32nd United States Congress
Changes in membership -- Senate
Table:
State ( class )	Vacator	Reason for change	Successor	Date of successor 's formal installation

Ohio ( 1 )	Vacant	Failure to elect . The winner was elected late on March 15 , 1851 , on the 37th ballot over the incumbent appointee . Successor was elected March 15 , 1851	Benjamin Wade ( W )	Elected March 15 , 1851

New York ( 1 )	Vacant	Failure to elect . Successor was elected March 19 , 1851	Hamilton Fish ( W )	Elected March 19 , 1851

Massachusetts ( 1 )	Vacant	Failure to elect . Successor was elected April 24 , 1851	Charles Sumner ( FS )	Elected April 24 , 1851

California ( 1 )	Vacant	Failure to elect . Successor was elected January 30 , 1852	John B. Weller ( D )	Elected January 30 , 1852

Connecticut ( 1 )	Vacant	Failure to elect . Successor was elected May 12 , 1852	Isaac Toucey ( D )	Seated May 12 , 1852

Mississippi ( 1 )	Jefferson Davis ( D )	Resigned September 23 , 1851 , to run for Governor of Mississippi . Successor appointed December 1 , 1851	John J. McRae ( D )	Appointed December 1 , 1851

Mississippi ( 2 )	Henry S. Foote ( D )	Resigned January 8 , 1852 , to become Governor of Mississippi . Successor elected February 18 , 1852	Walker Brooke ( W )	Elected February 18 , 1852

Mississippi ( 1 )	John J. McRae ( D )	Appointee was replaced by an elected successor . Successor elected March 17 , 1852	Stephen Adams ( D )	Elected March 17 , 1852

South Carolina ( 2 )	Robert Rhett ( D )	Resigned May 7 , 1852 . Successor appointed May 10 , 1852 , and elected sometime thereafter to finish the term	William F. De Saussure ( D )	Appointed May 10 , 1852

Georgia ( 2 )	John M. Berrien ( W )	Resigned May 28 , 1852 . Successor appointed May 31 , 1852 , to finish the term	Robert M. Charlton ( D )	Appointed May 31 , 1852

Kentucky ( 3 )	Henry Clay ( W )	Died June 29 , 1852 . Successor appointed July 6 , 1852	David Meriwether ( D )	Appointed July 6 , 1852

Indiana ( 3 )	James Whitcomb ( D )	Died October 4 , 1852 . Successor appointed December 6 , 1852	Charles W. Cathcart ( D )	Appointed December 6 , 1852

Kentucky ( 3 )	David Meriwether ( D )	Appointee was replaced by an elected successor . Successor elected September 1 , 1852	Archibald Dixon ( W )	Elected September 1 , 1852

Alabama ( 3 )	William R. King ( D )	Resigned December 20 , 1852 , due to ill health . Successor appointed January 14 , 1853 , and elected December 12 , 1853 thereafter to finish the term	Benjamin Fitzpatrick ( D )	Appointed January 14 , 1853

New Jersey ( 1 )	Robert F. Stockton ( D )	Resigned January 1 , 1853 , to become president of the Delaware and Raritan Canal Company . Successor was not elected until the next Congress	Vacant	Not filled this term

Vermont ( 3 )	William Upham ( W )	Died January 14 , 1853 . Successor appointed January 17 , 1853 , to continue the term	Samuel S. Phelps ( W )	Appointed January 17 , 1853

Indiana ( 3 )	Charles W. Cathcart ( D )	Appointee was replaced by an elected successor . Successor elected January 18 , 1853	John Pettit ( D )	Elected January 18 , 1853

With reference to the following table together with the passages below.

Give the answer to the question: On which date did this state join the union for which this politician known for his leading role among the Radical Republicans served in the Senate ? Output only the correct answer as {"answer": "YOUR ANSWER"}. Avoid adding external knowledge.

Ohio was admitted to the Union on March 1 , 1803 and elects U.S. senators to Class 1 and Class 3 . Its current U.S. senators are Democrat Sherrod Brown ( serving since 2007 ) and Republican Rob Portman ( serving since 2011 ) , making it one of nine states to have a split United States Senate delegation .
Benjamin Franklin Bluff Wade ( October 27 , 1800 - March 2 , 1878 ) was an American politician who served as one of the two United States Senators from Ohio from 1851 to 1869 . He is known for his leading role among the Radical Republicans . Had the 1868 impeachment of U.S. President Andrew Johnson led to a conviction in the Senate , as president pro tempore of the U.S. Senate , Wade would have become Acting President of the United States for the remaining months of Johnson 's term . Born in Massachusetts , Wade worked as a laborer on the Erie Canal before establishing a law practice in Jefferson , Ohio . As a member of the Whig Party , Wade served in the Ohio Senate between 1837 and 1842 . After a stint as a local judge , Wade was sworn into the United States Senate in 1851 . An opponent of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska Act , Wade joined the nascent Republican Party as the Whigs collapsed . He established a reputation as one of the most radical American politicians of the era , favoring women 's suffrage , trade union rights , and equality for African-Americans . During the Civil War , Wade was highly critical of President Abraham Lincoln 's leadership . In opposition to Lincoln 's post-war plans , Wade sponsored the Wade-Davis Bill , which proposed strict terms for the re-admittance of Confederate states . He also helped pass the Homestead Act of 1862 and the Morrill Act of 1862 . In 1868 , the House of Representatives impeached President Johnson for his defiance of the Tenure of Office Act .
Below is a list of U.S. senators who have represented the State of New York in the United States Senate since 1789 . The date of the start of the tenure is either the first day of the legislative term ( Senators who were elected regularly before the term began ) , or the day when they took the seat ( U.S. senators who were elected in special elections to fill vacancies , or after the term began ) . New York 's current U.S. senators are Democrats Chuck Schumer ( serving since 1999 , also serving as Senate Minority Leader since 2017 ) and Kirsten Gillibrand ( serving since 2009 ) .
Hamilton Fish ( August 3 , 1808 - September 7 , 1893 ) was an American politician who served as the 16th Governor of New York from 1849 to 1850 , a United States Senator from New York from 1851 to 1857 and the 26th United States Secretary of State from 1869 to 1877 . Fish is recognized as the pillar of the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant and considered one of the best U.S . Secretaries of State by scholars , known for his judiciousness and efforts towards reform and diplomatic moderation . Fish settled the controversial Alabama Claims with Great Britain through his development of the concept of international arbitration . Fish kept the United States out of war with Spain over Cuban independence by coolly handling the volatile Virginius Incident . In 1875 , Fish initiated the process that would ultimately lead to Hawaiian statehood , by having negotiated a reciprocal trade treaty for the island nation 's sugar production . He also organized a peace conference and treaty in Washington D.C. between South American countries and Spain . Fish worked with James Milton Turner , America 's first African American consul , to settle the Liberian-Grebo war . President Grant said he trusted Fish the most for political advice . Fish came from both prominence and wealth , his family being of Dutch Americans heritage long-established in New York City . He attended Columbia College , and later passed the bar . Initially working as New York 's commissioner of deeds , he ran unsuccessfully for New York State Assembly as a Whig candidate in 1834 .
Below is a chronological listing of the United States senators from Massachusetts . According to the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution adopted in 1913 , U.S. senators are popularly elected for a six-year term . Elections are held the first Tuesday after November 1 and terms begin on January 3 , about two months after the vote . Before 1914 and the enforcement of the Seventeenth Amendment , the state 's U.S. senators were chosen by the Massachusetts General Court , and before 1935 , their terms began March 4 . The current senators are Democrats Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey .
Charles Sumner ( January 6 , 1811 - March 11 , 1874 ) was an American politician and United States Senator from Massachusetts . As an academic lawyer and a powerful orator , Sumner was the leader of the anti-slavery forces in Massachusetts and a leader of the Radical Republicans in the U.S. Senate during the American Civil War . During Reconstruction , he fought to minimize the power of the ex-Confederates and guarantee equal rights to the freedmen . He fell into a dispute with fellow Republican President Ulysses Grant on the question of taking control of Santo Domingo . Grant 's allies stripped Sumner of his power in the Senate in 1871 , and he joined the Liberal Republican movement in an effort to defeat Grant 's reelection in 1872 . Sumner changed his political party several times as anti-slavery coalitions rose and fell in the 1830s and 1840s before coalescing in the 1850s as the Republican Party , the affiliation with which he became best known . He devoted his enormous energies to the destruction of what Republicans called the Slave Power , the influence over the federal government of Southern slave owners who sought the continuation and expansion of slavery . In 1856 , a South Carolina Congressman , Democrat Preston Brooks , nearly killed Sumner with a cane on the Senate floor two days after Sumner delivered an intensely anti-slavery speech titled The Crime Against Kansas . In the speech , Sumner characterized the attacker 's cousin , South Carolina Senator Andrew Butler , a Democrat , as a pimp for slavery . The widely reported episode left Sumner severely injured and famous . ( In the South , Brooks was a hero , remembered in Brooksville , Florida and Brooks County , Georgia . ) It was several years before he could return to the Senate ; Massachusetts not only did not replace him , it reelected him , leaving his empty desk in the Senate as a reminder of the incident .
California elects United States senators to Class 1 and Class 3 . The state has been represented by 44 people in the Senate since it was admitted to the Union on September 9 , 1850 . Its current U.S. senators are Democrats Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris .
John B. Weller ( February 22 , 1812 - August 17 , 1875 ) was the fifth governor of California from January 8 , 1858 to January 9 , 1860 and a congressman from Ohio , U.S. senator from California . He was strongly against slavery and attempted to eliminate slavery in California early . He was ambassador to the United Kingdom under Abraham Lincoln .
This is a chronological listing of the United States senators from Connecticut . United States senators are popularly elected , for a six-year term , beginning January 3 . Elections are held the first Tuesday after November 1 . Before 1914 , they were chosen by the Connecticut General Assembly , and before 1935 , their terms began March 4 . Its current U.S. senators are Democrats Richard Blumenthal ( serving since 2011 ) and Chris Murphy ( serving since 2013 ) .
Isaac Toucey ( November 15 , 1792 - July 30 , 1869 ) was an American politician who served as a U.S. senator , U.S. Secretary of the Navy , U.S. Attorney General and the 33rd Governor of Connecticut .
Mississippi was admitted to the Union on December 10 , 1817 , and elects senators to Class 1 and Class 2 . Its current senators are Republicans Cindy Hyde-Smith and Roger Wicker . As of April 2 , 2018 , 51 people have served as U.S. senators from Mississippi .
Jefferson Finis Davis [ a ] ( June 3 , 1808 - December 6 , 1889 ) was an American politician who served as the president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865 . As a member of the Democratic Party , he represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives before the American Civil War . He previously served as the United States Secretary of War from 1853 to 1857 under President Franklin Pierce . Davis was born in Fairview , Kentucky , to a moderately prosperous farmer , the youngest of ten children . He grew up in Wilkinson County , Mississippi , and also lived in Louisiana . His eldest brother Joseph Emory Davis secured the younger Davis 's appointment to the United States Military Academy . After graduating , Jefferson Davis served six years as a lieutenant in the United States Army . He fought in the Mexican-American War ( 1846-1848 ) , as the colonel of a volunteer regiment . Before the American Civil War , he operated a large cotton plantation in Mississippi , which his brother Joseph gave him , and owned as many as 113 slaves . Although Davis argued against secession in 1858 , he believed that states had an unquestionable right to leave the Union . Davis married Sarah Knox Taylor , daughter of general and future President Zachary Taylor , in 1835 , when he was 27 years old . They were both stricken with malaria soon thereafter , and Sarah died after three months of marriage .
The governor of Mississippi is the head of the executive branch of Mississippi 's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state 's military forces . The Governor has a duty to enforce state laws , and the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Mississippi Legislature , to convene the legislature at any time , and , except in cases of treason or impeachment , to grant pardons and reprieves . To be elected governor , a person must be at least 30 years old , and must have been a citizen of the United States for twenty years and a resident of Mississippi for at least five years at the time of inauguration . The Constitution of Mississippi , ratified in 1890 , calls for a four-year term for the governor . He or she may be reelected once ( prior to a 1987 amendment to the state Constitution , governors were limited to one term ) . The original Constitution of 1817 had only a two-year term for governor ; this was expanded to four years in the 1868 Constitution . Uniquely among the states , the Mississippi Constitution requires a gubernatorial candidate to win not just a majority of the popular vote but also a majority of state legislative districts in order to be elected - if no candidate gets both majorities , the state House chooses from the highest two popular vote-getters . The lieutenant governor is elected at the same time as the governor and serves as president of the Mississippi Senate . When the office of governor becomes vacant for any reason , the lieutenant governor becomes governor for the remainder of the term . The governor of Mississippi is also appoints the members of the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees .
John Jones McRae ( January 10 , 1815 - May 31 , 1868 ) was an American Democratic politician .
Henry Stuart Foote ( February 28 , 1804 - May 19 , 1880 ) was a United States Senator from Mississippi and the chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations from 1847 to 1852 . He was a Unionist Governor of Mississippi from 1852 to 1854 , and an American Party supporter in California . During the American Civil War , he served in the First and Second Confederate Congresses . A practicing attorney , he published two memoirs related to the Civil War years , as well as a book on Texas prior to its annexation , and a postwar book on the legal profession and courts in the South .
Walker Brooke ( December 25 , 1813 - February 18 , 1869 ) was an American politician who served as a Deputy from Mississippi to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1862 . He was also a U.S . Senator from 1852 to 1853 , representing the state of Mississippi .
Stephen Adams ( October 17 , 1807 - May 1 , 1857 ) was a United States Representative and Senator from Mississippi .
South Carolina ratified the United States Constitution on May 23 , 1788 . Its Senate seats were declared vacant in July 1861 owing to its secession from the Union . They were again filled from July 1868 . The state 's current U.S. senators are Republicans Lindsey Graham , serving since 2003 , and Tim Scott , serving since 2013 .
Robert Rhett ( born Robert Barnwell Smith ; December 21 , 1800 - September 14 , 1876 ) was an American politician who served as a deputy from South Carolina to the Provisional Confederate States Congress from 1861 to 1862 , a member of the US House of Representatives from South Carolina from 1837 to 1849 , and US Senator from South Carolina from 1850 to 1852 . A bulwark of states ' rights ideology and an early advocate of secession , he was a Fire-Eater . Rhett published his views through his newspaper , the Charleston Mercury .
William Ford De Saussure ( February 22 , 1792 - March 13 , 1870 ) was a United States Senator from South Carolina . Born in Charleston , the son of Henry William de Saussure and Elizabeth Ford De Saussure .
This is a chronological listing of the United States senators from Georgia . Georgia has had Senators since the 1st Congress . Its Senate seats were declared vacant in March 1861 owing to its secession from the Union . They were again filled from February 1871 . United States senators are popularly elected , for a six-year term , beginning January 3 . Elections are held the first Tuesday after November 1 . Before 1914 , they were chosen by the Georgia General Assembly , and before 1935 , their terms began March 4 . Rebecca Latimer Felton was the first female U.S. senator . She served in the U.S. Senate from Georgia for one day in 1922 , following appointment due to the death of Thomas E. Watson .
John Macpherson Berrien ( August 23 , 1781 - January 1 , 1856 ) of Georgia was a United States senator from Georgia and Andrew Jackson 's Attorney General .
Robert Milledge Charlton ( January 19 , 1807 - January 18 , 1854 ) was an American politician and jurist . He served as a Senator representing Georgia from 1852 to 1853 . Charlton was born in Savannah , Georgia on January 19 , 1807 . A lawyer by training , Charlton served in various positions at the city and state level in addition to his U.S. Senate term . He was a member of the Georgia House of Representatives ( 1828 ) , and he was appointed and subsequently elected a judge of the Eastern Circuit of Georgia in 1832 . Charlton was also appointed as a United States District Attorney . He was appointed as a Democrat to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of John M. Berrien . Charlton served as the mayor of Savannah from 1839 to 1841 . The father of Robert Charlton , Thomas U.P . Charlton , had previously served as the appointed mayor of Savannah in 1815 and again in 1819 . In 1829 Robert Charlton married Margaret Shick . Charlton ward , Savannah and Charlton County , Georgia are named after him .
This is a list of United States senators from Kentucky . The state 's Senators belong to Classes 2 and 3 . Kentucky is currently represented in the U.S. Senate by Republicans Mitch McConnell ( serving since 1985 ) and Rand Paul ( serving since 2011 ) . Currently on his sixth term in office , McConnell is Kentucky 's longest serving Senator and has also been the Republican Leader of the United States Senate since 2007 .
Henry Clay Sr. ( April 12 , 1777 - June 29 , 1852 ) was an American attorney and statesman who represented Kentucky in both the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives , served as seventh speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives , and served as the ninth U.S. secretary of state . He received electoral votes for president in the 1824 , 1832 , and 1844 presidential elections and helped found both the National Republican Party and the Whig Party . For his role in defusing sectional crises , he earned the appellation of the Great Compromiser . Clay was born in Hanover County , Virginia in 1777 and launched a legal career in Lexington , Kentucky , in 1797 . As a member of the Democratic-Republican Party , Clay won election to the Kentucky state legislature in 1803 and to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1810 . He was chosen as speaker of the House in early 1811 and , along with President James Madison , led the United States into the War of 1812 against Britain . In 1814 , he helped negotiate the Treaty of Ghent , which brought an end to the War of 1812 . After the war , Clay returned to his position as speaker of the House and developed the American System , which called for federal infrastructure investments , support for the national bank , and protective tariff rates . In 1820 , he helped bring an end to a sectional crisis over slavery by leading the passage of the Missouri Compromise . Clay finished with the fourth-most electoral votes in the multi-candidate 1824 presidential election , and he helped John Quincy Adams win the contingent election held to select the president . President Adams appointed Clay to the prestigious position of secretary of state ; critics alleged that the two had agreed to a corrupt bargain . Despite receiving support from Clay and other National Republicans , Adams was defeated by Democrat Andrew Jackson in the 1828 presidential election .
David Meriwether ( October 30 , 1800 - April 4 , 1893 ) was a United States Senator from Kentucky and a Governor of the New Mexico Territory . Born in Louisa County , Virginia , Meriwether moved with his parents to Jefferson County , Kentucky , in 1803 . He attended the common schools and engaged in fur trading in 1818 near what is now Council Bluffs , Iowa . He later engaged in agricultural pursuits in Jefferson County . Meriwether studied law , was admitted to the bar , and commenced practice . He was a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1832 to 1845 . He was an unsuccessful candidate for election in 1847 to the Thirtieth Congress . He was a delegate to the state constitutional convention in 1849 , and was Secretary of State of Kentucky in 1851 . Meriwether was appointed as a Democrat to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Henry Clay , and served from July 6 , 1852 to August 31 , 1852 , when Archibald Dixon was elected his successor . He was not a candidate for renomination in 1852 . He was appointed by President Franklin Pierce as Governor of the Territory of New Mexico , after the position was turned down by Solon Borland , from 1853 to 1855 . He later served again in the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1858 to 1885 , and served as speaker in 1859 .
Indiana was admitted to the Union on December 11 , 1816 . Since then , the state has been represented in the United States Senate by 44 different men in Class 1 and 3 ; David Turpie served non-consecutive terms in Class 1 , Dan Coats served non-consecutive terms in Class 3 , and William Ezra Jenner served in both Classes . Until the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1913 , Senators were elected by the Indiana General Assembly ; after that they were elected popularly by Indiana citizens . A senatorial term lasts six years beginning on January 3 . In case of a vacancy the Governor of Indiana has the duty to appoint a new U.S. senator . The longest-serving of any Senator from Indiana is Republican Richard Lugar ( 1977-2013 ) . Indiana 's current U.S. senators are Republicans Todd Young ( serving since 2017 ) and Mike Braun ( serving since 2019 )
James Whitcomb ( December 1 , 1795 - October 4 , 1852 ) was a Democratic United States Senator and the eighth Governor of Indiana . As governor during the Mexican-American War , he oversaw the formation and deployment of the state 's levies . He led the movement to replace the state constitution and played an important role at the convention to institute a law that prevented the government from taking loans in response the current fiscal crisis in Indiana . By skillfully guiding the state through its bankruptcy , Whitcomb is usually credited as being one of the most successful of Indiana 's governors . He was elected to the United States Senate after his term as governor but died of kidney disease only two years later .
Charles William Cathcart ( July 24 , 1809 - August 22 , 1888 ) was a United States Representative and Senator from Indiana . He was born in Funchal , Madeira Island , Portugal where his father , James Leander Cathcart was the United States Consul ; he travelled to Spain with his parents , attended private schools , and returned to the United States in 1819 and went to sea . He moved to Washington , D.C. in 1830 , and was a clerk in the General Land Office . He moved to Indiana and was justice of the peace at New Durham Township in 1833 . He engaged in agricultural pursuits near La Porte in 1837 , was a United States land surveyor , and was a member of the Indiana Senate from 1837-1840 . Cathcart was elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-ninth and Thirtieth Congresses , serving from March 4 , 1845 to March 3 , 1849 ; he was appointed to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of James Whitcomb and served from December 6 , 1852 , to January 18 , 1853 . He was an unsuccessful candidate for election in 1860 to the Thirty-seventh Congress and engaged in agricultural pursuits . He died on his farm near La Porte in 1888 ; interment was in Pine Lake Cemetery .
Archibald Dixon ( April 2 , 1802 - April 23 , 1876 ) was a U.S . Senator from Kentucky . He represented the Whig Party in both houses of the Kentucky General Assembly , and was elected the 13th Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky in 1844 , serving under Governor William Owsley . In 1851 , the Whigs nominated him for governor , but he lost to Lazarus W. Powell , his former law partner . Dixon represented Henderson County at the Kentucky constitutional convention of 1849 . In this capacity , he ensured that strong protections of slave property were included in the Kentucky Constitution of 1850 . Later , the General Assembly chose Dixon to fill the unexpired Senate term of Henry Clay . He served from September 1 , 1852 , to March 3 , 1855 , and did not stand for re-election . During his short tenure , Dixon 's major accomplishment was convincing Stephen Douglas to include language in the Kansas-Nebraska Act that explicitly repealed the Missouri Compromise 's prohibition on slavery north of latitude 36°30 ' . Despite his pro-slavery views , Dixon was loyal to the Union during the Civil War . He represented his county and his state in a number of failed conventions that sought to resolve the upcoming conflict before it began . In 1864 , he joined Kentucky governor Thomas E. Bramlette in an audience with President Abraham Lincoln protesting the recruitment of former slaves as Union soldiers in Kentucky .
Alabama was admitted to the Union on December 14 , 1819 . The state elects U.S. senators to Class 2 and Class 3 . Its United States Senate seats were declared vacant from March 1861 to July 1868 due to its secession from the Union during the American Civil War . Alabama 's current U.S. senators are Republican Richard Shelby ( since 1987 ) and Democrat Doug Jones ( since 2018 ) , making it one of nine states to have a split U.S. Senate delegation .
William Rufus DeVane King ( April 7 , 1786 - April 18 , 1853 ) was an American politician and diplomat . He was the 13th vice president of the United States for six weeks in 1853 before his death . Earlier he had been elected as a U.S. representative from North Carolina and a senator from Alabama . He also served as minister to France during the reign of King Louis Philippe I . A Democrat , he was a Unionist and his contemporaries considered him to be a moderate on the issues of sectionalism , slavery and westward expansion , which contributed to the American Civil War . He helped draft the Compromise of 1850 . He is the only United States executive official to take the oath of office on foreign soil ; he was inaugurated in Havana , Cuba , due to poor health . King died of tuberculosis after 45 days in office . With the exceptions of John Tyler and Andrew Johnson - both of whom succeeded to the presidency - he is the shortest-serving vice president . King was the only U.S. vice president from the state of Alabama and held the highest political office of any Alabamian in American history . He was the third vice president to die in office .
Benjamin Fitzpatrick ( June 30 , 1802 - November 21 , 1869 ) was the 11th Governor of the U.S. state of Alabama and a United States Senator from that state . He was a Democrat .
This is a chronological listing of the United States senators from New Jersey . Since the enforcement of the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution , U.S. senators are popularly elected for a six-year term beginning January 3 . Elections are held the first Tuesday after November 1 . Before 1914 , they were chosen by the New Jersey Legislature , and before 1935 , their terms began March 4 . The state 's current Senators are Democrats Bob Menendez ( serving since 2006 ) and Cory Booker ( serving since 2013 ) .
Robert Field Stockton ( August 20 , 1795 - October 7 , 1866 ) was a United States Navy commodore , notable in the capture of California during the Mexican-American War . He was a naval innovator and an early advocate for a propeller-driven , steam-powered navy . Stockton was from a notable political family and also served as a U.S . Senator from New Jersey .
The Delaware and Raritan Canal ( D & R Canal ) is a canal in central New Jersey , United States , built in the 1830s , that served to connect the Delaware River to the Raritan River . It was an efficient and reliable means of transportation of freight between Philadelphia and New York City , especially coal from the anthracite fields in eastern Pennsylvania . The canal allowed shippers to cut many miles off the existing route from the Pennsylvania coal fields , down the Delaware , around Cape May , and up along the ( occasionally treacherous ) Atlantic Ocean coast to New York City .
Vermont was admitted to the Union on March 4 , 1791 . From the 1850s until well into the 20th century , Vermont was always represented by members of the Republican Party . Its current United States senators are Democrat Patrick Leahy and Independent Bernie Sanders . Leahy is the only Democrat ever elected to the Senate from Vermont , though Independents Jim Jeffords and Sanders both caucused with the Senate Democrats . Having been in office since 1975 , Leahy is currently the most senior incumbent Senator , and is the last one to have served during the presidency of Gerald Ford .
William Upham ( August 5 , 1792 - January 14 , 1853 ) was an American attorney and politician from Montpelier , Vermont . He was most notable for his service as a United States Senator from Vermont . A native of Leicester , Massachusetts , Upham was raised in Leicester and Montpelier , where his family moved in 1802. he was educated locally and worked on the family farm until he lost his right hand in an accident when he was fifteen . He then completed an academic course at Montpelier Academy and with local tutors in preparation to study law . He was admitted to the bar in 1811 and practiced in Montpelier . Upham was an advocate for reform causes including temperance and the abolition of slavery , and changed his party affiliation several times as the anti-slavery movement grew and coalesced , going from the National Republicans to the Anti-Masonic Party to the Whigs in the 1830s . He was a leader of both the Anti-Masons and the Whigs , represented Montpelier in the Vermont House of Representatives twice ( 1827-1829 , 1830-1831 ) , and served a term as State 's Attorney of Washington County ( 1829-1830 ) . In 1842 , Upham was elected to the U.S. Senate . He was reelected in 1848 and served from March 4 , 1843 until his death . As a senator , Upham opposed U.S. involvement in the Mexican-American War and the extension of slavery . He became ill in late 1852 , and died in Washington , D.C. on January 14 , 1853 . He was believed to have contracted smallpox and was assumed to be contagious .
Samuel Shethar Phelps ( May 13 , 1793 - March 25 , 1855 ) was an American lawyer and politician . He was a United States Senator from Vermont , and a member of the Whig Party .
John Pettit ( June 24 , 1807 - January 17 , 1877 ) was an American lawyer , jurist , and politician . A United States Representative and Senator from Indiana , he also served in the court systems of Indiana and Kansas . Born in Sackets Harbor , New York , he completed preparatory studies and admitted to the bar in 1831 . He moved to Lafayette , Indiana where he commenced practice in 1838 ; he was a member of the Indiana House of Representatives in 1838-1839 and was United States district attorney from 1839 to 1843 . Pettit was elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-eighth , Twenty-ninth , and Thirtieth Congresses ( March 4 , 1843 - March 3 , 1849 ) ; he was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1848 . In 1850 he was a delegate to the Indiana state constitutional convention and a presidential elector on the Democratic ticket in 1852 . He was appointed to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of James Whitcomb and served from January 18 , 1853 , to March 4 , 1855 ; he was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1854 . While in the Senate he was chairman of the Committee on Private Land Claims ( Thirty-third Congress ) . During the Senate debate on the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 , Pettit argued in favor of expanding slavery to Kansas , and famously said that Jefferson 's idea ( in the United States Declaration of Independence ) that all men are created equal was not a self-evident truth but instead is nothing more to me than a self-evident lie . The debate over Pettit 's inflammatory words is credited [ by whom ? ] with reviving Abraham Lincoln 's interest in national politics . After his time in Congress , Pettit was chief justice of the United States courts in the Territory of Kansas from 1859 to 1861 , and was a judge of the Indiana Supreme Court from 1870 to 1877 .