# 32nd United States Congress

The 32nd 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, 1851, to March 4, 1853, during the last two years of Millard Fillmore's presidency. The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the 1840 United States census. Both chambers had a Democratic majority.
It was one of the least active Congresses, forwarding only 74 bills that were signed by the president.

## Major events

* March 20, 1852: Uncle Tom's Cabin published.
* July 1, 1852: Henry Clay was the first to lie in state in the United States Capitol rotunda.
* November 2, 1852: 1852 United States presidential election: Democrat Franklin Pierce defeated Whig Winfield Scott.

## Major legislation

* March 2, 1853: An act providing for administering the oath of office to William R. King, Vice President elect of the United States of America. Sess. 2, Ch. 93, 10 Stat. 180

## Territories organized

* March 2, 1853: Washington Territory was formed from Oregon Territory.

## Party summary
### Senate

| | Party (shading shows control) | Party (shading shows control) | Party (shading shows control) | Total | Vacant |
| | Democratic (D) | Free Soil (FS) | Whig (W) | Total | Vacant |
| End of previous congress | 36 | 2 | 24 | 62 | 0 |
| Begin | 34 | 2 | 21 | 57 | 5 |
| End | 35 | 3 | 23 | 61 | 1 |
| Final voting share | 57.4% | 4.9% | 37.7% | | |
| Beginning of next congress | 36 | 3 | 22 | 61 | 2 |

### House of Representatives

| | Party (Shading indicates majority caucus) | Party (Shading indicates majority caucus) | Party (Shading indicates majority caucus) | Party (Shading indicates majority caucus) | Party (Shading indicates majority caucus) | Party (Shading indicates majority caucus) | Party (Shading indicates majority caucus) | Party (Shading indicates majority caucus) | Total | Vacant |
| | Democratic (D) | Independent Democratic (ID) | Free Soil (FS) | Southern Rights (SR) | Union (U) | Whig (W) | Independent Whig (IW) | Other | Total | Vacant |
| End of previous Congress | 113 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 107 | 0 | 2 | 231 | 2 |
| Begin | 127 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 85 | 1 | 0 | 233 | 0 |
| End | 125 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 86 | 1 | 0 | 232 | 1 |
| Final voting share | 54.7% | 1.3% | 1.3% | 1.3% | 4.3% | 36.8% | 0.4% | 0.0% | | |
| Beginning of next Congress | 158 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 71 | 0 | 1 | 234 | 0 |

## Leadership
### Senate

* President: Vacant (since the ascension of Millard Fillmore to U.S. President on July 9, 1850)
* President pro tempore: William R. King (D), until December 20, 1852
** David R. Atchison (D), from December 20, 1852

### House of Representatives

* Speaker: Linn Boyd (D)

## Members

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

### 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 with this Congress, facing re-election in 1856; Class 2 meant their term ended with this Congress, facing re-election in 1852; and Class 3 meant their term began in the last Congress, facing re-election in 1854.

### House of Representatives

The names of members of the House of Representatives are preceded by their district numbers.

## Changes in membership

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

### Senate

* Replacements: 8
** Democrats (D): 1 seat net gain
** Whigs (W): 1 seat net loss
* Deaths: 3
* Resignations: 6
* Interim appointments: 3
* Total seats with changes: 13

### House of Representatives

* Replacements: 6
** Democrats (D): 1 seat net loss
** Whigs (W): 1 seat net gain
* Deaths: 2
* Resignations: 5
* Total seats with changes: 7

## Committees

Lists of committees and their party leaders.

### Senate

* Agriculture (Chairman: Pierre Soule)
* Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses of the Senate (Chairman: Augustus Dodge)
* Claims (Chairman: Richard Brodhead)
* Commerce (Chairman: Hannibal Hamlin)
* Contested Election of 1850 (Chairman: N/A)
* Distributing Public Revenue Among the States (Select)
* District of Columbia (Chairman: James Shields)
* Emigrant Route and Telegraphic Line to California (Select)
* Ether Discovery (Select)
* Finance (Chairman: Robert M.T. Hunter)
* Foreign Relations (Chairman: James M. Mason)
* French Spoilations (Select)
* Indian Affairs (Chairman: David R. Atchison)
* Judiciary (Chairman: Andrew P. Butler)
* Manufactures (Chairman: William K. Sebastian)
* Library (Chairman: James A. Pearce)
* Mexican Boundary (Select)
* Mexican Boundary Commission (Select)
* Mexican Claims Commission (Select)
* Military Affairs (Chairman: James Shields)
* Militia (Chairman: Sam Houston)
* Naval Affairs (Chairman: William M. Gwin)
* Ordnance and War Ships (Select)
* Patents and the Patent Office (Chairman: Moses Norris Jr. and Charles T. James)
* Pensions (Chairman: George Wallace Jones)
* Post Office and Post Roads (Chairman: Thomas J. Rusk)
* Printing (Chairman: Hannibal Hamlin)
* Private Land Claims (Chairman: Solomon W. Downs)
* Public Buildings and Grounds (Chairman: James Whitcomb)
* Public Lands (Chairman: Alpheus Felch)
* Purchase of Catlin's Collection of Indian Scenes (Select)
* Retrenchment (Chairman: James W. Bradbury)
* Revolutionary Claims (Chairman: Issac P. Walker)
* Roads and Canals (Chairman: Jesse D. Bright)
* Tariff Regulation (Select)
* Territories (Chairman: Stephen A. Douglas)
* Seventh Census (Select)
* Whole

### House of Representatives

* Accounts (Chairman: John C. Mason)
* Agriculture (Chairman: John G. Floyd)
* Bounty Land Act of 1850 (Select)
* Bounty Land Bill (Chairman: Cyrus L. Dunham)
* Claims (Chairman: John Reeves Jones Daniel)
* Commerce (Chairman: David L. Seymour)
* District of Columbia (Chairman: Orlando B. Ficklin)
* Elections (Chairman: William S. Ashe)
* Engraving (Chairman: Edward Hammond)
* Expenditures in the Navy Department (Chairman: Fayette McMullen)
* Expenditures in the Post Office Department (Chairman: Alexander G. Penn)
* Expenditures in the State Department (Chairman: Charles E. Stuart)
* Expenditures in the Treasury Department (Chairman: Benjamin B. Thurston)
* Expenditures in the War Department (Chairman: Milo M. Dimmick)
* Expenditures on Public Buildings (Chairman: Thomas Bartlett Jr.)
* Foreign Affairs (Chairman: Thomas H. Bayly)
* Indian Affairs (Chairman: Robert W. Johnson)
* Invalid Pensions (Chairman: Isham G. Harris)
* Judiciary (Chairman: James X. McLanahan)
* Manufactures (Chairman: James M.H. Beale)
* Mileage (Chairman: Thomas A. Hendricks)
* Military Affairs (Chairman: William H. Bissell)
* Militia (Chairman: Charles H. Peaslee)
* Naval Affairs (Chairman: Frederick P. Stanton)
* Patents (Chairman: David K. Cartter)
* Post Office and Post Roads (Chairman: Edson B. Olds)
* Private Land Claims (Chairman: Timothy Jenkins)
* Public Buildings and Grounds (Chairman: Richard H. Stanton)
* Public Expenditures (Chairman: Charles Sweetser)
* Public Lands (Chairman: Willard P. Hall)
* Revisal and Unfinished Business (Chairman: Williamson R. W. Cobb)
* Revolutionary Claims (Chairman: Moses Macdonald)
* Revolutionary Pensions (Chairman: John S. Millson)
* Roads and Canals (Chairman: John L. Robinson)
* Rules (Chairman: Willard P. Hall)
* Standards of Official Conduct
* Territories (Chairman: William A. Richardson)
* Ways and Means (Chairman: George S. Houston)
* Whole

### Joint committees

* Enrolled Bills (Chairman: Rep. Isaac Wildrick)
* The Library (Chairman: Joseph R. Chandler)
* Printing (Chairman: Willis A. Gorman)

## Caucuses

* Senate Democratic Caucus
* House Democratic Caucus

## Employees
### Legislative branch agency directors

* Architect of the Capitol: Thomas U. Walter, appointed June 11, 1851
* Librarian of Congress: John Silva Meehan

### Senate

* Chaplain: Clement M. Butler (Episcopalian)
* Secretary: Asbury Dickins
* Sergeant at Arms: Robert Beale

### House of Representatives

* Chaplain: Ralph Randolph Gurley (Presbyterian), until December 1, 1851
** Lyttleton Morgan (Methodist), elected December 1, 1851
** James Gallagher (Presbyterian), elected December 6, 1852
* Clerk: Richard M. Young, until December 1, 1851
** John W. Forney, from December 1, 1851
* Doorkeeper: Zadock W. McKnew
* Reading Clerks: [data missing]
* Sergeant at Arms: Adam J. Glossbrenner
* Postmaster: John M. Johnson