The 1861 New York state election was held on November 5, 1861, to elect the Secretary of State, the State Comptroller, the

New York State Attorney General The attorney general of New York is the chief legal officer of the U.S. state of New York and head of the Department of Law of the state government. The office has been in existence in some form since 1626, under the Dutch colonial government of ...

, the

State Treasurer In the state governments of the United States, 48 of the 50 states have the executive position of treasurer. New York abolished the position in 1926; duties were transferred to New York State Comptroller. Texas abolished the position of Texas ...

, the State Engineer, a Judge of the

New York Court of Appeals The New York Court of Appeals is the highest court in the Unified Court System of the State of New York. The Court of Appeals consists of seven judges: the Chief Judge and six Associate Judges who are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by t ...

, two Canal Commissioners and an Inspector of State Prisons, as well as all members of the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Assem ...

and the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan com ...

History

The "Independent People's" state convention met on September 10 at

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...

with the intention to nominate a ticket which would be endorsed by the Republican state convention which was due to meet at the same city on the following day. The convention was dominated by the old Hunkers/Hard faction of the Democratic Party (which had supported

John C. Breckinridge John Cabell Breckinridge (January 16, 1821 – May 17, 1875) was an American lawyer, politician, and soldier. He represented Kentucky in both houses of Congress and became the 14th and youngest-ever vice president of the United States. Serving ...

for the Presidency the year before, and had been reduced to a small minority at the 1860 New York state election) and the Greeley Republicans. The Republican state convention met on September 11 at

and endorsed the Independent People's ticket with the exception of Frederick A. Tallmadge. The Republicans preferred the incumbent Canal Commissioner Benjamin F. Bruce to be re-nominated.

Results

The whole jointly nominated part of the "Union" ticket was elected, only the Democratic candidate for short-term Canal Commissioner William W. Wright was elected due to the split of the "Union" ticket. The incumbents Floyd-Jones, Richmond, Comstock and Bruce were defeated. 22 Republicans and 10 Democrats were electedMany were elected on the "Union" ticket. to a two-year term (1862–63) in the

. The

of 1862 was almost evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats, most of whom had been elected on the "Union" ticket. There was a small majority of Republicans.

Sources

*Result i
''The Tribune Almanac 1862''
*The Union ticket

in ''Harper's Weekly'', September 28, 1861, pg. 611 *The tickets

in NYT on November 5, 1861 (giving "Low" instead of Lord)

History

Results

Sources

Notes

See also