1858 midterms and the years following 

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Watershed Moments in History
What Consequential Midterms Mean for Americans

On November 8^th, Americans from every state will go to the polls to vote in the midterm elections.

All 435 House seats and 35 out of 100 Senate seats will be on the ballot, potentially making this year’s election cycle one of the most significant in the nation’s history.
This, of course, is not our first consequential midterm, nor is it entirely unique. The 1858 midterm election proved to be a pivotal moment in America with surprising similarities to today.

In 1858, as in 2022, all House seats and 1/3 of the Senate seats were up for grabs, a Democratic president led the nation, and the economy muddled through a recession.
Economic woes stemmed from the “Panic of 1857.” The failure of a major insurance company, a foreign trade deficit, and the collapse of the domestic grain market led to the loss of thousands of jobs for wage-earners across the nation, particularly in the Northeast. These were dark times for the American economy.

And, like today, social issues were also at the forefront of voters’ minds.
In 1858, slavery was the overarching social issue that split the country. The contest for the Senate seat in Illinois pit Republican Abraham Lincoln against Democrat Stephen A. Douglas. In a series of seven debates, Lincoln told audiences that slavery represented a “moral, social and political evil” and its spread an affront to the fundamental human equality expressed in the Declaration of Independence.

To Lincoln, Douglas’s belief in popular sovereignty, i.e., allowing settlers to decide whether slavery would be permitted in a new state, would make “the institution of slavery perpetual and national.”

While Lincoln ended up losing the election, his words resonated with Americans who also viewed slavery as incompatible with the nation’s founding ideals.

The results of the 1858 midterms not only brought Lincoln to national prominence: they set the stage for the eventual victory of the Republican Party in the 1860 presidential election as Republicans took control of the House and won all the gubernatorial races in the northern states.
The solution to both the economic crisis and slavery came in the form of a bloody Civil War that cost the lives of nearly 750,000 Americans.

After the war, the nation took major steps toward equality through the ratification of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments which abolished slavery, granted citizenship and equal protection under the law, and asserted voting rights under the U.S. Constitution.

The economy recovered during the post-war Reconstruction era, and the United States emerged as an industrial superpower, enabling more ordinary Americans than ever to earn fair wages and provide for their families.

Accomplishing Our Founding Ideals
Solving today’s economic and social problems do not require a civil war. Founded on ideals enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, our self-governing nation endures through the framework of the Constitution and ordinary people participating in the political process with an understanding of the nation’s fundamental principles.

We at the Jack Miller Center believe in the power of self-government, which cannot continue without knowledge among our citizens. In the words of Thomas Jefferson, “wherever the people are well informed they can be trusted with their own government.”

Students at JMC Constitution Day event

It is vital that our young people learn about and cherish the principles and history of our great nation.

Today’s young people are tomorrow’s voters. They need a solid and honest civics education so that they can continue to build upon the progress we have made as a nation since the Civil War.

Informed citizens are the lifeblood of our nation. With your support, we can restore serious civic education grounded in America’s history and the principles enshrined in our Declaration and Constitution—for students from K-12 through college.
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The battle for the soul of our nation will be won or lost in our
classrooms ™ — Jack Miller

At the Jack Miller Center, that battle is our sole mission. We are the boots on the ground, working to bring the America's founding principles and history back to the classroom. Please consider a tax-deductible gift ([link removed]) to JMC. Your donation, large or small, is an investment in the future of our country—for you, for your children, for your grandchildren.
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About the Jack Miller Center
The Jack Miller Center is a 501(c)(3) public foundation with the mission to reinvigorate education in America's founding principles and history. We work to advance the teaching and study of America's history, its political and economic institutions, and the central principles, ideas and issues arising from the American and Western traditions—all of which continue to animate our national life.

We support professors and educators through programs, resources, fellowships and more to help them teach our nation's students.
www.jackmillercenter.org

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