The 1856 Illinois lieutenant gubernatorial election was held on 4 November 1856 in order to elect the lieutenant governor of Illinois. Republican nominee and former member of the Illinois Senate John Wood defeated Democratic nominee Richard Jones Hamilton and Know Nothing nominee Parmenus Bond.
General election.
On election day, 4 November 1856, Republican nominee John Wood won the election by a margin of 4,287 votes against his foremost opponent Democratic nominee Richard Jones Hamilton, thereby gaining Republican control over the office of lieutenant governor. Wood was sworn in as the 13th lieutenant governor of Illinois on 3 January 1857.
Results.
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 15em" |Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em" |Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em" |Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em" |%
! colspan="3" style="text-align:right;" | Total votes
References.
 ;templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" / ;