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During the semester, I shall post course material and students will comment on it. Students are also free to comment on any aspect of the presidency, either current or historical. There are only two major limitations: no coarse language, and no derogatory comments about people at the Claremont Colleges.

The course syllabus is at
http://www.claremontmckenna.edu/pages/faculty/JPitney/gov102-14.html

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Friday, September 19, 2008

Parties in Congress During the Civil War Era

On Wednesday, Bryant asked about the House party breakdown during the Civil War era. Here are data from the Clerk of the House. Note that secession caused a big drop in the total number of seats and gave the Republicans an advantage. (The D and R figures add up to less than the total because other parties held a small number of seats.)

.............................Total...D...R
35th(1857-1859) 237......132 90
36th(1859-1861) 238........83 116
37th(1861-1863) 183........44 108
38th(1863-1865) 184........72 86
39th(1865-1867) 193........38 136
40th(1867-1869) 226........47 173
41st(1869-1871) 243........67 171
42nd(1871-1873) 243.......104 136
43rd(1873-1875) 292........88 199
44th(1875-1877) 293.......182 103

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