1861 Rhode Island gubernatorial election

A gubernatorial election was held in Rhode Island on April 3, 1861. The incumbent Constitutional Union governor William Sprague IV defeated the Republican mayor of Providence James Y. Smith.
Sprague won the 1860 election leading a coalition of Conservative Republicans, former Whigs, and Democrats that formed to oppose the Radical Republican gubernatorial candidate, Seth Padelford. Following the election, his supporters coalesced in the Constitutional Union Party. In concurrent elections for the United States House of Representatives, the Constitutional Union candidates defeated the Republican candidates in both Rhode Island congressional districts.