1860 Rhode Island gubernatorial election

A gubernatorial election was held in Rhode Island on April 4, 1860. The Democratic and Conservative candidate William Sprague IV defeated the Republican former member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives from Providence Seth Padelford.

At the Republican state convention, Padelford, a Radical Republican, defeated the incumbent governor Thomas G. Turner. Padelford's nomination precipitated a movement by Conservative Republicans, former Whigs, and Democrats to jointly nominate Sprague as the conservative fusion candidate. Sprague's surrogates portrayed the election as a choice between "Union and Disunion" and charged Padelford with representing "agitation, anarchy," and "black Republicanism." The conservatives used several names during the campaign, including "Young Men's," "Conservative Republican," "Democratic," "Military," "Conservative Union," and "American." Sprague's coalition subsequently became the foundation for the Rhode Island Constitutional Union Party.