1852–53 United States House of Representatives elections
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All 234 seats in the United States House of Representatives 118 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Results: Democratic gain Whig gain Democratic hold Whig hold Free Soil hold Free Soil gain Independent gain | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1852–53 United States House of Representatives elections were held on various dates in various states between August 2, 1852, and November 8, 1853. Each state set its own date for its elections to the House of Representatives before the first session of the 33rd United States Congress convened on December 5, 1853. The size of the House increased to 234 seats following the congressional reapportionment based on the 1850 United States census.
Democrats increased their House majority while electing national compromise candidate Franklin Pierce, a Northerner favorable to Southern interests, to the Presidency. Effects of the Compromise of 1850 temporarily had reduced sectional tensions, and both major parties, Democrats and Whigs, unified around the 1852 presidential campaign, with Whig unity more tenuous. Two small parties, the Union and Southern Rights parties, collapsed before this election, while the Free Soil Party, opposing slavery in the Western territories, retained four seats. One Independent, Caleb Lyon, was elected from New York.