# 34th United States Congress

The 34th 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, 1855, to March 4, 1857, during the last two years of Franklin Pierce's presidency. The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the 1850 United States census. The Whig Party, one of the two major parties of the era, had largely collapsed, although many former Whigs ran as Republicans or as members of the "Opposition Party." The Senate had a Democratic majority, and the House was controlled by a coalition of Representatives led by Nathaniel P. Banks, a member of the American Party.

## Major events

* March 30, 1855: Elections were held for the first Kansas Territory legislature. Missourians crossed the border in large numbers to elect a pro-slavery body.
* July 2, 1855: The Kansas territorial legislature convened in Pawnee and began enacting proslavery laws.
* November 21, 1855: Large-scale Bleeding Kansas violence began with events leading to the Wakarusa War between antislavery and proslavery forces.
* December 3, 1855 – February 2, 1856: The election for Speaker of the House requires 133 ballots, the longest and most contentious speaker election in House history.
* January 24, 1856: President Franklin Pierce declared the new Free-State Topeka government in Bleeding Kansas to be in rebellion.
* January 26, 1856: First Battle of Seattle: Marines from the USS Decatur drove off Indian attackers after an all-day battle with settlers.
* February, 1856: Tintic War broke out in Utah.
* February 18, 1856: The American Party (Know-Nothings) nominated their first Presidential candidate, former President Millard Fillmore.
* May 21, 1856: Lawrence, Kansas, captured and burned by pro-slavery forces (the "Sacking of Lawrence").
* May 22, 1856: Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina attacking Senator Charles Sumner, beating him with a cane in the hall of the Senate, for a speech Sumner had made attacking Southerners who sympathized with the pro-slavery violence in Kansas ("Bleeding Kansas"). Sumner was unable to return to duty for 3 years while he recovered; Brooks became a hero across the South.
* May 24, 1856: Pottawatomie massacre
* June 2, 1856: Battle of Black Jack
* August 30, 1856: Battle of Osawatomie
* November 4, 1856: 1856 United States presidential election: Democrat James Buchanan defeated former President Millard Fillmore, representing a coalition of "Know-Nothings" and Whigs, and John C. Frémont of the fledgling Republican Party.
* November 17, 1856: On the Sonoita River in present-day southern Arizona, the United States Army established Fort Buchanan to help control new land acquired in the Gadsden Purchase.
* January 9, 1857: The 7.9 Mw Fort Tejon earthquake affects Central and Southern California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent).

## Major legislation

* August 18, 1856: Guano Islands Act, ch. 164, 11 Stat. 119

## Treaties

* January 26, 1855: Point No Point Treaty signed in the Washington Territory. (Ratified March 8, 1859. Proclaimed April 29, 1859)
* July 1, 1855: Quinault Treaty signed, Quinault and Quileute ceded their land to the United States. (Ratified March 8, 1859. Proclaimed April 11, 1859)

## Party summary

The count below identifies party affiliations at the beginning of this Congress. Changes resulting from subsequent replacements are shown below in the "Changes in membership" section.
During the elections for this Congress, opponents to the Democrats used the Whig party label inconsistently and not at all in some states. Hence in this Congress, and in accordance with the practice of the Senate and House, representatives not associated with the Democratic Party or the American Party are labeled as "Opposition." This is the first example in U.S. history of a form of coalition government in either house of Congress.

### Senate

| Affiliation | Party (Shading indicates control) | Party (Shading indicates control) | Party (Shading indicates control) | Party (Shading indicates control) | Party (Shading indicates control) | Total | |
| Affiliation | American (Know Nothing) (A) | Democratic (D) | Opposition coalition | Opposition coalition | Opposition coalition | Total | Vacant |
| Affiliation | American (Know Nothing) (A) | Democratic (D) | Free Soil (FS) | Republican (R) | Whig (W) | Total | Vacant |
| End of previous Congress | 1 | 38 | 5 | 0 | 17 | 61 | 1 |
| Begin | 2 | 35 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 55 | 7 |
| End | 2 | 40 | 1 | 11 | 8 | 62 | 0 |
| Final voting share | 3.2% | 64.5% | 32.3% | 32.3% | 32.3% | | |
| Beginning of next Congress | 4 | 37 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 61 | 1 |

### House of Representatives

The parties that opposed the Democrats joined a coalition and formed the majority. The Know Nothings caucused with the Opposition coalition.
| Affiliation | Party (Shading indicates control) | Party (Shading indicates control) | Party (Shading indicates control) | Party (Shading indicates control) | Party (Shading indicates control) | Total | |
| Affiliation | Democratic (D) | Opposition Caucus | Opposition Caucus | Opposition Caucus | Other | Total | Vacant |
| Affiliation | Democratic (D) | American (Know Nothing) (A) | Opposition (O) | Republican (R) | Other | Total | Vacant |
| End of previous Congress | 156 | 0 | 76 | 0 | 2 | 234 | 0 |
| Begin | 82 | 51 | 100 | 0 | 0 | 233 | 1 |
| End | 82 | 51 | 96 | 1 | 0 | 230 | 4 |
| Final voting share | 35.7% | 64.3% | 64.3% | 64.3% | 0.0% | | |
| Beginning of next Congress | 127 | 14 | 0 | 92 | 0 | 233 | 1 |

## Leadership
### Senate

* President: Vacant
* President pro tempore: Jesse D. Bright (D), until June 9, 1856
** Charles E. Stuart (D, June 9, 1856 – June 10, 1856
** Jesse D. Bright (D), June 11, 1856 – January 6, 1857
** James M. Mason (D), from January 6, 1857

### House of Representatives

* Speaker: Nathaniel P. Banks (A), elected February 2, 1856, on the 133rd ballot
* Democratic Caucus Chairman: George Washington Jones

## Members

This list is arranged by chamber, then by state. Senators are listed in order of seniority, and representatives are listed 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 ended with this Congress, requiring reelection in 1856; Class 2 meant their term began in the last Congress, requiring reelection in 1858; and Class 3 meant their term began in this Congress, requiring reelection in 1860.
    Skip to House of Representatives, below

### 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.

### House of Representatives

* Replacements: 6
** Democrats: 2 seat net loss
** Opposition: 4 seat net gain
* Deaths: 4
* Resignations: 5
* Contested election: 1
* Total seats with changes: 10

## Committees

List of committees and their party leaders.

### Senate

* Agriculture (Chairman: Philip Allen)
* American Association for the Promotion of Science (Select)
* Atmospheric Telegraph Between Washington and Baltimore (Select)
* Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses of the Senate (Chairman: Josiah J. Evans)
* Claims (Chairman: Richard Brodhead)
* Commerce (Chairman: Hannibal Hamlin then Henry Dodge)
* Distributing Public Revenue Among the States (Select)
* District of Columbia (Chairman: Albert G. Brown)
* Engrossed Bills (Chairman: Jacob Collamer)
* Finance (Chairman: Robert M. T. Hunter)
* Foreign Relations (Chairman: James M. Mason)
* French Spoilations (Select)
* Indian Affairs (Chairman: William K. Sebastian)
* Judiciary (Chairman: Andrew P. Butler)
* Library (Chairman: James A. Pearce)
* Loss of Original Papers of Mark and Richard Bean (Select)
* Mexican Claims Commission (Select)
* Manufactures (Chairman: William Wright)
* Military Affairs (Chairman: John B. Weller)
* Militia (Chairman: Sam Houston)
* Naval Affairs (Chairman: Stephen Mallory)
* Ordnance and War Ships (Select)
* Pacific Railroad (Select)
* Patents and the Patent Office (Chairman: Charles T. James)
* Pensions (Chairman: George Wallace Jones)
* Post Office and Post Roads (Chairman: Thomas J. Rusk)
* Printing (Chairman: Robert W. Johnson)
* Private Claims Commission (Select)
* Private Land Claims (Chairman: Judah P. Benjamin)
* Protection of Life and Health in Passenger Ships (Select)
* Public Buildings (Chairman: James A. Bayard)
* Public Lands (Chairman: Charles E. Stuart)
* Retrenchment (Chairman: Stephen Adams)
* Revolutionary Claims (Chairman: Josiah J. Evans)
* Roads and Canals (Chairman: John Slidell)
* Sickness on Emigrant Ships (Select)
* Tariff Regulation (Select)
* Territories (Chairman: Stephen A. Douglas)
* Whole

### House of Representatives

* Accounts (Chairman: Benjamin B. Thurston)
* Agriculture (Chairman: David P. Holloway)
* Claims (Chairman: John Hickman)
* Commerce (Chairman: Elihu B. Washburne)
* District of Columbia (Chairman: Orsamus B. Matteson)
* Elections (Chairman: Israel Washburn Jr.)
* Engraving (Chairman: William H. Kelsey)
* Expenditures in the Navy Department (Chairman: Thomas L. Harris)
* Expenditures in the Post Office Department (Chairman: John Pettit)
* Expenditures in the State Department (Chairman: Preston S. Brooks)
* Expenditures in the Treasury Department (Chairman: Henry Waldron)
* Expenditures in the War Department (Chairman: Joshua H. Jewett)
* Expenditures on Public Buildings (Chairman: Fayette McMullen)
* Foreign Affairs (Chairman: Alexander C. M. Pennington)
* Indian Affairs (Chairman: Benjamin Pringle)
* Invalid Pensions (Chairman: Andrew Oliver)
* Judiciary (Chairman: George A. Simmons)
* Manufactures (Chairman: Ezra Clark Jr.)
* Mileage (Chairman: William H. Sneed)
* Military Affairs (Chairman: John A. Quitman)
* Militia (Chairman: John C. Kunkel)
* Naval Affairs (Chairman: Samuel P. Benson)
* Patents (Chairman: Edwin B. Morgan)
* Post Office and Post Roads (Chairman: Daniel Mace)
* Private Land Claims (Chairman: Gilchrist Porter)
* Public Buildings and Grounds (Chairman: Edward Ball)
* Public Expenditures (Chairman: Sidney Dean)
* Public Lands (Chairman: Henry Bennett)
* Revisal and Unfinished Business (Chairman: Alvah Sabin)
* Revolutionary Claims (Chairman: David Ritchie)
* Revolutionary Pensions (Chairman: Jacob Broom)
* Roads and Canals (Chairman: James Knox)
* Rules (Select)
* Standards of Official Conduct
* Territories (Chairman: Galusha A. Grow)
* Ways and Means (Chairman: Lewis D. Campbell)
* Whole

### Joint committees

* Amending the Constitution on Presidential and Vice Presidential Elections
* Enrolled Bills (Chairman: Rep. James Pike)
* The Library (Chairman: Rep. William Aiken)
* Printing (Chairman: Rep. Matthias H. Nichols)
* San Francisco Disaster

## Caucuses

* Democratic (House)
* Democratic (Senate)

## Employees
### Legislative branch agency directors

* Architect of the Capitol: Thomas U. Walter
* Librarian of Congress: John Silva Meehan

### Senate

* Chaplain: Henry Slicer (Methodist), until December 4, 1855
** Henry C. Dean (Methodist), until December 8, 1856
** Stephen P. Hill (Baptist), elected December 8, 1856
* Secretary: Asbury Dickins
* Sergeant at Arms: Dunning R. McNair

### House of Representatives

* Chaplain: None
* Clerk: John W. Forney, until February 4, 1856
** William Cullom, elected February 4, 1856
* Doorkeeper: Nathan Darling
* Messenger: Thaddeus Morrice
* Postmaster: Robert Morris
* Sergeant at Arms: Adam J. Glossbrenner
* Reading Clerks: [data missing]