# 18th United States Congress

The 18th 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, 1823, to March 4, 1825, during the seventh and eighth years of James Monroe's presidency. The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the 1820 United States census. Both chambers had a Democratic-Republican majority.

## Major events

* August 1823: Arikara War fought between the Arikara nation and the United States, the first American military conflict with the Plains Indians.
* December 2, 1823: Monroe Doctrine: President James Monroe delivered a speech to the Congress, announcing a new policy of forbidding European interference in the Americas and establishing American neutrality in future European conflicts.
* February 9, 1825: John Quincy Adams elected as President of the United States by the House of Representatives in accordance with the contingent election provision of the Twelfth Amendment, as no candidate had received a majority of the electoral votes cast in the 1824 presidential election. The House was required to choose between Adams, Andrew Jackson, and William Crawford (the top three presidential electoral-vote recipients), with the delegation from each of the 24 states having one vote. Adams was elected on the first ballot by 13 to 7 to 4.
    States for Adams States for Jackson States for Crawford Connecticut Illinois Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Missouri New Hampshire New York Ohio Rhode Island Vermont Alabama Indiana Mississippi New Jersey Pennsylvania South Carolina Tennessee Delaware Georgia North Carolina Virginia Total: 13 (54%) Total: 7 (29%) Total: 4 (17%)

## Major legislation

* January 7, 1824: Tariff of 1824, Sess. 1, ch. 4, 4 Stat. 2
* March 3, 1825: Crimes Act of 1825, Sess. 2, ch. 65, 4 Stat. 115

## 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. The 18th Congress was the final one in which members sat who are identified with the First Party System and the Federalist Party.

### Senate

| Affiliation | Party(Shading indicates majority caucus) | Party(Shading indicates majority caucus) | Total | |
| Affiliation | Democratic- Republican (DR) | Federalist (F) | Total | Vacant |
| End of previous Congress | 43 | 4 | 47 | 1 |
| Begin | 42 | 3 | 45 | 3 |
| End | 43 | 5 | 48 | 0 |
| Final voting share | 89.6% | 10.4% | | |
| Beginning of next Congress | Jacksonian: 25 | Jacksonian: 25 | 45 | 3 |
| 3 ||

### House of Representatives

| Affiliation | 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 | |
| Affiliation | Democratic-Republican | Democratic-Republican | Democratic-Republican | Federalist | Federalist | Federalist | Total | Vacant |
| Affiliation | Adams-Clay (A-DR) | Crawford (C-DR) | Jackson (J-DR) | Adams-Clay (A-F) | Crawford (C-F) | Jackson (J-F) | Total | Vacant |
| End of previous Congress | 154 | 154 | 154 | 31 | 31 | 31 | 185 | 2 |
| Begin | 71 | 53 | 64 | 15 | 2 | 7 | 212 | 1 |
| End | 72 | 53 | 64 | 15 | 2 | 7 | 213 | 0 |
| Final voting share | 88.7% | 88.7% | 88.7% | 11.3% | 11.3% | 11.3% | | |
| Beginning of next Congress | Jacksonian: 104 | Jacksonian: 104 | Jacksonian: 104 | Jacksonian: 104 | Jacksonian: 104 | Jacksonian: 104 | 213 | 0 |
| 0 ||||||

## Leadership
### Senate

* President: Daniel D. Tompkins (DR)
* President pro tempore: John Gaillard (DR)

### House of Representatives

* Speaker: Henry Clay (DR)

## 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 the last Congress, requiring re-election in 1826; Class 2 meant their term began with this Congress, requiring re-election in 1828; and Class 3 meant their term ended with this Congress, requiring re-election in 1824.

### 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

* Deaths: 3
* Resignations: 3
* Vacancy: 2
* Total seats with changes: 8

### House of Representatives

* Deaths: 3
* Resignations: 5
* Contested election: 2
* Total seats with changes: 10

## Committees

Lists of committees and their party leaders.

### Senate

* Amendments to the Constitution (Select)
* Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses of the Senate (Chairman: Horatio Seymour)
* Banks in Which Deposits Have Been Made (Select)
* Claims (Chairman: Benjamin Ruggles)
* Commerce and Manufactures (Chairman: Mahlon Dickerson)
* Debt Imprisonment Abolition (Select)
* District of Columbia (Chairman: Edward Lloyd)
* Engrossed Bills (Chairman: James Lanman)
* Finance (Chairman: Samuel Smith)
* Foreign Relations (Chairman: James Barbour)
* Indian Affairs (Chairman: Thomas Hart Benton)
* Judiciary (Chairman: Martin Van Buren)
* Marquis de La Fayette (Select)
* Memorial of the Legislature of Arkansas (Select)
* Military Affairs (Chairman: Andrew Jackson)
* Militia (Chairman: John Chandler)
* National Road from Cumberland to Wheeling (Select)
* Naval Affairs (Chairman: James Lloyd)
* Peale's Portrait of Washington (Select)
* Pensions (Chairman: James Noble)
* Post Office and Post Roads (Chairman: James Lanman)
* Public Lands (Chairman: David Barton)
* Roads and Canals (Select) (Chairman: James Brown then Ethan Allen Brown)
* Tariff Regulation (Select)
* Whole

### House of Representatives

* Accounts (Chairman: Samuel C. Allen)
* Agriculture (Chairman: Stephen Van Rensselaer)
* Arms Contracts (Select)
* Banking Memorials (Select)
* Claims (Chairman: Lewis Williams)
* Commerce (Chairman: Thomas Newton Jr.)
* District of Columbia (Chairman: Joseph Kent)
* Elections (Chairman: John Sloane)
* Expenditures in the Navy Department (Chairman: Samuel Edwards)
* Expenditures in the Post Office Department (Chairman: William Van Wyck)
* Expenditures in the State Department (Chairman: Silas Wood)
* Expenditures in the Treasury Department (Chairman: Weldon N. Edwards)
* Expenditures in the War Department
* Expenditures on Public Buildings (Chairman: Jeremiah Nelson)
* Foreign Affairs (Chairman: John Forsyth)
* Indian Affairs (Chairman: John Cocke)
* Judiciary (Chairman: Daniel Webster)
* Manufactures (Chairman: John Tod then Walter Forward)
* Military Affairs (Chairman: James Hamilton Jr.)
* Naval Affairs (Chairman: Benjamin W. Crowninshield)
* Pensions and Revolutionary War Claims (Chairman: Peter Little)
* Post Office and Post Roads (Chairman: John T. Johnson)
* Public Expenditures (Chairman: Thomas W. Cobb then Duncan McArthur)
* Public Lands (Chairman: Christopher Rankin)
* Revisal and Unfinished Business (Chairman: Thomas C. Ross then Samuel Lathrop)
* Standards of Official Conduct
* Ways and Means (Chairman: Louis McLane)
* Whole

### Joint committees

* Enrolled Bills
* The Library

## Employees
### Legislative branch agency directors

* Architect of the Capitol: Charles Bulfinch
* Librarian of Congress: George Watterston

### Senate

* Chaplain: Charles P. McIlvaine (Episcopalian), until December 10, 1823
** William Staughton (Baptist), elected December 10, 1823
** Charles P. McIlvaine (Episcopalian), elected December 14, 1824
* Secretary: Charles Cutts
* Sergeant at Arms: Mountjoy Bayly

### House of Representatives

* Chaplain: John Brackenridge (Presbyterian), until December 8, 1823
** Henry B. Bascom (Methodist), elected December 8, 1823
** Reuben Post (Presbyterian), elected December 9, 1824
* Clerk: Matthew St. Clair Clarke
* Doorkeeper: Benjamin Birch
* Reading Clerks: [data missing]
* Sergeant at Arms: Thomas Dunn, elected December 1, 1823, died
** John O. Dunn, elected December 6, 1824