1859 New York City mayoral election

none January 2025 January 2025 1859 New York City mayoral election Presidential no 1857 New York City mayoral election 1857 1861 New York City mayoral election 1861 December 6, 1859 Fernando Wood (cropped).jpg Fernando Wood Independent Democratic 29,940 38.3% Mozart Hall William Frederick Havemeyer (cropped).jpg William F. Havemeyer Democratic Party (United States) 26,913 34.4% Tammany Hall George Opdyke - Brady-Handy (cropped).jpg George Opdyke Republican Party (United States) 21,417 27.4% 250px Results by Borough Mayor Daniel F. Tiemann Democratic Party (United States) Fernando Wood Democratic Party (United States) An election for Mayor of New York City was held on December 6, 1859. Incumbent mayor Daniel F. Tiemann was not a candidate for re-election. Former mayor Fernando Wood, running on a "Mozart Hall" Democratic ticket in opposition to his former Tammany Hall allies, won a three-way race to succeed him, defeating William F. Havemeyer and Republican George Opdyke. Background Following his defeat in the 1857 election, which saw him defeated by an alliance of Republicans, Know-Nothings, and former Tammany Hall supporters, Fernando Wood was declared politically dead.Mushkat 1990 81 In 1857, Wood purchased the New York Daily News for $5,600 and later installed his brother, Benjamin, as editor.Mushkat 1990 84 He used the paper as his personal bulletin, boosting his own populist platform and haranguing opponents and enemies.Mushkat 1990 93 Democratic nominations Background In the April 1857 Tammany elections, Wood campaigned for control of the organization but lost by a margin of two to one; his supporters blamed the enrollment of secret "Black Republicans" and Wood left Tammany Hall. He founded a "Democratic Society of Regulators" with membership open to any New York City Democrat. Wood's organization came to be called the "Mozart Hall Democrats", after the hotel where they met at the corner of Bond Street and Broadway. The society was composed largely of immigrants, workers, and the poor.Mushkat 1990 84–88 Wood spent much of 1858 and 1859 trying to play various presidential candidates off of each other to elevate his friend Henry A. Wise, Governor of Virginia, as a compromise candidate for president.Mushkat 1990 84–88 At the 1858 state convention, Wood's manipulation was revealed, and Daniel Sickles succeeded in having Mozart delegates barred. In return, Wood unsuccessfully opposed Sickles's re-election to Congress. The split between Tammany and Mozart allowed Republicans to pick up several offices in the city in the 1858 election. In December 1858, President Buchanan responded by granting all patronage at the Port of New York to Tammany, further isolating Wood. Tammany offered him re-admittance, but he declined.Mushkat 1990 84–88 Results At the 1859 city convention, Wood's Mozart delegates enlisted armed force to seize the convention, beginning proceedings without the Tammany delegates (a traditional Tammany strategy) and using violence to prevent any challenge to their proceedings. Wood's tactics at the 1859 convention drew backlash and forever alienated him from respectable politics.Mushkat 1990 91–95 As a result, two Democratic tickets were nominated in the city, with Wood heading the Mozart Hall slate while the Fifth Avenue Democrats, a group of wealthy, conservative men including August Belmont and Samuel J. Tilden, forced the nomination of William Frederick Havemeyer on a Tammany ticket.Mushkat 1990 91–95 General election Candidates William Frederick Havemayer, former mayor (Tammany Hall) George Opdyke, Assemblyman and banker (Republican) Fernando Wood, former mayor (Mozart Hall) Campaign Primarily through the Daily News, Wood attacked the Tammany–Fifth Avenue fusion as "kid-glove, scented, silk stocking, poodle-headed, degenerate aristocracy" who were out of touch with real Democrats. Wood also delivered a series of pro-slavery and pro-Southern speeches, decrying John Brown and abolitionism as a threat to the Union.Mushkat 1990 91–94 Privately, he advised Governor Wise not to execute Brown in fears of stirring sympathy for abolition.Mushkat 1990 94 Both Democrats and Republicans attacked Wood for his past corruption and his "imperial" ambition.Mushkat 1990 91–95 Results In an election with 88.1% turnout, Wood pulled off a narrow three way victory. He received 38.3% of the vote against 34.6% for Havemeyer and 27.4% for Opdyke.Mushkat 1990 95–97 Compared to his prior campaigns, which had been on the Tammany Hall ticket, Wood ran marginally more strongly in well-off neighborhoods and marginally worse in working-class neighborhoods.Mushkat 1990 95–97 His support of the Southern cause likely appealed to merchants and workers dependent on their trade. As a result, he ran strongly in the lower nine wards, where he won a majority in six of nine, and on the East Side, which contained a number of shipbuilding, commercial, and related industries tied to trade with the South.Mushkat 1990 95–97 Along with his victory, Wood's coattails elected eleven school commissioners and helped Greene C. Bronson defeat Samuel J. Tilden for corporation counsel. However, Mozart Hall failed to gain a majority on the Common Council, meaning that Wood would have to broker with Tammany and Republicans to govern the city for the next two years, curtailing many of his grandiose proposals for a powerful executive.Mushkat 1990 95–97 1859 New York City mayoral election Fernando Wood Independent Democratic 29,940 38.25% William F. Havemeyer Democratic Party (US) 26,913 34.39% George Opdyke Republican Party (US) 21,417 27.36% 78,170 100.00% Results by ward Results by wardsThe Tribune almanac and political register 1853-1862 https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015065248596&seq=531 HathiTrust Ward WoodMozart HavemeyerTammany OpdykeRepublican Total Votes % Votes % Votes % 1 820 49.97% 548 33.39% 273 16.64% 1,641 2 155 32.70% 156 32.91% 163 34.39% 474 3 243 38.03% 221 34.59% 175 27.38% 639 4 1,464 65.39% 513 22.91% 262 11.70% 2,239 5 1,011 39.49% 884 34.53% 665 25.98% 2,560 6 1,110 42.64% 1,340 51.48% 153 5.88% 2,603 7 1,849 44.41% 1,275 30.63% 1,039 24.96% 4,163 8 1,411 36.51% 1,496 38.72% 957 24.77% 3,864 9 1,441 24.42% 2,112 35.79% 2,348 39.79% 5,901 10 913 31.75% 1,189 41.36% 773 26.89% 2,875 11 2,207 43.61% 1,767 34.91% 1,087 21.48% 5,061 12 982 40.48% 861 35.49% 583 24.03% 2,426 13 1,272 39.43% 1,081 33.51% 873 27.06% 3,226 14 1,638 54.31% 1,013 33.59% 365 12.10% 3,016 15 733 21.28% 1,461 42.41% 1,251 36.31% 3,445 16 1,609 32.25% 1,609 32.25% 1,771 35.50% 4,989 17 2,576 39.00% 2,231 33.77% 1,799 27.23% 6,606 18 2,064 38.87% 1,825 34.37% 1,421 26.76% 5,310 19 1,412 45.95% 826 26.88% 835 27.17% 3,073 20 2,091 34.43% 2,008 33.06% 1,974 32.51% 6,073 21 1,576 34.10% 1,574 34.05% 1,472 31.85% 4,622 22 1,363 39.35% 923 26.65% 1,178 34.00% 3,464 Totals 29,940 38.25% 26,913 34.39% 21,417 27.36% 78,270 References Bibliography Allen Oliver E. https://archive.org/details/tigerrisefalloft00alle/page/52 The Tiger: The Rise and Fall of Tammany Hall 1993 Addison-Wesley Publishing Company 0-201-62463-X 52-53,63,67-76 registration MacLeod Donald https://archive.org/details/bioofhonwood00maclrich Biography of Hon. Fernando Wood, Mayor of the City of New York O.F. Parsons 1859 New York registration Mushkat Jerome https://archive.org/details/fernandowoodpoli0000mush/page/n13/mode/2up Fernando Wood: A Political Biography Kent State University Press 1990 087338413X Kent, Ohio registration 1859 New York City New York City mayoral Category:Tammany Hall Category:December 1859 in the United States New York City mayoral election