36th United States Congress

The 36th United States Congress , made up of the House and Senate , was the United States' legislature . His legislative period lasted from March 4, 1859 to March 4, 1861. All members of the House of Representatives and a third of the senators ( Class II ) were elected in the 1858 congressional elections. This resulted in different majorities in the chambers. While the Democratic Party had a majority in the Senate, the Republican Party had a majority in the House of Representatives . Due to the withdrawal of some southern states (see below), the majority in the Senate shifted in favor of the Republicans. The congress met in the American capital Washington, DC President was the Democrat James Buchanan . The United States then consisted of 33 states. In January 1861, Kansas was added to the 34th state. However, between the congressional elections in 1860 (37th Congress) and the end of the legislative term of the 36th Congress (March 4, 1861), the states of South Carolina , Mississippi , Florida , Alabama , Georgia , Louisiana and Texas left the union, which they did not recognized. Congress rejected the withdrawal of the southern states. Most of the southern MPs and senators voluntarily gave up their positions. Others were expelled from Congress as supporters of the so-called rebels. The exit of these states took place against the background of the looming American Civil War . The distribution of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the 1850 census .

Important events

See also 1859, 1860 and 1861

• March 4, 1859: Beginning of the legislative period of the 36th Congress
• The entire legislative period was shaped by the tensions between the north and the south in the run-up to the civil war. In addition, the Indian Wars continue in the West .
• June 8, 1859: The Comstock Lode is discovered in Virginia City , later state of Nevada . Their discovery sparked a silver rush.
• August 27, 1859: The first oil well in the United States is developed near Titusville .
• October 16-18, 1859: Abolitionist John Brown raids an arsenal in Harpers Ferry in what would later become the state of West Virginia .
• December 2, 1859: John Brown is executed for treason for his actions.
• April 3, 1860: The Pony Express starts work.
• April 23 - May 3, 1860: Democratic National Convention in Charleston South Carolina. The party congress cannot commit itself to a presidential candidate.
• May 9, 1860: In Baltimore , the Constitutional Party nominates John Bell as its presidential candidate.
• May 18, 1860: At the Republican National Convention in Chicago is Abraham Lincoln nominated as presidential candidate of the Republicans.
• June 18-23, 1860: At their second nomination convention in 1860, which was held in Baltimore, the Democrats nominated Stephen A. Douglas as a candidate for president
• June 26-28, 1860: The Southern Democrats reject Douglas' nomination and in turn nominate incumbent Vice President John C. Breckinridge at a party conference in Richmond , Virginia .
• November 6, 1860: US presidential and congressional elections. The Republican Abraham Lincoln is elected as the new president (in office March 4, 1861). In the congressional elections, the Republicans secure a majority in both chambers.
• December 18, 1860: The Crittenden Compromise is introduced to Congress. This attempt at mediation between the North and the South does not find a majority in Congress.
• December 20, 1860: In response to Lincoln's election, South Carolina announces its withdrawal from the Union. (Secession)
• January 3, 1861: Delaware decides to remain in the Union.
• January 9, 1861: Mississippi joins the secession.
• January 10, 1861: Florida joins the secession.
• January 11, 1861: Alabama joins the secession.
• January 18, 1861: Georgia joins the secession.
• January 26, 1861: Louisiana joins the secession.
• January 29, 1861. Kansas becomes the 34th state to join the Union.
• February 1, 1861: Texas joins the secession.
• February 28, 1861: Creation of the Colorado Territory
• March 2, 1861: Nevada Territory founded
• March 2, 1861: Dakota Territory is established

The main laws

During the session of the 36th Congress, the following federal laws were passed ( see also: Legislative procedure ):

• June 16, 1860: Pacific Telegraph Act of 1860
• March 2, 1861: Morrill Tariff

Composition according to parties

senate

• Democratic Party: 38
• Republican Party: 23
• Others: 2
• Vacant: 3

Total: 66 at the beginning of the legislative period

• Democratic Party: 26
• Republican Party: 28
• Others: 1
• Vacant: 13 (mainly seats from states that have left the Union)

Total: 68 at the end of the legislative period

House of Representatives

• Democratic Party: 84
• Republican Party: 113
• Other: 38
• Vacant: 2

Total: 237 at the beginning of the legislative period

• Democratic Party: 58
• Republican Party: 116
• Others: 35
• Vacant: 29 (mainly MPs from the former southern states)

Total: 238 at the end of the legislative period

There were also five congressional delegates who were not entitled to vote

Public officials

senate

• President of the Senate : John C. Breckinridge (D)
• President pro tempore : Benjamin Fitzpatrick (D) until February 26, 1860, then Jesse D. Bright (D) 12–13. June 1860, then Benjamin Fitzpatrick again until December 2, 1860. After the majority change, Solomon Foot (R) took over the office on February 16, 1861.

House of Representatives

• House Speaker : William Pennington (R)

Senate members

The following senators represented their respective states in the 36th Congress:

Alabama 2. Clement Claiborne Clay (D) until January 21, 1861 3. Benjamin Fitzpatrick (D) until January 21, 1861 Arkansas 2. William King Sebastian (D) 3. Robert Ward Johnson (D) California 1. David C. Broderick (D) until September 16, 1859 Henry P. Haun (D) Between November 3, 1859 and March 4, 1860 Milton Latham (D) from March 5, 1860 3. William M. Gwin (D) Connecticut 1. James Dixon (R) 3. Lafayette S. Foster (R) Delaware 1. James A. Bayard (D) 2. Willard Saulsbury (D) Florida 1. Stephen Mallory (D) until January 21, 1861 3. David Levy Yulee (D) until January 21, 1861 Georgia 2. Robert Augustus Toombs (D) until February 4, 1861 3. Alfred Iverson (D) until January 28, 1861 Illinois 2. Stephen A. Douglas (D) 3. Lyman Trumbull (R) Indiana 1. Jesse D. Bright (D) 3. Graham N. Fitch (D) Iowa 2. James W. Grimes (R) 3. James Harlan (R) Kansas Vacant Vacant Kentucky 2. Lazarus W. Powell (D) 3. John J. Crittenden (A) Louisiana 2. Judah Philip Benjamin (D) until February 4, 1861 3. John Slidell (D) until February 4, 1861 Maine 1. Hannibal Hamlin (R) until January 17, 1861 Lot M. Morrill (R) from January 17, 1861 2. William P. Fessenden (R) Maryland 1. Anthony Kennedy (A) 3. James Pearce (D) Massachusetts 1. Charles Sumner (R) 2. Henry Wilson (R) Michigan 1. Zachariah Chandler (R) 2. Kinsley S. Bingham (R)

Minnesota 1. Henry Mower Rice (D) 2. Morton S. Wilkinson (R) Mississippi 1. Jefferson Davis (D) through January 21, 1861 2. Albert G. Brown (D) until January 21, 1861 Missouri 1. Trusten Polk (D) 3. James S. Green (D) New Hampshire 2. John P. Hale (R) 3. Daniel Clark (R) New Jersey 1. John Renshaw Thomson (D) 2. John C. Ten Eyck (R) new York 1. Preston King (R) 3. William H. Seward (R) North Carolina 2. Thomas Bragg (D) 3. Thomas Lanier Clingman (D) Ohio 1. Benjamin Wade (R) 3. George E. Pugh (D) Oregon 2. Edward Dickinson Baker (R) from October 2, 1860 3. Joseph Lane (D) Pennsylvania 1. Simon Cameron (R) 3. William Bigler (D) Rhode Island 1. James F. Simmons (R) 2. Henry B. Anthony (R) South carolina 2. James Chesnut (D) until November 10, 1860 3. James Henry Hammond (D) until November 11, 1860 Tennessee 1. Andrew Johnson (D) 2. Alfred Nicholson (D) until March 3, 1861 Texas 1. Matthias Ward (D) until December 5, 1859 Louis Wigfall (D) from December 5, 1859 2. John Hemphill (D) Vermont 1. Solomon Foot (R) 3. Jacob Collamer (R) Virginia 1. James Murray Mason (D) 2. Robert Hunter (D) Wisconsin 1. James Rood Doolittle (R) 3. Charles Durkee (R)

Members of the House of Representatives

The following congressmen represented the interests of their respective states in the 36th Congress:

Alabama 7 constituencies 1. James Adams Stallworth (D) until January 21, 1861 2. James L. Pugh (D) until January 21, 1861 3. David Clopton (D) until January 21, 1861 4. Sydenham Moore (D) until January 21, 1861 5. George S. Houston (D) until January 21, 1861 6. Williamson Cobb (D) until January 21, 1861 7. Jabez Curry (D) until January 21, 1861 Arkansas 2 constituencies 1. Thomas Carmichael Hindman (D) 2. Albert Rust (D) California 2 constituencies 1. John C. Burch (D) 2. Charles L. Scott (D) Connecticut 4 constituencies 1. Dwight Loomis (R) 2. John Woodruff (R) 3. Alfred A. Burnham (R) 4. Orris S. Ferry (R) Delaware state-wide choice William G. Whiteley (D) Florida State-wide George Sydney Hawkins (D) until January 21, 1861 Georgia 8 constituencies 1. Peter Early Love (D) until January 23, 1861 2. Martin Jenkins Crawford (D) until January 23, 1861 3. Thomas Hardeman (Opposition Party) until January 23, 1861 4. Lucius Jeremiah Gartrell (D) until January 23, 1861 5. John WH Underwood (D) until January 23, 1861 6. James Jackson (D) until January 23, 1861 7. Joshua Hill (A) until January 23, 1861 8. John James Jones (D) until January 23, 1861 Illinois 9 constituencies 1. Elihu Benjamin Washburne (R) 2. John F. Farnsworth (R) 3. Owen Lovejoy (R) 4. William Kellogg (R) 5. Isaac N. Morris (D) 6. John Alexander McClernand (D) 7. James Carroll Robinson (D) 8. Philip B. Fouke (D) 9. John A. Logan (D) Indiana 11 constituencies 1. James Lockhart (D) until September 7, 1857 William E. Niblack (D) 2. William Hayden English (D) 3. William McKee Dunn (R) 4. William S. Holman (D) 5. David Kilgore (R) 6. Albert Porter (R) 7. John G. Davis (Anti-Lecompton Democrat) 8. James Wilson (R) 9. Schuyler Colfax (R) 10. Charles Case (R) 11. John U. Pettit (R) Iowa 2 constituencies 1. Samuel Ryan Curtis (R) 2. William Vandever (R) Kansas state election Martin F. Conway (R) from January 29, 1861 Kentucky 10 constituencies 1. Henry Cornelius Burnett (D) 2. Samuel Peyton (D) 3. Francis Bristow (O) 4. William Clayton Anderson (O) 5. John Young Brown (D) from December 3, 1860 6. Green Adams (O) 7. Robert Mallory (O) 8. William E. Simms (D) 9. Laban T. Moore (O) 10. John W. Stevenson (D) Louisiana 4 constituencies 1. John Edward Bouligny (A) 2. Miles Taylor (D) until February 5, 1861 3. Thomas G. Davidson (D) 4. John M. Landrum (D) Maine 6 constituencies 1. Daniel E. Somes (R) 2. John J. Perry (R) 3. Ezra B. French (R) 4. Freeman H. Morse (R) 5. Israel Washburn (R) by January 1, 1861 Stephen Coburn (R) from January 2, 1861 6. Stephen Clark Foster (R) Maryland 6 constituencies. 1. James Augustus Stewart (D) 2. Edwin Hanson Webster (A) 3. James Morrison Harris (A) 4. Henry Winter Davis (A) 5. Jacob Michael Kunkel (D) 6. George Wurtz Hughes (D) Massachusetts 11 constituencies 1. Thomas D. Eliot (R) 2. James Buffinton (R) 3. Charles Francis Adams, Sr. (R) 4. Alexander H. Rice (R) 5. Anson Burlingame (R) 6. John B. Alley (R) 7. Daniel W. Gooch (R) 8. Charles R. Train (R) 9. Eli Thayer (R) 10. Charles Delano (R) 11. Henry L. Dawes (R) Michigan 4 constituencies 1. George B. Cooper (D) until May 15, 1860 William Alanson Howard (R) from May 15, 1860 2. Henry Waldron (R) 3. Francis William Kellogg (R) 4. DeWitt C. Leach (R) Minnesota State Election Cyrus Aldrich (R) William Windom (R) Mississippi 5 constituencies 1. Lucius Lamar (D) until December 1860 2. Reuben Davis (D) until January 12, 1861 3. William Barksdale (D) until January 12, 1861 4. Otho R. Singleton (D) until January 12, 1861 5. John J. McRae (D) until January 12, 1861 Missouri 7 constituencies 1. John Richard Barret (D) until June 8, 1860 and again from December 3, 1860 Francis Blair between June 8 and June 25, 1860 2. Thomas Lilbourne Anderson (Independent Democrat) 3. John Bullock Clark (D) 4. James Craig (D) 5. Samuel H. Woodson (A) 6. John S. Phelps (D) 7. John William Noell (D) New Hampshire 3 electoral divisions 1. Gilman Marston (R) 2. Mason Tappan (R) 3. Thomas M. Edwards (R) New Jersey 5 constituencies 1. John T. Nixon (R) 2. John LN Stratton (R) 3. Garnett Adrain (ALD = Anti Lecompte Dem.) 4. Jetur R. Riggs (ALD) 5. William Pennington (R)

New York 33 constituencies. 1. Luther C. Carter (R) 2. James Humphrey (R) 3. Daniel E. Sickles (D) 4. Thomas J. Barr (independent Democrat) 5. William B. Maclay (D) 6. John Cochrane (D) 7. George Briggs (R) 8. Horace F. Clark (ALD) 9. John B. Haskin (ALD) 10. Charles Van Wyck (R) 11. William Scheuneman Kenyon (R) 12. Charles Lewis Beale (R) 13. Abram B. Olin (R) 14. John Hazard Reynolds (ALD) 15. James B. McKean (R) 16. George William Palmer (R) 17. Francis E. Spinner (R) 18. Clark B. Cochrane (R) 19. James H. Graham (R) 20. Roscoe Conkling (R) 21. R. Holland Duel (R) 22. M. Lindley Lee (R) 23. Charles B. Hoard (R) 24. Charles B. Sedgwick (R) 25. Martin Butterfield (R) 26. Emory B. Pottle (R) 27. Alfred Wells (R) 28. William Irvine (R) 29. Alfred Ely (R) August 30th Frank (R) 31. Silas Mainville Burroughs (R) through June 3, 1860 Edwin R. Reynolds (R) from December 5, 1860 32. Elbridge G. Spaulding (R) 33. Reuben Fenton (R) North Carolina 8 constituencies 1. William Smith (O) 2. Thomas Ruffin (D) 3. Warren Winslow (D) 4. Lawrence O'Bryan Branch (D) 5. John Adams Gilmer (O) 6. James Madison Leach (O) 7. Francis Burton Craige (D) 8. Zebulon Baird Vance (D) Ohio 21 constituencies 1. George H. Pendleton (D) 2. John A. Gurley (R) 3. Clement Vallandigham (D) 4. William Allen (D) 5. James Mitchell Ashley (R) 6. William Howard (D) 7. Thomas Corwin (R) 8. Benjamin Stanton (R) 9. John Carey (R) 10. Carey A. Trimble (R) 11. Charles D. Martin (D) 12. Samuel S. Cox (D) 13. John Sherman (R) 14. Cyrus Spink (R) until May 31, 1859 Harrison GO Blake (R) from October 11, 1859 15. William Helmick (R) 16. Cydnor B. Tompkins (R) 17. Thomas Clarke Theaker (R) 18. Sidney Edgerton (R) 19. Edward Wade (R) 20. John Hutchins (R) 21. John Bingham (R) Oregon state-wide election Lansing Stout (D) Pennsylvania 25 constituencies 1. Thomas Birch Florence (D) 2. Edward Joy Morris (R) 3. John Paul Verree (R) 4. William Millward (R) 5. John Wood (R) 6. John Hickman (ALD) 7. Henry Clay Longnecker (R) 8. John Schwartz (ALD) until June 20, 1860 Jacob Kerlin McKenty (D) from December 3, 1860 9. Thaddeus Stevens (R) 10. John Weinland Killinger (R) 11. James Hepburn Campbell (R) 12. George W. Scranton (R) 13. William Harrison Dimmick (D) 14. Galusha A. Grow (R) 15. James Tracy Hale (R) 16. Benjamin Franklin Junkin (R) 17. Edward McPherson (R) 18. Samuel Steel Blair (R) 19. John Covode (R) 20. William Montgomery (D) 21. James K. Moorhead (R) 22. Robert McKnight (R) 23. William Stewart (R) 24. Chapin Hall (R) 25. Elijah Babbitt (R) Rhode Island 2 electoral districts 1. Christopher Robinson (R) 2. William Daniel Brayton (R) South Carolina 6 constituencies 1. John McQueen (D) until December 21, 1860 2. William Porcher Miles (D) until December 21, 1860 3. Laurence Massillon Keitt (D) until December 21, 1860 4. Milledge Luke Bonham (D) until December 21, 1860 5. John D. Ashmore (D) until December 21, 1860 6. William Waters Boyce (D) until December 21, 1860 Tennessee 10 constituencies 1. Thomas Nelson (O) 2. Horace Maynard (O) 3. Reese Bowen Brabson (O) 4. William Brickly Stokes (O) 5. Robert H. Hatton (O) 6. James Houston Thomas (D) 7. John Vines Wright (D) 8. James Minor Quarles (O) 9. Emerson Etheridge (O) 10. William Tecumsah Avery (D) Texas 2 electoral districts 1. John Henninger Reagan (D) 2. Andrew Jackson Hamilton (independent Democrat) Vermont 3 constituencies 1. Eliakim Persons Walton (R) 2. Justin Smith Morrill (R) 3. Homer Elihu Royce (R) Virginia 13 constituencies 1. Muscoe Garnett (D) 2. John Millson (D) 3. Daniel Coleman DeJarnette (Independent Democrat) 4. William Goode (D) until July 3, 1859 Roger Atkinson Pryor (D) from December 7, 1859 5. Thomas Stanley Bocock (D) 6. Shelton Leake (Independent Democrat) 7. William Smith (D) 8. Alexander Boteler (O) 9. John T. Harris (Independent Democrat) 10. Sherrard Clemens (D) 11. Albert Gallatin Jenkins (D) 12. Henry A. Edmundson (D) 13. Elbert S. Martin (independent democrat) Wisconsin 3 constituencies 1. John F. Potter (R) 2. Cadwallader C. Washburn (R) 3. Charles H. Larrabee (D)

Members of the House of Representatives who are not entitled to vote:

• Kansas Territory : Marcus Junius Parrott (R) through January 29, 1861
• Nebraska Territory : Experience Estabrook through May 18, 1860
  • Samuel Gordon Daily (R) from May 18, 1860
• New Mexico Territory : Miguel Antonio Otero (D)
• Utah Territory : William Henry Hooper (D)
• Washington Territory : Isaac Ingalls Stevens (D)

Web links

Commons : 36th United States Congress  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

• bioguide.congress.gov (by entering 36 under Year OR Congress: you get a list of the members of the 36th Congress with a link to the official biographies; English)