In the Chicago mayoral election of 1865, Republican

John Blake Rice John Blake Rice (May 28, 1809 – December 17, 1874) was an American actor, theatrical producer and politician. He served as the Mayor of Chicago, Illinois (1865–1869) as a member of the Republican Party. Early life and career Rice was bo ...

defeated Democratic incumbent

Francis Cornwall Sherman Francis Cornwall Sherman (September 18, 1805November 7, 1870) served as Mayor of Chicago, Illinois, for three terms (1841–1842, 1862–1865) as a member of the Democratic Party. Early life Sherman was born September 17, 1805 in Newtown, Con ...

by a

landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, deep-seated grade (slope), slope failures, mudflows, and debris flows. Landslides occur in a variety of ...

33% margin of victory. The election was held on April 18, only four days after the

assassination of Abraham Lincoln On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was assassinated by well-known stage actor John Wilkes Booth, while attending the play ''Our American Cousin'' at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. Shot in the hea ...

. Originally, Democrat Leonard Rothgerber had been one of the candidates running. However, in the aftermath of the assassination of the Republican president, the shaken public had come to coalesce in support of Republican mayoral candidate Rice. Sensing this, Democratic candidate Leonard Rothgerber withdrew from the race and declared that there was a need for the nation to stand united.Politics and Politicians of Chicago: Cook County, and Illinois. Memorial Volume, 1787-1887. A Complete Record of Municipal, County, State and National Politics from the Earliest Period to the Present Time. And an Account of the Haymarket Massacre of May 4, 1886, and the Anarchist Trials
(Blakely Printing Company, 1886) As a gesture of gratitude, Rice reimbursed Rothgerber's campaign expenses.
Mark Jacob and Stephan Benzkofer March 10, 2015 While he remained on the ballot, Sherman also all-but-withdrew from the race as well in the aftermath of Lincoln's assassination.Rogues, Rebels, And Rubber Stamps: The Politics Of The Chicago City Council, 1863 To The Present by Dick Simpson, Routledge, Mar 8, 2018 (page 30)
/ref> Rice was a "Reform" Republican. This was the last of four mayoral elections which Chicago held during the course of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

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References

Mayoral elections in Chicago

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

1860s in Chicago {{Illinois-election-stub