38th United States Congress

38th United States Congress
37th ← → 39th
United States Capitol (1861)
March 4, 1863 – March 4, 1865
Senate President	Hannibal Hamlin (R)
Senate Pres. pro tem	Solomon Foot (R) Daniel Clark (R)
House Speaker	Schuyler Colfax (R)
Members	52 Senators 184 Representatives 10 Non-voting members
Senate Majority	Republican
House Majority	Republican
Sessions
Special: March 4, 1863 – March 14, 1863 1st: December 7, 1863 – July 4, 1864 2nd: December 5, 1864 – March 3, 1865

The Thirty-eighth United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1863, to March 4, 1865, during the last two years of the first administration of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the Eighth Census of the United States in 1860. The Senate had a Republican majority, and the House of Representatives had a Republican plurality.

Major events

• American Civil War, which had started in 1861, continued through this Congress and ended later in 1865
• January 8, 1863: Ground broken in Sacramento, California, on the construction of the First Transcontinental Railroad in the United States
• November 19, 1863: Gettysburg Address

Major legislation

• April 22, 1864: Coinage Act of 1864, Sess. 1, ch. 66, 13 Stat. 54
• June 30, 1864: Yosemite Valley Grant Act, Sess. 1, 16 Stat. 48
• March 3, 1865: Freedmen's Bureau, Sess. 2, ch. 90, 13 Stat. 507

Constitutional amendments

• January 31, 1865: Approved an amendment to the United States Constitution abolishing slavery in the United States and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime, and submitted it to the state legislatures for ratification 13 Stat. 567
  • Amendment was later ratified on December 6, 1865, becoming the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

Treaties ratified

• February 9, 1865: Chippewa Indians, 13 Stat. 393

States and Territories

States admitted

• June 19, 1863: West Virginia admitted (formed from a portion of Virginia), 13 Stat. 731 (See also 12 Stat. 633)
• October 31, 1864: Nevada admitted, 13 Stat. 749 (See also 13 Stat. 30)

States in rebellion

The Confederacy fielded armies and sustained the rebellion into a second Congress, but the Union did not accept secession and secessionists were not eligible for Congress. Elections held in Missouri and Kentucky seated all members to the House and Senate for the 38th Congress. Elections held among Unionists in Virginia, Tennessee and Louisiana were marred by disruption resulting in turnouts that were so low compared with 1860, that Congress did not reseat the candidates with a majority of the votes cast.^[1]

• In rebellion 1862–64 according to the Emancipation Proclamation were Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (parts), Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia (parts). Tennessee was not held to be in rebellion as of the end of 1862.^[2]

Territory organized

• May 26, 1864: Montana Territory organized, Sess. 1, ch. 95, 13 Stat. 85

Party summary

The count below identifies party affiliations at the beginning of the first session of this Congress, and includes members from vacancies and newly admitted states, when they were first seated. Changes resulting from subsequent replacements are shown below in the "Changes in membership" section.

Senate

During this Congress, two seats were added for each of the new states of Nevada and West Virginia, thereby adding four new seats.

	Party (shading shows control)				Total	Vacant
	Democratic (D)	Republican (R)	Unionist (U)	Unconditional Unionist (UU)
End of the previous congress	12	30	7	0	49	19
Begin	10	31	4	3	48	20
End		33	3	4	50	22
Final voting share	7001200000000000000♠20.0%	7001660000000000000♠66.0%	7000600000000000000♠6.0%	7000800000000000000♠8.0%
Beginning of the next congress	11	37	0	1	49	23

House of Representatives

Before this Congress, the 1860 United States Census and resulting reapportionment changed the size of the House to 241 members. During this Congress, one seat was added for the new state of Nevada, and three seats were reapportioned from Virginia to the new state of West Virginia.

Affiliation	Party (Shading indicates majority/plurality caucus)						Total
	Democratic (D)	Republican (R)	Independent Republican (IR)	Unionist (U)	Unconditional Unionist (UU)	Other		Vacant
End of previous Congress	45	106	0	30	0	2	183	57
Begin	72	85	2	9	12	0	180	61
End		84	16		183		59
Final voting share	39.3%	47%	4.9%	8.7%	0.0%
Beginning of the next Congress	40	132	1	4	14	0	191	51

Leadership

Senate

• President: Hannibal Hamlin (R)
• President pro tempore: Solomon Foot (R), until April 13, 1864
  • Daniel Clark (R), elected April 26, 1864

Majority (Republican) leadership

• Republican Conference Chairman: Henry B. Anthony

House of Representatives

• Speaker: Schuyler Colfax (R)

Majority (Republican) leadership

• Republican Conference Chairman: Justin S. Morrill
• Chairman, Committee on Ways and Means: Thaddeus Stevens (R)

Members

This list is arranged by chamber, then by state. Senators are listed by class, and Representatives are listed by district.

Skip to House of Representatives, below

Senate

Senators were elected by the state legislatures every two years, with one-third beginning new six-year terms with each Congress. Preceding the names in the list below are Senate class numbers, which indicate the cycle of their election. In this Congress, Class 1 meant their term began in this Congress, requiring reelection in 1868; Class 2 meant their term ended in this Congress, requiring reelection in 1864; and Class 3 meant their term began in the last Congress, requiring reelection in 1866.

House of Representatives

Changes in membership

The count below reflects changes from the beginning of the first session of this Congress.

Senate

• replacements: 2
  • Democratic: no net change
  • Republican: no net change
  • Unionist: no net change
  • Unconditional Union: no net change
• deaths: 1
• resignations: 2
• interim appointments: 1
• seats of newly admitted seats: 4
• Total seats with changes: 4

State (class)	Vacator	Reason for change	Successor	Date of successor's formal installation
West Virginia (1)	New seat	West Virginia admitted to the Union June 19, 1863. Its first Senators were elected August 4, 1863.	Peter G. Van Winkle (UU)	August 4, 1863
West Virginia (2)	New seat	West Virginia admitted to the Union June 19, 1863. Its first Senators were elected August 4, 1863.	Waitman T. Willey (UU)	August 4, 1863
Missouri (3)	Robert Wilson (UU)	Successor elected for Sen. Waldo P. Johnson November 13, 1863.	B. Gratz Brown (UU)	November 13, 1863
Virginia (1)	Lemuel J. Bowden (U)	Died January 2, 1864.	Vacant	Not filled this Congress
Delaware (1)	James A. Bayard, Jr. (D)	Resigned January 29, 1864, for unknown reasons. Successor elected January 29, 1864.	George R. Riddle (D)	February 2, 1864
Maine (2)	William P. Fessenden (R)	Resigned July 1, 1864, to become U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. Successor appointed October 27, 1864, to finish the term.	Nathan A. Farwell (R)	October 27, 1864
Nevada (1)	New seat	Nevada admitted to the Union October 31, 1864. Its first Senators were elected February 1, 1865.	William M. Stewart (R)	February 1, 1865
Nevada (3)	New seat	Nevada admitted to the Union October 31, 1864. Its first Senators were elected February 1, 1865.	James W. Nye (R)	February 1, 1865
Maryland (3)	Thomas H. Hicks (UU)	Died February 14, 1865.	Vacant	Not filled this Congress.

House of Representatives

• replacements: 6
  • Democratic: no net change
  • Republican: no net change
  • Unionist: no net change
  • Unconditional Union: no net change
• deaths: 3
• resignations: 3
• contested election: 1
• seats of newly admitted seats: 4
• Total seats with changes: 7

District	Vacator	Reason for change	Successor	Date successor seated
Arizona Territory At-large	Vacant	Territory organized in previous congress. Seat remained vacant until December 5, 1864.	Charles D. Poston (R)	December 5, 1864
Missouri 3rd	John W. Noell (UU)	Died March 14, 1863.	John G. Scott (D)	December 7, 1863
Delaware At-large	William Temple (D)	Died May 28, 1863.	Nathaniel B. Smithers (UU)	December 7, 1863
New York 14th	Erastus Corning (D)	Resigned October 5, 1863.	John V. L. Pruyn (D)	December 7, 1863
West Virginia 1st	New State	West Virginia admitted to the Union June 19, 1863. Seat remained vacant until December 7, 1863.	Jacob B. Blair (UU)	December 7, 1863
West Virginia 2nd	New State	West Virginia admitted to the Union June 19, 1863. Seat remained vacant until December 7, 1863.	William G. Brown, Sr. (UU)	December 7, 1863
West Virginia 3rd	New State	West Virginia admitted to the Union June 19, 1863. Seat remained vacant until December 7, 1863.	Kellian Whaley (UU)	December 7, 1863
Idaho Territory At-large	New Territory	Territory organized February 1, 1864.	William H. Wallace (R)	February 1, 1864
Illinois 5th	Owen Lovejoy (R)	Died March 25, 1864.	Ebon C. Ingersoll (R)	May 20, 1864
Montana Territory At-large	New Territory	Territory organized May 26, 1864. Seat remained vacant until January 6, 1865.	Samuel McLean (D)	January 6, 1865
Missouri 1st	Francis P. Blair, Jr. (R)	Lost contested election June 10, 1864	Samuel Knox (UU)	June 10, 1864
Dakota Territory At-large	William Jayne	Lost contested election June 17, 1864	John B. S. Todd (D)	June 17, 1864
New York 1st	Henry G. Stebbins (D)	Resigned October 24, 1864.	Dwight Townsend (D)	December 5, 1864
Nevada Territory At-large	Gordon N. Mott (R)	Nevada achieved statehood October 31, 1864	District eliminated
Nevada At-large	New State	Nevada admitted to the Union October 31, 1864.	Henry G. Worthington (R)	October 31, 1864
New York 31st	Reuben Fenton (R)	Resigned December 20, 1864, after being elected Governor of New York.	Vacant	Not filled this Congress

Committees

Lists of committees and their party leaders, for members (House and Senate) of the committees and their assignments, go into the Official Congressional Directory at the bottom of the article and click on the link (2 links), in the directory after the pages of representatives biographies, you will see the committees of the Senate, House (Standing with Subcommittees, Select and Special) and Joint and after the committee pages, you will see the House/Senate committee assignments in the directory, on the committees section of the House and Senate in the Congressional Directory, the committee's members on the first row on the left side is the chairman and on the right side is the ranking member.

Senate

• Agriculture (John Sherman, Chair)
• Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses of the Senate (James Dixon, Chair)
• Claims (Daniel Clark, Chair)
• Commerce (Zachariah Chandler, Chair)
• Distributing Public Revenue Among the States (Select)
• District of Columbia (James W. Grimes, Chair)
• Finance (William P. Fessenden, Chair)
• Foreign Relations (Charles Sumner, Chair)
• Indian Affairs
• Judiciary
• Manufactures
• Military Affairs
• Naval Affairs
• Naval Supplies (Select)
• Ordnance and War Ships (Select)
• Overland Mail Service (Select)
• Pacific Railroad (Select)
• Patents and the Patent Office
• Pensions
• Post Office and Post Roads
• Private Land Claims
• Public Lands
• Retrenchment
• Revolutionary Claims
• Slavery and the Treatment of Freedmen (Select)
• Tariff Regulation (Select)
• Territories
• Whole

House of Representatives

• Accounts
• Agriculture
• Banking and Currency
• Bankrupt Law (Select)
• Claims
• Commerce
• District of Columbia
• Elections
• Expenditures in the Interior Department
• Expenditures in the Navy Department
• Expenditures in the Post Office Department
• Expenditures in the State Department
• Expenditures in the Treasury Department
• Expenditures in the War Department
• Expenditures on Public Buildings
• Foreign Affairs
• Indian Affairs
• Invalid Pensions
• Manufactures
• Mileage
• Military Affairs
• Militia
• Naval Affairs
• Patents
• Post Office and Post Roads
• Public Buildings and Grounds
• Public Expenditures
• Public Lands
• Revisal and Unfinished Business
• Revolutionary Claims
• Roads and Canals
• Rules (Select)
• Standards of Official Conduct
• Territories
• Ways and Means
• Whole

Joint appointments

• Conditions of Indian Tribes (Special)
• Conduct of the War
• Enrolled Bills
• Senate Chamber and the Hall of the House of the Representatives

Employees

• Architect of the Capitol: Thomas U. Walter
• Librarian of Congress: John Gould Stephenson (until 1864), Ainsworth Rand Spofford (starting 1864)

Senate

• Chaplain: Byron Sunderland (Presbyterian)
  • Thomas Bowman (Methodist), elected May 11, 1864
• Secretary: John W. Forney
• Sergeant at Arms: George T. Brown

House of Representatives

• Chaplain: William H. Channing (Unitarian)
• Clerk: Edward McPherson
• Doorkeeper: Ira Goodnow
• Messenger: Thaddeus Morrice
  • William D. Todd
• Postmaster: William S. King
• Reading Clerks: [Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
• Sergeant at Arms: Nehemiah G. Ordway

See also

• United States elections, 1862 (elections leading to this Congress)
  • United States Senate elections, 1862 and 1863
  • United States House of Representatives elections, 1862
• United States elections, 1864 (elections during this Congress, leading to the next Congress)
  • United States presidential election, 1864
  • United States Senate elections, 1864 and 1865
  • United States House of Representatives elections, 1864

References

• Martis, Kenneth C. (1989). The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company. 
• Martis, Kenneth C. (1982). The Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company. 

External links

• Statutes at Large, 1789-1875
• Senate Journal, First Forty-three Sessions of Congress
• House Journal, First Forty-three Sessions of Congress
• Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress
• U.S. House of Representatives: House History
• U.S. Senate: Statistics and Lists