Thirty-ninth ballot in the election for Speaker sees John Sherman fall behind for the first time

Representatives had been meeting since December 5, 1859 on the usually routine task of electing a Speaker.  In a marathon session that culminated in the thirty-ninth ballot, John Sherman of Ohio, for the Republicans, who had led every ballot was at last overtaken by William Smith of North Carolina.  Smith, despite the support of a coalition of Democratic and American Party members, could not reach the required number of votes so the struggle went on. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
Richard Franklin Bensel, Yankee Leviathan: the origins of central state authority in America, 1859-1877 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 53.
    Date Certainty
    Exact
    Type
    Lawmaking/Litigating
    How to Cite This Page: "Thirty-ninth ballot in the election for Speaker sees John Sherman fall behind for the first time," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/30707.