Shaded counties returned 50% or more votes for Democratic Party congressional candidates. Since the days of Andrew Jackson, southern Illinois was solidly Democratic and this tradition continued. Even so, these returns were a major setback to the Republicans. Voters selected nine Democrats out of fourteen federal representatives and gave them both houses of the state legislature.
Given an opportunity to support the Lincoln Administration most voters chose not to. War against the Southern states was not popular and many thought poorly managed. Military defeat, heavy casualties, suspension of civil liberties, and calls from the government for more volunteers turned people away from the Republican Party.