an inclination of 17° with respect to the ecliptic.


1868 Thersites, Physical characteristics
The Trojan asteroid has been assumed to be a carbonaceous C-type asteroid.


1868 Thersites, Physical characteristics, Rotation period
In July 1994, a first rotational lightcurve of Thersites was obtained from photometric observations by Italian astronomer Stefano Mottola using the former Dutch 0.9-metre Telescope at ESO's La Silla Observatory in northern Chile. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 10.416±0.014 hours with a brightness variation of 0.14±0.01 magnitude (U=2+). The best-rated lightcurve by Robert Stephens at the Center for Solar System Studies from June 2016 gave a period of 10.48 hours and an amplitude of 0.27 magnitude (U=3-). Follow-up observation in 2017 gave a similar period of 10.412 hours (U=2).


1868 Thersites, Physical characteristics, Diameter and albedo
According to the space-based surveys carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite and the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Thersites has a low albedo of 0.055 and measures 78.9 and 68.2 kilometers in diameter, respectively. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for a carbonaceous asteroid of 0.057, and calculates an intermediate diameter of 70.08 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 9.5.


1868 Thersites, Physical characteristics, Diameter and albedo
Note: missing data was completed with figures from the JPL SBDB () and from the LCDB () for the WISE/NEOWISE and SIMPS catalogs, respectively. These figures are given in italics. Also, listing is incomplete above #100.


1868 Thersites, Naming
This minor planet was named from Greek mythology after Thersites, a Greek warrior who wanted to abandon Troy's siege during the Trojan War and head home. The given name also refers to the fact, that the asteroid was discovered farthest from the L4 Lagrangian point. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 1 June 1975 (M.P.C. 3826).


1868 Timaru by-election
The 1868 Timaru by-election was a by-election held on 20 November in the Timaru electorate during the 4th New Zealand Parliament.


1868 Timaru by-election
The by-election was caused by the resignation of the incumbent, Alfred Cox through ill-health. He was replaced by Edward Stafford. As Stafford was the only candidate, he was declared elected unopposed.


1868 Truro by-election
The Truro by-election of 1868 was held on 21 December 1868. The by-election was held due to the incumbent Liberal MP, John Cranch Walker Vivian, becoming Lord Commissioner of the Treasury. It was won by Vivian who was unopposed.


1868 United Kingdom general election
The 1868 United Kingdom general election was the first after passage of the Reform Act 1867, which enfranchised many male householders, thus greatly increasing the number of men who could vote in elections in the United Kingdom. It was the first election held in the United Kingdom in which more than a million votes were cast; nearly triple the number of votes were cast compared to the previous election of 1865.


1868 United Kingdom general election
The result saw the Liberals, led by William Gladstone, again increase their majority over Benjamin Disraeli's Conservatives (see 1865 election) to more than 100 seats.


1868 United Kingdom general election
This was the last general election at which all the seats were taken by only the two leading parties, although the parties at the time were loose coalitions and party affiliation was not listed on registration papers.


1868 United Kingdom general election in Ireland
The 1868 United Kingdom general election in Ireland resulted in the Liberals under Gladstone strengthening their control over Ireland, particularly the south. It was the first election following the Representation of the People (Ireland) Act 1868.


1868 United Kingdom general election in Ireland
A key focus of the Liberal campaign was on their proposal to disestablish the Church of Ireland. The Church of Ireland's official role, as the Protestant national church of a Catholic majority country, had long proved controversial. The Tithe War of the 1830s had largely resulted in the abolition of tithes, which had been levied on Ireland's population (both Protestants and Catholics) to fund the Church of Ireland. Disestablishment was popular both in Ireland, and also amongst non-conformists and the Irish diaspora in Britain, particularly in the Celtic Fringe. This policy would be enacted following the election by the Irish Church Act 1869.


1868 United Kingdom general election in Ireland
The election marked the high-water point of the Liberals in Ireland, and within 17 years they would have no seats at all in Ireland.


1868 United Kingdom general election in Ireland, Results
Not included in the results is the University of Dublin constituency, which returned two Conservatives to parliament.


1868 United States House of Representatives elections in California
The United States House of Representatives elections in California, 1868 were elections for California's delegation to the United States House of Representatives, which occurred as part of the general election of the House of Representatives on November 3, 1868. California's delegation remained at two Democrats and one Republican.


1868 United States House of Representatives elections in Florida
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


1868 United States House of Representatives elections in Florida, Background
Florida had been unrepresented in Congress since January 21, 1861, when its sole Representative and both Senators withdrew from Congress following the secession of Florida from the Union. Following the end of the Civil War, an election had been held in 1865, but it was rejected by Congress. In 1868, Congress readmitted Florida following Reconstruction.


1868 United States House of Representatives elections in Florida, May 5 election
Hamilton was seated on July 1, 1868, during the 2nd session of the 40th Congress.


1868 United States elections
The 1868 United States elections was held on November 3, electing the members of the 41st United States Congress. The election took place during the Reconstruction Era, and many Southerners were barred from voting. This was the first election after the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment, which protected the voting rights of all citizens regardless of race or previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude. After this election but before the next election, delegations from Texas, Virginia, Mississippi, and Georgia were readmitted to Congress.


1868 United States elections
In the presidential election, Republican General Ulysses S. Grant defeated Democratic former governor Horatio Seymour of New York. Incumbent President Andrew Johnson sought the 1868 Democratic nomination, but Seymour took the nomination after twenty two ballots.


1868 United States elections
Democrats gained several seats in the House elections, but Republicans continued to maintain a commanding majority.


1868 United States elections
In the Senate elections, Republicans and Democrats both won seats, but Republicans maintained a huge majority in the chamber.


1868 United States presidential election
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.


1868 United States presidential election
Incumbent president Andrew Johnson had succeeded to the presidency in 1865 following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, a Republican. Johnson, a War Democrat from Tennessee, had served as Lincoln's running mate in 1864 on the National Union ticket, which was designed to attract Republicans and War Democrats. Upon accession to office, Johnson clashed with the Republican Congress over Reconstruction policies and was impeached and nearly removed from office. Johnson received some support for another term at the 1868 Democratic National Convention, but, after several ballots, the convention nominated Seymour, who had formerly served as Governor of New York.


1868 United States presidential election
The 1868 Republican National Convention unanimously nominated Grant, who had been the highest-ranking Union general at the end of the Civil War. The Democrats criticized the Republican Reconstruction policies, and "campaigned explicitly on an anti-black, pro-white platform," while Republicans campaigned on Grant's popularity and the Union victory in the Civil War.


1868 United States presidential election
Grant decisively won the electoral vote, but his margin was narrower in the popular vote. In addition to his appeal in the North, Grant benefited from votes among the newly enfranchised freedmen in the South, while the temporary political disfranchisement of many Southern whites helped Republican margins. As three of the former Confederate states (Texas, Mississippi, and Virginia) were not yet restored to the Union, their electors could not vote in the election.


1868 United States presidential election, Background
Reconstruction and civil rights of former slaves was a hotly debated issue in the Union. Grant supported the Reconstruction plans of the Radical Republicans in Congress, which favored the 14th Amendment, with full citizenship and civil rights for freedmen, including manhood suffrage. The Democratic platform condemned "Negro supremacy" and demanded a restoration of states' rights, including the right of southern states to determine for themselves whether to allow suffrage for adult freedmen. Republicans charged that Democrats were determined to deny any freedman the vote, regardless of fitness. Democrats charged that Republicans wanted to give all freedmen the vote, regardless of fitness.


1868 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party nomination
By 1868, the Republicans felt strong enough to drop the Union Party label, but wanted to nominate a popular hero for their presidential candidate. The Democratic Party controlled many large Northern states that had a great percentage of the electoral votes. General Ulysses S. Grant announced he was a Republican and was unanimously nominated on the first ballot as the party's standard-bearer at the Republican convention in Chicago, Illinois, held on May 20–21, 1868. House Speaker Schuyler Colfax, a Radical Republican from Indiana, was nominated for vice president on the sixth ballot, beating out the early favorite, Senator Benjamin Wade of Ohio.


1868 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party nomination
The Republican platform supported black suffrage in the South as part of the passage to full citizenship for former slaves. It agreed to let northern states decide individually whether to enfranchise blacks. It opposed using greenbacks to redeem U.S. bonds, encouraged immigration, endorsed full rights for naturalized citizens, and favored Radical Reconstruction as distinct from the more lenient policy of President Andrew Johnson.


1868 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party nomination
The Democratic National Convention was held in New York City on July 4–9, 1868. The front-runner in the early balloting was George H. Pendleton, who led on the first 15 ballots, followed in varying order by incumbent president Andrew Johnson, Winfield Scott Hancock, Sanford Church, Asa Packer, Joel Parker, James E. English, James Rood Doolittle, and Thomas A. Hendricks. The unpopular Johnson, having narrowly survived impeachment, won 65 votes on the first ballot, less than one-third of the total necessary for nomination, and thus lost his bid for election as president in his own right.


1868 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party nomination
Meanwhile, the convention chairman Horatio Seymour, former governor of New York, received nine votes on the fourth ballot from the state of North Carolina. This unexpected move caused "loud and enthusiastic cheering," but Seymour refused, saying,


1868 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party nomination
I must not be nominated by this Convention, as I could not accept the nomination if tendered. My own inclination prompted me to decline at the outset; my honor compels me to do so now. It is impossible, consistently with my position, to allow my name to be mentioned in this Convention against my protest. The clerk will proceed with the call.


1868 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party nomination
By the seventh ballot Pendleton and Hendricks had emerged as the two front-runners, with Hancock the only other candidate with much support by this point. After numerous indecisive ballots, the names of John T. Hoffman, Francis P. Blair, and Stephen Johnson Field were placed in nomination, but none of these candidates gained substantial support.


1868 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party nomination
For 21 ballots, the opposing candidates battled it out: the East battling the West for control, the conservatives battling the radicals. Pendleton's support collapsed after the 15th ballot, but went to Hancock rather than Hendricks, leaving the convention still deadlocked. The two leading candidates were determined that the other should not receive the nomination; because of the two-thirds rule of the convention, a compromise candidate was needed. Seymour still hoped it would be Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, but on the 22nd ballot, the chairman of the Ohio delegation announced, "at the unanimous request and demand of the delegation I place Horatio Seymour in nomination with 21 votes—against his inclination, but no longer against his honor."


1868 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party nomination
Seymour had to wait for the rousing cheers to die down before he could address the delegates and decline.


1868 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party nomination
I have no terms in which to tell of my regret that my name has been brought before this convention. God knows that my life and all that I value most in life I would give for the good of my country, which I believe to be identified with that of the Democratic party …


1868 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party nomination
... but when I said that I could not be a candidate, I mean it! I could not receive the nomination without placing not only myself but the Democratic party in a false position. God bless you for your kindness to me, but your candidate I cannot be.


1868 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party nomination
Seymour left the platform to cool off and rest. No sooner had he left the hall than the Ohio chairman cried that his delegation would not accept Seymour's declination; Utah's chairman rose to say that Seymour was the man they had to have. While Seymour was waiting in the vestibule, the convention nominated him unanimously.


1868 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party nomination
Exhausted, the delegates unanimously nominated General Francis Preston Blair, Jr., for vice president on the first ballot after John A. McClernand, Augustus C. Dodge, and Thomas Ewing, Jr., withdrew their names from consideration. Blair's nomination reflected a desire to balance the ticket east and west as well as north and south.


1868 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party nomination
Blair had worked hard for the Democratic nomination and accepted second place on the ticket, finding himself in controversy. He had gained attention for an inflammatory letter addressed to Colonel James O. Broadhead, dated a few days before the convention met, in which he wrote that the "real and only issue in this contest was the overthrow of Reconstruction, as the radical Republicans had forced it in the South."


1868 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
The 1868 campaign of Horatio Seymour versus Ulysses S. Grant was conducted vigorously, being fought out largely on the question of how Reconstruction should be conducted.


1868 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
The Republicans were fearful as late as October that they might be beaten.


1868 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
Grant's antisemitic General Order No. 11 during the Civil War became a campaign issue. He apologized in a letter for the controversial order. In his army days he had traded at a local store operated by the Seligman brothers, two Jewish merchants who became Grant's lifelong friends. They became wealthy bankers who donated substantially to Grant's presidential campaign.


1868 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
Grant took no part in the campaign and made no promises. The Republican campaign theme, "Let us have peace," was taken from his letter of acceptance. After four years of civil war, three years of wrangling over Reconstruction, and the attempted impeachment of a president, the nation craved the peace Grant pledged to achieve.


1868 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
Seymour answered none of the charges made against him, but made a few key speeches. Some newspapers exaggerated his faults. As governor, Seymour had sent troops to Gettysburg, but some press tried to portray him as disloyal to the Union. The New York Tribune led the cartoon campaign with the picture of Seymour standing on the steps of the City Hall calling a mob of New York draft rioters "my friends." The Hartford Post called him "almost as much of a corpse" as ex-President James Buchanan, who had just died. Additionally, Republicans alleged that insanity ran through the Seymour family, citing as evidence the suicide of his father.


1868 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
Blair went on a national speaking tour in which he framed the contest with Ulysses S. Grant and the pro-Reconstruction Republicans in stark racial terms, warning of the rule of "a semi-barbarous race of blacks who are worshipers of fetishes and poligamists" and wanted to "subject the white women to their unbridled lust." Republicans advised Americans not to vote for Seymour, as Blair might succeed him.


1868 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
Blair had a reputation for outspokenness and his campaign speeches in 1868 attacked Radical Republicans. Samuel J. Tilden, a member of the national committee, asked Blair to confine his campaigning to Missouri and Illinois for fear he "would hurt the ticket" because of his stance on Reconstruction.


1868 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
Seymour, who had not taken an active role in the campaign to this point, went into the canvass, seeking to steer the campaign away from the harshness of Blair's attacks on Radical Reconstruction. Seymour emphasized his idea that change in the South should be accomplished at the state level, without national interference. The Democrats campaigned for immediate restoration of all states, the "regulation of the elective franchise in the states by their citizens", and amnesty for past political offenses, while State civil authority should take precedence over military action. The president and the Supreme Court should be respected rather than attacked, as he claimed the Republicans had done. The Democrats would be careful to reorder national priorities.


1868 United States presidential election, General election, Results
The closeness of the popular vote surprised the political elite at the time. Republican Representative James G. Blaine called the slender popular majority for Grant "a very startling fact." Blaine, an acute judge of popular sentiment, was at a loss to explain the size of the Democratic vote. Ethnic Irish Catholic and other immigrants had been settling in New York for nearly a quarter century. The narrow margins by which Seymour lost several of the northern states like Indiana, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania, and the effects of new black votes in the South provoked the suspicion that a majority of white men voted for Seymour.


1868 United States presidential election, General election, Results
Democrats in the South had worked hard, but Republican regimes controlled the election machinery and carried every state there except Georgia and Louisiana, where Ku Klux Klan activity affected Republicans' ability to express their opinion.


1868 United States presidential election, General election, Results
Along the border, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware went overwhelmingly Democratic, in Kentucky's case influenced by hostility toward the Radical Reconstructionists, which had led to the state's first postwar government being almost entirely composed of former Confederates. No Democratic presidential candidate before or since has attained a higher percentage of the vote in Kentucky or Maryland, where hostility toward black suffrage was very widespread. As for Delaware, only the Democratic tickets of Johnson/Humphrey in 1964 (which was elected with the largest percentage of the popular vote since 1824) and Obama/Biden in 2008 (which had the first Delawarean on a national ticket) carried the state with a larger percentage of the vote.


1868 United States presidential election, General election, Results
Two border states, Missouri and West Virginia, both under Republican control, gave their electoral votes to Grant. Seymour narrowly carried his home state of New York, but Blair, largely because of the Radicals' registry system, failed to carry Missouri. The Missouri Democrat exulted: "General Blair is beaten in his ward, his city, his county and his State." In West Virginia, former Confederates were temporarily forbidden from voting or holding public office. It is estimated that 15,000 to 25,000 white residents were disfranchised as a result.


1868 United States presidential election, General election, Results
Of the 1,708 counties making returns, Grant won 991 (58.02%) and Seymour 713 (41.74%). Four counties (0.23%) split evenly between Grant and Seymour. Hence the Democrats, even with all the burdens of the war, still carried only 278 fewer counties than the Republicans. That cemented a solid party comeback at the grassroots level that had begun in local elections in 1867.


1868 United States presidential election, General election, Results
The 1868 election is the only election since the Civil War in which the two major party candidates won over 99.9% of the vote. Out of a total of over 5.7 million votes, just 46 ballots were cast for anyone other than Grant and Seymour.


1868 United States presidential election, General election, Results
That was the last election in which the Republicans won Tennessee until 1920, the last in which the Democrats won Oregon until 1912, and the last in which the Republicans won Missouri until 1904.


1868 United States presidential election, General election, Results
That Grant lost New York to Seymour by 10,000 votes was a source of shame and anger to Republicans. Seymour's victory in New York was made the subject of a federal investigation. On November 4, Horace Greeley spoke at the Union League Club. The ULC promptly petitioned Congress to look into the state vote. The petition was presented to the House of Representatives on December 14 and accepted by a vote of 134-35 (52 abstained). Speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax, the Republican candidate for vice president, appointed a committee of seven: five Republicans and two Democrats.


1868 United States presidential election, General election, Results
The committee was most likely created because the Republicans could not lose New York without a protest. It reported to the House of Representatives on February 23, 1869. The committee decided to take no action, and Seymour retained New York's 33 electoral votes. He was willing to return to the subject as long as he lived.


1868 United States presidential election, General election, Results
In a 1943 book, novelist Irving Stone suggested that if Seymour had carried all four of the October states (Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Iowa), the Republican-controlled Congress would have acted to prevent the possibility of any Southern states supporting the Democratic ticket. Stone claimed that the only way the Democrats could have won was by carrying every close state in the North and retaining both Georgia and Louisiana. Georgia's vote was contested at the electoral count, with the Republicans claiming the Democrats won only by "violence, fraud and intimidation," and it likely would have been disallowed if the Democratic victory had been decisive.


1868 United States presidential election, General election, Results
According to Seymour's biographer, Stewart Mitchell, the Republican Party claimed credit for saving the Union and was bound, bent, and determined to continue to rule it. The margin of Grant's popular majority resulted largely from winning a high percentage of the half-million newly enfranchised coloured men. This strategy contrasted strongly with later years, when Republicans permitted complete black disfranchisement in the former Confederate states, since they had many new and secure votes in new states in the Western United States.


1868 United States presidential election, General election, Results
Source (Popular Vote): Source (Electoral Vote): (a) Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia did not participate in the election of 1868 due to Reconstruction. In Florida, the state legislature cast its electoral vote for Grant by a vote of 40 to 9.


1868 United States presidential election, General election, Results by state
Source: Data from Walter Dean Burnham, Presidential ballots, 1836–1892 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1955) pp 247–57.


1868 United States presidential election, General election, Close states
Red font color denotes states won by Republican Ulysses S. Grant; blue denotes those won by Democrat Horatio Seymour.


1868 United States presidential election, General election, Close states
States where the margin of victory was under 1% (8 electoral votes)


1868 United States presidential election, General election, Close states
States where the margin of victory was under 5% (93 electoral votes)


1868 United States presidential election, General election, Close states
States where the margin of victory was under 10% (35 electoral votes)


1868 United States presidential election in Alabama
The 1868 United States presidential election in Alabama took place on November 3, 1868, as part of the 1868 presidential election. Alabama voters chose eight representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1868 United States presidential election in Alabama
Alabama was won by Ulysses S. Grant, formerly the 6th Commanding General of the United States Army (R-Ohio), running with Speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax, with 51.25% of the popular vote, against the 18th governor of New York, Horatio Seymour (D–New York), running with former Senator Francis Preston Blair Jr., with 48.75% of the vote.


1868 United States presidential election in Arkansas
The 1868 United States presidential election in Arkansas took place on November 3, 1868, as part of the 1868 United States presidential election. Voters chose five representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1868 United States presidential election in Arkansas
Arkansas voted for the Republican nominee, Ulysses S. Grant, over the Democratic nominee, Horatio Seymour. Grant won the state by a margin of 7.36%.


1868 United States presidential election in Arkansas
This was the first time since 1860 that a presidential election was held in the state due to secession, the American Civil War, and Reconstruction. This was also the first presidential election in which a Republican won Arkansas, which it would do next election, but would not do so again until over a century later when Richard Nixon carried the state in the 1972 election.


1868 United States presidential election in California
The 1868 United States presidential election in California was held on November 3, 1868 as part of the 1868 United States presidential election. State voters chose five representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1868 United States presidential election in California
California narrowly voted for the Republican nominee, Union general Ulysses S. Grant, over the Democratic nominee, DNC chair Horatio Seymour by a margin barely over 500 votes. Additionally, this was the last time until 1968 where a Republican won the white House without carrying Santa Clara County.


1868 United States presidential election in Connecticut
The 1868 United States presidential election in Connecticut took place on November 3, 1868, as part of the 1868 United States presidential election. Voters chose six representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1868 United States presidential election in Connecticut
Connecticut voted for the Republican nominee, Ulysses S. Grant, over the Democratic nominee, Horatio Seymour. Grant won the state by a narrow margin of 2.98%.


1868 United States presidential election in Delaware
The 1868 United States presidential election in Delaware took place on November 3, 1868, as part of the 1868 United States presidential election. Voters chose three representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1868 United States presidential election in Delaware
Delaware voted for the Democratic nominee, Horatio Seymour, over the Republican nominee, Ulysses S. Grant. Seymour won the state by a margin of 18%.


1868 United States presidential election in Delaware
With 59% of the popular vote, Delaware would prove to be Seymour's fifth strongest state in terms of popular vote percentage after Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland and Georgia.


1868 United States presidential election in Florida
The 1868 United States presidential election in Florida took place on November 3, 1868, as part of the 1868 United States presidential election. The state legislature chose three representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. The vote in the legislature was 40 Republicans to 9 Democrats.


1868 United States presidential election in Florida
As a result of the status of Reconstruction, the state's three electoral votes were allocated by the State Legislature to Grant. This was the only time in the state's history that the popular vote did not decide the election in the state.


1868 United States presidential election in Georgia
The 1868 United States presidential election in Georgia took place on November 3, 1868, as part of the wider United States Presidential election. Voters chose 9 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1868 United States presidential election in Georgia, Background
The first readmission of Georgia to the Union occurred in 1868.


1868 United States presidential election in Georgia, Vote
The Seymour/Blair ticket carried the state of Georgia on election day.


1868 United States presidential election in Georgia, Vote
With 64.27% of the popular vote, Georgia would be Seymour's fourth strongest victory in terms of percentage in the popular vote after Kentucky, Louisiana and Maryland.


1868 United States presidential election in Illinois
The 1868 United States presidential election in Illinois took place on November 3, 1868, as part of the 1868 United States presidential election. Voters chose 16 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1868 United States presidential election in Illinois
Illinois voted for the Republican nominee, Ulysses S. Grant, over the Democratic nominee, Horatio Seymour. Grant won the state by a margin of 11.38%.


1868 United States presidential election in Indiana
The 1868 United States presidential election in Indiana took place on November 3, 1868, as part of the 1868 United States presidential election. Voters chose 13 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1868 United States presidential election in Indiana
Indiana voted for the Republican nominee, Ulysses S. Grant, over the Democratic nominee, Horatio Seymour. Grant won the state by a narrow margin of 2.78%.


1868 United States presidential election in Iowa
The 1868 United States presidential election in Iowa took place on November 3, 1868, as part of the 1868 United States presidential election. Voters chose eight representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1868 United States presidential election in Iowa
Iowa voted for the Republican nominee, Ulysses S. Grant, over the Democratic nominee, Horatio Seymour. Grant won the state by a margin of 23.84%.


1868 United States presidential election in Kansas
The 1868 United States presidential election in Kansas took place on November 3, 1868, as part of the 1868 United States presidential election. Voters chose three representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1868 United States presidential election in Kansas
Kansas voted for the Republican nominee, Ulysses S. Grant, over the Democratic nominee, Horatio Seymour. Grant won the state by a margin of 37.65%.


1868 United States presidential election in Kansas
With 68.82% of the popular vote, Kansas would be Grant's third strongest victory in terms of popular vote percentage after Vermont and Massachusetts.


1868 United States presidential election in Kentucky
The 1868 United States presidential election in Kentucky took place on November 3, 1868, as part of the 1868 United States presidential election. Voters chose 11 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1868 United States presidential election in Kentucky
Kentucky voted for the Democratic nominee, Horatio Seymour over the Republican nominee, Ulysses S. Grant. Seymour won the state by a margin of 49.1%.


1868 United States presidential election in Kentucky
With 74.55% of the popular vote, Kentucky would be Seymour's strongest victory in terms of percentage in the popular vote. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last occasion when Clinton County and Cumberland County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.


1868 United States presidential election in Louisiana
The 1868 United States presidential election in Louisiana took place on November 3, 1868, as part of the 1868 United States presidential election. Voters chose seven representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1868 United States presidential election in Louisiana
Amid widespread violence and threats meant to prevent freedmen from voting, Louisiana voted for the Democratic nominee, former Governor of New York Horatio Seymour, over the Republican nominee, General Ulysses S. Grant. Seymour won the state by a margin of 41.38%.


1868 United States presidential election in Louisiana
With 70.69% of the popular vote, Louisiana would be Seymour's second strongest victory in terms of percentage in the popular vote after Kentucky.


1868 United States presidential election in Maine
The 1868 United States presidential election in Maine took place on November 3, 1868, as part of the 1868 United States presidential election. Voters chose seven representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1868 United States presidential election in Maine
Maine voted for the Republican nominee, Ulysses S. Grant, over the Democratic nominee, Horatio Seymour. Grant won the state by a margin of 24.82%.


1868 United States presidential election in Maryland
The 1868 United States presidential election in Maryland took place on November 3, 1868, as part of the 1868 United States presidential election. Voters chose seven representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1868 United States presidential election in Maryland
Maryland voted for the Democratic nominee, Horatio Seymour over the Republican nominee, Ulysses S. Grant. Seymour won the state by a margin of 34.4%.


1868 United States presidential election in Maryland
With 67.2% of the popular vote, Maryland would be Seymour's third strongest victory in terms of percentage in the popular vote after Kentucky and Louisiana.


1868 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
The 1868 United States presidential election in Massachusetts took place on November 3, 1868, as part of the 1868 United States presidential election. Voters chose 12 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1868 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
Massachusetts voted for the Republican nominee, Ulysses S. Grant, over the Democratic nominee, Horatio Seymour. Grant won the state by a margin of 39.53%.


1868 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
With 69.76% of the popular vote, Massachusetts would be Grant's second strongest victory in terms of popular vote percentage after neighboring Vermont.


1868 United States presidential election in Michigan
The 1868 United States presidential election in Michigan took place on November 3, 1868, as part of the 1868 United States presidential election. Voters chose eight electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1868 United States presidential election in Michigan
Michigan was won by Republican nominee General Ulysses S. Grant over Democratic candidate Governor Horatio Seymour by a margin of almost 14%.


1868 United States presidential election in Minnesota
The 1868 United States presidential election in Minnesota took place on November 3, 1868, as part of the 1868 United States presidential election. State voters chose four representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1868 United States presidential election in Minnesota
Minnesota was won by Ulysses S. Grant, formerly the 6th Commanding General of the United States Army (R-Ohio), running with Speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax, with 60.88% of the popular vote, against the 18th governor of New York, Horatio Seymour (D–New York), running with former Senator Francis Preston Blair, Jr., with 39.12% of the vote.


1868 United States presidential election in Missouri
The 1868 United States presidential election in Missouri took place on November 3, 1868, as part of the 1868 United States presidential election. Voters chose 11 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1868 United States presidential election in Missouri
Missouri was won by Ulysses S. Grant, formerly the 6th Commanding General of the United States Army (R-Ohio), running with Speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax, with 56.96% of the popular vote, against the 18th governor of New York, Horatio Seymour (D–New York), running with former Senator Francis Preston Blair, Jr., with 43.04% of the vote.


1868 United States presidential election in Missouri
Grant's victory in Missouri made him the first Republican presidential candidate to win the state, although President Abraham Lincoln had won the state on the National Union ticket in 1864. Grant would also be the only Republican to carry the state until Theodore Roosevelt won it in 1904.


1868 United States presidential election in Nebraska
The 1868 United States presidential election in Nebraska took place on November 3, 1868, as part of the 1868 United States presidential election. State voters chose three representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1868 United States presidential election in Nebraska
Nebraska participated in its first ever presidential election, having become the 37th state on March 1, 1867. The state was won by Ulysses S. Grant, formerly the 6th Commanding General of the United States Army (R-Ohio), running with Speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax, with 63.91% of the popular vote, against the 18th governor of New York, Horatio Seymour (D–New York), running with former Senator Francis Preston Blair, Jr., with 36.09% of the vote.


1868 United States presidential election in Nevada
The 1868 United States presidential election in Nevada took place on November 3, 1868, as part of the 1868 United States presidential election. Nevada voters chose three representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1868 United States presidential election in Nevada
Nevada was won by Ulysses S. Grant, formerly the 6th Commanding General of the United States Army (R-Ohio), running with Speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax, with 55.39% of the popular vote, against the 18th governor of New York, Horatio Seymour (D–New York), running with former Senator Francis Preston Blair, Jr., with 44.61% of the vote.


1868 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
The 1868 United States presidential election in New Hampshire took place on November 3, 1868, as part of the 1868 United States presidential election. Voters chose five representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1868 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
New Hampshire voted for the Republican nominee, Ulysses S. Grant, over the Democratic nominee, Horatio Seymour. Grant won the state by a margin of 10.46%.


1868 United States presidential election in New Jersey
The 1868 United States presidential election in New Jersey took place on November 3, 1868, as part of the 1868 United States presidential election. Voters chose seven representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1868 United States presidential election in New Jersey
New Jersey voted for the Democratic nominee, former Governor of New York Horatio Seymour, over the Republican nominee, General Ulysses S. Grant. Seymour won by a very narrow margin of 1.76%.


1868 United States presidential election in New York
The 1868 United States presidential election in New York took place on November 3, 1868, as part of the 1868 United States presidential election. Voters chose 33 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1868 United States presidential election in New York
New York voted for the Democratic nominee, former Governor of New York Horatio Seymour, over the Republican nominee, General Ulysses S. Grant. Seymour won his home state by a very narrow margin of 1.18%, making him the first Democratic candidate since Franklin Pierce in 1852 to win the state. Seymour also became the first losing Democratic presidential candidate to win New York.


1868 United States presidential election in North Carolina
The 1868 United States presidential election in North Carolina took place on November 3, 1868, as part of the 1868 United States presidential election. North Carolina voters chose 9 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1868 United States presidential election in North Carolina
North Carolina was won by Ulysses S. Grant, formerly the 6th Commanding General of the United States Army (R-Ohio), running with Speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax, with 53.41% of the popular vote, against the 18th governor of New York, Horatio Seymour(D–New York), running with former Senator Francis Preston Blair, Jr., with 46.59% of the vote.


1868 United States presidential election in Ohio
The 1868 United States presidential election in Ohio was held on November 3, 1868 as part of the 1868 United States presidential election. State voters chose 21 electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1868 United States presidential election in Ohio
Ohio was won by the Republican Party candidate, Ohio native and General Ulysses S. Grant, who won the state with 54.00% of the popular vote. The Democratic Party candidate, Horatio Seymour, garnered 46.00% of the popular vote.


1868 United States presidential election in Oregon
The 1868 United States presidential election in Oregon took place on November 3, 1868, as part of the 1868 United States presidential election. Voters chose three representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1868 United States presidential election in Oregon
Oregon voted for the Democratic nominee, Horatio Seymour over the Republican nominee, Ulysses S. Grant. Seymour won the state by a narrow margin of 0.74%.


1868 United States presidential election in Oregon
As a result of his win, Seymour became the first Democratic presidential candidate to ever win Oregon. Another Democrat would not win Oregon again on a presidential level until Woodrow Wilson won the state in 1912.


1868 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania
The 1868 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania took place on November 3, 1868, as part of the 1868 United States presidential election. Voters chose 26 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1868 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania voted for the Republican nominee, Ulysses S. Grant, over the Democratic nominee, Horatio Seymour. Grant won Pennsylvania by a margin of 4.4%.


1868 United States presidential election in Rhode Island
The 1868 United States presidential election in Rhode Island took place on November 3, 1868, as part of the 1868 United States presidential election. Voters chose four representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1868 United States presidential election in Rhode Island
Rhode Island voted for the Republican nominee, Ulysses S. Grant, over the Democratic nominee, Horatio Seymour. Grant won the state by a margin of 32.98%.


1868 United States presidential election in Rhode Island
With 66.49% of the popular vote, Rhode Island would be Grant's fifth strongest victory in terms of popular vote percentage after Vermont, Massachusetts, Kansas and Tennessee.


1868 United States presidential election in South Carolina
The 1868 United States presidential election in South Carolina took place on November 3, 1868, as part of the 1868 United States presidential election. Voters chose 6 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. This would be the first time in South Carolina's history where the popular vote was used in the state during the presidential election, with previous elections having used the state legislature.


1868 United States presidential election in South Carolina
South Carolina voted for  the Republican nominee, General Ulysses S. Grant, over the Democratic nominee, former Governor of New York Horatio Seymour. Grant won the state by a margin of 15.86%.


1868 United States presidential election in Tennessee
The 1868 United States presidential election in Tennessee took place on November 3, 1868, as part of the 1868 United States presidential election. Tennessee voters chose 10 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1868 United States presidential election in Tennessee
Tennessee was won by Ulysses S. Grant, formerly the 6th Commanding General of the United States Army (R-Ohio), running with Speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax, with 68.43% of the popular vote, against the 18th governor of New York, Horatio Seymour (D–New York), running with former Senator Francis Preston Blair, Jr., with 31.57% of the vote.


1868 United States presidential election in Tennessee
With 68.43% of the popular vote, Tennessee would be Grant's fourth strongest victory in terms of popular vote percentage after Vermont, Massachusetts and Kansas.


1868 United States presidential election in Vermont
The 1868 United States presidential election in Vermont took place on November 3, 1868, as part of the 1868 United States presidential election. Voters chose five representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1868 United States presidential election in Vermont
Vermont voted for the Republican nominee, Ulysses S. Grant, over the Democratic nominee, Horatio Seymour. Grant won the state by a margin of 57.14%.


1868 United States presidential election in Vermont
With 78.57% of the popular vote, Vermont would be Grant's strongest victory in terms of percentage in the popular vote. In addition, Grant's performance in Vermont in popular vote percentage was the second best for a Republican presidential candidate only after William McKinley's 80.08% in 1896.


1868 United States presidential election in West Virginia
The 1868 United States presidential election in West Virginia took place on November 3, 1868, as part of the 1868 United States presidential election. West Virginia voters chose five representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1868 United States presidential election in West Virginia
West Virginia was won by Ulysses S. Grant, formerly the 6th Commanding General of the United States Army (R-Ohio), running with Speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax, with 58.83% of the popular vote, against the 18th governor of New York, Horatio Seymour(D–New York), running with former Senator Francis Preston Blair, Jr., with 41.17% of the vote.


1868 United States presidential election in Wisconsin
The 1868 United States presidential election in Wisconsin was held on November 3, 1868 as part of the 1868 United States presidential election. State voters chose eight electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1868 United States presidential election in Wisconsin
Wisconsin was won by Republican Party candidate Ulysses S. Grant, over Democratic candidate, Horatio Seymour. Grant won the state with 56.25 percent of the popular vote, winning the states eight electoral votes.


1868 Upper Hunter colonial by-election
A by-election was held for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly electorate of Upper Hunter on 3 July 1868 due to the resignation of sitting member James White, who left the colony to travel to England, Europe and the United States.


1868 Vermont gubernatorial election
The 1868 Vermont gubernatorial election took place on September 8, 1868. Incumbent Republican John B. Page, per the "Mountain Rule", successfully ran for re-election to a second term as Governor of Vermont, defeating Democratic candidate John L. Edwards.


1868 Waikouaiti by-election
The 1868 Waikouaiti by-election was a by-election held on 27 July 1868 in the Waikouaiti electorate during the 4th New Zealand Parliament.


1868 Waikouaiti by-election
The by-election was caused by the resignation of the incumbent MP William Murison on 10 July 1868.


1868 Waikouaiti by-election
Mitchell stood for the "Centralist" party while his opponent William Pitt Gordon stood "in the Provincial Interest."


1868 Wareham by-election
The Wareham by-election of 1868 was fought on 23 December 1868. The by-election was fought due to the death of the incumbent MP of the Liberal Party, John Calcraft. It was won by the Conservative candidate John Erle-Drax.


1868 Wellington colonial by-election
A by-election was held for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly electorate of Wellington on 1868 because Saul Samuel had been appointed Colonial Treasurer in the second Robertson ministry. Such ministerial by-elections were usually uncontested and on this occasion the other ministers were all re-elected unopposed.


1868 Wellington colonial by-election
Philip Risby Holdsworth was the secretary of the protection league and opposed to the free trade treasurer. This was the first occasion on which he stood for parliament.


1868 West Sydney colonial by-election
A by-election was held for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly electorate of West Sydney on 15 December 1868 because of the resignation of Samuel Joseph, who had traveled to Europe but stayed longer than he had contemplated and so resigned his seat.


1868 West Virginia gubernatorial election
The 1868 West Virginia gubernatorial election took place on October 22, 1868, to elect the governor of West Virginia.


1868 Westland Boroughs by-election
The Westland Boroughs by-election 1868 was a by-election held in the Westland Boroughs electorate during the 4th New Zealand Parliament, on 3 April 1868.


1868 Westland Boroughs by-election
The by-election was caused by the resignation of incumbent MP William Moorhouse and was won by William Henry Harrison. On nomination day (1 April) Harrison and William Shaw were nominated. The Westland Boroughs electorate was made up of the boroughs of Greymouth and Hokitika. Harrison was a resident of Greymouth and was the editor of the Grey River Argus. Shaw was the current Mayor of Hokitika, and proprietor of the West Coast Times. After a show of hands in favour of Shaw (eight votes to four), Harrison demanded a poll. William Harrison was subsequently elected two days later.


1868 Westland Boroughs by-election, Results
The polling was notable in that each candidate overwhelmingly dominated in their own borough, with Shaw taking 90% of the vote in Hokitika and Harrison all but one of the Greymouth votes.


1868 Wycombe by-election
The Wycombe by-election, 1868, was a parliamentary by-election held for the House of Commons constituency of the Wycombe in Buckinghamshire on 11 April 1868.


1868 Wycombe by-election, Vacancy
The by-election was caused by the elevation to the peerage of the sitting Liberal MP, the Hon. Charles Carington, on the death of his father.


1868 Wycombe by-election, Candidates
The outgoing MP's brother, the Hon. William Carington, was selected by the local Liberals to fight the seat. No other candidates were nominated.


1868 Wycombe by-election, The result
There being no other candidates putting themselves forward Carington was returned unopposed.


1868 Zollparlament election
Elections to the Zollparlament of the German Zollverein were held in February and March 1868. The Zollparlament consisted of the members of the Reichstag of the North German Confederation and members from the South German states. Those South German members were elected in these elections, the North Germans were the Reichstag members elected the previous year.


1868 Zollparlament election
In total, 85 South Germans were elected: 48 from Bavaria, 14 from Baden, six from Hesse-Darmstadt (additionally to the three Reichstag members in the province of Upper Hesse), and 17 from Württemberg. Most of the South German Zollparlament members were anti-Prussian regionalists. The outcome of the elections did not encourage Bismarck to take advantage of the Zollparlament as a vehicle for the politician unification of Germany.


1868 and 1869 United States House of Representatives elections
Elections to the United States House of Representatives were held in 1868 to elect Representatives to the 41st United States Congress. The election coincided with the presidential election of 1868, which was won by Ulysses S. Grant.


1868 and 1869 United States House of Representatives elections
The Democrats gained 20 seats, but Grant's Republican Party retained a commanding majority in the Reconstruction era following the American Civil War, holding onto a firm legitimacy through an association with victory. As more Southern states exited Reconstruction, more Democratic seats appeared in the South. However, Democratic gains in the South were limited, as the Republican power-brokers of Reconstruction held a great deal of influence. The small Conservative Party of Virginia also picked up several seats in Virginia, as it had support among wealthy Southern leaders who wanted to increase the region's power.


1868 and 1869 United States House of Representatives elections, Election summary
Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia were readmitted during this Congress, leaving Congress without vacant State delegations for the first time since 1860. Georgia had been partially readmitted in the previous Congress, but was not initially admitted to the 41st Congress. With Georgia's final readmission in 1870, all former Confederate states were once more represented in Congress.


1868 and 1869 United States House of Representatives elections, Election dates
Mississippi held rejected elections on July 1, 1868. New (accepted) elections were held December 1, 1869.


1868 and 1869 United States House of Representatives elections, Election dates
In 1845, Congress passed a law providing for a uniform nationwide date for choosing presidential electors. 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 that date. 1868 was the first year in which the majority of States (20 of 37) held their elections on that date. There were still 9 states which held elections before that date and 4 that held regular elections after that date, in addition to 4 readmitted states that held elections after that date.


1868 and 1869 United States House of Representatives elections, Special elections
There were special elections in 1868 and 1869 to the 40th United States Congress and 41st United States Congress.


1868 and 1869 United States House of Representatives elections, Special elections, 40th Congress
Readmission of state are treated here as regular (late) elections, not special elections.


1868 and 1869 United States House of Representatives elections, Special elections, 41st Congress
Readmission of state are treated here as regular (late) elections, not special elections.


1868 and 1869 United States House of Representatives elections, Florida
Florida had been unrepresented in Congress since January 21, 1861, when its sole member and both senators withdrew from Congress following the secession of Florida from the Union. Following the end of the Civil War, an election had been held in 1865, but it was rejected by Congress. In 1868, Congress readmitted Florida following Reconstruction.


1868 and 1869 United States House of Representatives elections, Florida, Election to the current term
The first election, for the duration of the 40th congress, was held May 5, 1868.


1868 and 1869 United States House of Representatives elections, Florida, Election to the current term
Hamilton was seated on July 1, 1868, during the 2nd session of the 40th Congress.


1868 and 1869 United States House of Representatives elections, Florida, Election to the next term
Florida elected its one at-large member on December 29, 1868, re-electing Hamilton, who had just been elected in May to finish the current term.


1868 and 1869 United States House of Representatives elections, Mississippi, 1868 rejected elections
Mississippi elected its members July 1, 1868, but that election was later rejected by the House.


1868 and 1869 United States House of Representatives elections, Mississippi, 1869 accepted elections
Mississippi then held new elections December 1, 1869 both: to finish the term in the 40th Congress and to the next term (starting in 1871) in the 41st Congress. Both elections had the same vote totals and were accepted by the House. The new members were seated in 1870.


1868 and 1869 United States House of Representatives elections, Wisconsin
Wisconsin elected six members of congress on Election Day, November 3, 1868.


1868 and 1869 United States House of Representatives elections, Non-voting delegates, Wyoming Territory
On July 25, 1868, an act of Congress gave Wyoming Territory the authority to elect a congressional delegate, although the first delegate did not take his seat until 1869.


1868 and 1869 United States Senate elections
The United States Senate elections of 1868 and 1869 were elections which had the Republican Party maintain their majority in the United States Senate. However, six former Confederate states were also readmitted separately from the regular election, each electing two Republicans. This increased the Republicans' already overwhelming majority to the largest proportion of seats ever controlled by the party.


1868 and 1869 United States Senate elections
As these elections were prior to ratification of the seventeenth amendment, Senators were chosen by state legislatures.


1868 and 1869 United States Senate elections, Race summaries, Elections during the 40th Congress
In these elections, the winners were seated during 1868 or in 1869 before March 4; ordered by election date.


1868 and 1869 United States Senate elections, Race summaries, Races leading to the 41st Congress
In these regular elections, the winners were elected for the term beginning March 4, 1869; ordered by state.


1868 and 1869 United States Senate elections, Race summaries, Elections during the 41st Congress
There were no elections in 1869 during this Congress after March 4.


1868 and 1869 United States Senate elections, Delaware
Interim appointed Senator James A. Bayard, Jr. was elected January 19, 1869 to finish his term.