Representatives had been meeting since December 5, 1859 on the usually routine task of electing a Speaker. After unsuccessfully supporting John Sherman of Ohio through thirty-nine ballots, the Republicans nominated William Pennington of New Jersey. On the following fortieth ballot, Pennington fell three votes short of a majority and election. And the election continued. (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.
Record Data
Date Certainty
Exact
Type
Lawmaking/Litigating
