23rd United States Congress

• March 28, 1834: Senate censured President Andrew Jackson for defunding the Second Bank of the United States • June 2, 1834: A special election for the House speakership takes 10 ballots. • January 30, 1835: Richard Lawrence unsuccessfully tried to assassinate President Jackson in the United States Capitol; this was the first assassination attempt against a President of the United States. == Major legislation ==

The count below identifies party affiliations at the beginning of the first session of this congress. Changes resulting from subsequent replacements are shown below in the "Changes in membership" section. Senate House of Representatives For the beginning of this congress, the size of the House was increased from 213 seats to 240 seats, following the 1830 United States census. == Leadership ==

Senate • President: Martin Van Buren (J) • President pro tempore: Hugh Lawson White (J), until December 15, 1833 • George Poindexter (NR), June 28, 1834 – November 30, 1834 • John Tyler (NR), from March 3, 1835 House of Representatives • Speaker: Andrew Stevenson (J), until June 2, 1834 • John Bell (J), after June 2, 1834, elected on the 10th ballot == 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 with this Congress, requiring reelection in 1838; Class 2 meant their term ended with this Congress, requiring reelection in 1834; and Class 3 meant their term began in the last Congress, requiring reelection in 1836. ==== Alabama ==== : 2. William R. King (J) : 3. Gabriel Moore (NR) ==== Connecticut ==== : 1. Nathan Smith (NR) : 3. Gideon Tomlinson (NR) ==== Delaware ==== : 1. Arnold Naudain (NR) : 2. John M. Clayton (NR) ==== Georgia ==== : 2. George Troup (J), until November 8, 1833 :: John P. King (J), from November 21, 1833 : 3. John Forsyth (J), until July 27, 1834 :: Alfred Cuthbert (J), from January 12, 1835 ==== Illinois ==== : 2. John M. Robinson (J) : 3. Elias K. Kane (J) ==== Indiana ==== : 1. John Tipton (J) : 3. William Hendricks (NR) ==== Kentucky ==== : 2. George M. Bibb (J) : 3. Henry Clay (NR) ==== Louisiana ==== : 2. George A. Waggaman (NR) : 3. Josiah S. Johnston (NR), until May 19, 1833 :: Alexander Porter (NR), from December 19, 1833 ==== Maine ==== : 1. Ether Shepley (J) : 2. Peleg Sprague (NR), until January 1, 1835 :: John Ruggles (J), from January 20, 1835 ==== Maryland ==== : 1. Joseph Kent (NR) : 3. Ezekiel F. Chambers (NR), until December 20, 1834 :: Robert H. Goldsborough (NR), from January 13, 1835 ==== Massachusetts ==== : 1. Daniel Webster (NR) : 2. Nathaniel Silsbee (NR) ==== Mississippi ==== : 1. John Black (NR), from November 22, 1833 : 2. George Poindexter (NR) ==== Missouri ==== : 1. Thomas H. Benton (J) : 3. Alexander Buckner (J), until June 5, 1833 :: Lewis F. Linn (J), from October 25, 1833 ==== New Hampshire ==== : 2. Samuel Bell (NR) : 3. Isaac Hill (J) ==== New Jersey ==== : 1. Samuel L. Southard (NR) : 2. Theodore Frelinghuysen (NR) ==== New York ==== : 1. Nathaniel P. Tallmadge (J) : 3. Silas Wright Jr. (J) ==== North Carolina ==== : 2. Bedford Brown (J) : 3. Willie P. Mangum (NR) ==== Ohio ==== : 1. Thomas Morris (J) : 3. Thomas Ewing (NR) ==== Pennsylvania ==== : 1. Samuel McKean (J), from December 7, 1833 : 3. William Wilkins (J), until June 30, 1834 :: James Buchanan (J), from December 6, 1834 ==== Rhode Island ==== : 1. Asher Robbins (NR) : 2. Nehemiah R. Knight (NR) ==== South Carolina ==== : 2. John C. Calhoun (N) : 3. William C. Preston (N), from November 26, 1833 ==== Tennessee ==== : 1. Felix Grundy (J) : 2. Hugh Lawson White (J) ==== Vermont ==== : 1. Benjamin Swift (NR) : 3. Samuel Prentiss (NR) ==== Virginia ==== : 1. John Tyler (NR) : 2. William Rives (J), until February 22, 1834 :: Benjamin W. Leigh (NR), from February 26, 1834 House of Representatives ==== Alabama ==== : . Clement C. Clay (J) : . John McKinley (J) : . Samuel W. Mardis (J) : . Dixon H. Lewis (N) : . John Murphy (J) ==== Connecticut ==== All representatives were elected statewide on a general ticket. : . Noyes Barber (NR) : . William W. Ellsworth (NR), until July 8, 1834 :: Joseph Trumbull (NR), from December 1, 1834 : . Jabez W. Huntington (NR), until August 16, 1834 :: Phineas Miner (NR), from December 1, 1834 : . Samuel A. Foote (NR), until May 9, 1834 :: Ebenezer Jackson Jr. (NR), from December 1, 1834 : . Samuel Tweedy (NR) : . Ebenezer Young (NR) ==== Delaware ==== : . John J. Milligan (NR) ==== Georgia ==== All representatives were elected statewide on a general ticket. : . Augustin S. Clayton (J) : . John E. Coffee (J) : . Thomas F. Foster (J) : . Roger L. Gamble (J) : . George R. Gilmer (J) : . Seaborn Jones (J) : . William Schley (J) : . James M. Wayne (J), until January 13, 1835, vacant thereafter : . Richard Henry Wilde (J) ==== Illinois ==== : . Charles Slade (J), until July 26, 1834 :: John Reynolds (J), from December 1, 1834 : . Zadok Casey (J) : . Joseph Duncan (J), until September 21, 1834 :: William L. May (J), from December 1, 1834 ==== Indiana ==== : . Ratliff Boon (J) : . John Ewing (NR) : . John Carr (J) : . Amos Lane (J) : . Johnathan McCarty (J) : . George L. Kinnard (J) : . Edward A. Hannegan (J) ==== Kentucky ==== : . Chittenden Lyon (J) : . Albert G. Hawes (J) : . Christopher Tompkins (NR) : . Martin Beaty (NR) : . Robert P. Letcher (NR), from August 6, 1834 : . Thomas Chilton (NR) : . Benjamin Hardin (NR) : . Patrick H. Pope (J) : . James Love (NR) : . Chilton Allan (NR) : . Amos Davis (NR) : . Thomas A. Marshall (NR) : . Richard M. Johnson (J) ==== Louisiana ==== : . Edward D. White (NR), until November 15, 1834 :: Henry Johnson (NR), from December 1, 1834 : . Philemon Thomas (J) : . Henry A. Bullard (NR), until January 4, 1834 :: Rice Garland (NR), from April 28, 1834 ==== Maine ==== : . Rufus McIntire (J) : . Francis O. J. Smith (J) : . Edward Kavanagh (J) : . George Evans (NR) : . Moses Mason Jr. (J) : . Leonard Jarvis (J) : . Joseph Hall (J) : . Gorham Parks (J) ==== Maryland ==== : . Littleton P. Dennis (NR), until April 14, 1834 :: John N. Steele (NR), from June 9, 1834 : . Richard B. Carmichael (J) : . James Turner (J) : . James P. Heath (J) : . Isaac McKim (J) : . William Cost Johnson (NR) : . Francis Thomas (J) : . John T. Stoddert (J) ==== Massachusetts ==== : . Benjamin Gorham (NR) : . Rufus Choate (NR), until June 30, 1834 :: Stephen C. Phillips (NR), from December 1, 1834 : . Gayton P. Osgood (J) : . Edward Everett (NR) : . John Davis (NR), until January 14, 1834 :: Levi Lincoln Jr. (NR), from March 5, 1834 : . George Grennell Jr. (NR) : . George N. Briggs (NR) : . Isaac C. Bates (NR) : . William Jackson (AM) : . William Baylies (NR) : . John Reed Jr. (NR) : . John Quincy Adams (AM) ==== Mississippi ==== All representatives were elected statewide on a general ticket. : . Harry Cage (J) : . Franklin E. Plummer (J) ==== Missouri ==== All representatives were elected statewide on a general ticket. : . William H. Ashley (J) : . John Bull (NR) ==== New Hampshire ==== All representatives were elected statewide on a general ticket. : . Benning M. Bean (J) : . Robert Burns (J) : . Joseph M. Harper (J) : . Henry Hubbard (J) : . Franklin Pierce (J) ==== New Jersey ==== All representatives were elected statewide on a general ticket. : . Philemon Dickerson (J) : . Samuel Fowler (J) : . Thomas Lee (J) : . James Parker (J) : . Ferdinand S. Schenck (J) : . William N. Shinn (J) ==== New York ==== There were five plural districts, the 8th, 17th, 22nd & 23rd had two representatives each, the 3rd had four representatives. : . Abel Huntington (J) : . Isaac B. Van Houten (J) : . Churchill C. Cambreleng (J) : . Cornelius V. Lawrence (J), until May 14, 1834 :: John J. Morgan (J), from December 1, 1834 : . Dudley Selden (J), until July 1, 1834 :: Charles G. Ferris (J), from December 1, 1834 : . Campbell P. White (J) : . Aaron Ward (J) : . Abraham Bockee (J) : . John W. Brown (J) : . Charles Bodle (J) : . John Adams (J) : . Aaron Vanderpoel (J) : . Job Pierson (J) : . Gerrit Y. Lansing (J) : . John Cramer (J) : . Henry C. Martindale (AM) : . Reuben Whallon (J) : . Ransom H. Gillet (J) : . Charles McVean (J) : . Abijah Mann Jr. (J) : . Samuel Beardsley (J) : . Joel Turrill (J) : . Daniel Wardwell (J) : . Sherman Page (J) : . Noadiah Johnson (J) : . Henry Mitchell (J) : . Nicoll Halsey (J) : . Samuel G. Hathaway (J) : . William K. Fuller (J) : . William Taylor (J) : . Rowland Day (J) : . Samuel Clark (J) : . John Dickson (AM) : . Edward Howell (J) : . Frederick Whittlesey (AM) : . George W. Lay (AM) : . Philo C. Fuller (AM) : . Abner Hazeltine (AM) : . Millard Fillmore (AM) : . Gideon Hard (AM) ==== North Carolina ==== : . William B. Shepard (NR) : . Jesse A. Bynum (J) : . Thomas H. Hall (J) : . Jesse Speight (J) : . James I. McKay (J) : . Micajah T. Hawkins (J) : . Edmund Deberry (NR) : . Daniel L. Barringer (NR) : . Augustine H. Shepperd (NR) : . Abraham Rencher (NR) : . Henry W. Connor (J) : . James Graham (NR) : . Lewis Williams (NR) ==== Ohio ==== : . Robert T. Lytle (J), until March 10, 1834, and from December 27, 1834 : . Taylor Webster (J) : . Joseph H. Crane (NR) : . Thomas Corwin (NR) : . Thomas L. Hamer (J) : . Samuel F. Vinton (NR) : . William Allen (J) : . Jeremiah McLene (J) : . John Chaney (J) : . Joseph Vance (NR) : . James M. Bell (NR) : . Robert Mitchell (J) : . David Spangler (NR) : . William Patterson (J) : . Jonathan Sloane (AM) : . Elisha Whittlesey (AM) : . John Thomson (J) : . Benjamin Jones (J) : . Humphrey H. Leavitt (J), until July 10, 1834 :: Daniel Kilgore (J), from December 1, 1834 ==== Pennsylvania ==== There were two plural districts, the 2nd had two representatives, the 4th had three representatives. : . Joel B. Sutherland (J) : . Horace Binney (NR) : . James Harper (NR) : . John G. Watmough (NR) : . Edward Darlington (AM) : . William Hiester (AM) : . David Potts Jr. (AM) : . Joel K. Mann (J) : . Robert Ramsey (J) : . David D. Wagener (J) : . Henry King (J) : . Henry A. P. Muhlenberg (J) : . William Clark (AM) : . Charles A. Barnitz (AM) : . George Chambers (AM) : . Jesse Miller (J) : . Joseph Henderson (J) : . Andrew Beaumont (J) : . Joseph B. Anthony (J) : . John Laporte (J) : . George Burd (NR) : . Richard Coulter (J) : . Andrew Stewart (AM) : . Thomas M. T. McKennan (AM) : . Harmar Denny (AM) : . Samuel S. Harrison (J) : . John Banks (AM) : . John Galbraith (J) ==== Rhode Island ==== Both representatives were elected statewide on a general ticket. : . Tristam Burges (NR) : . Dutee J. Pearce (AM) ==== South Carolina ==== : . Henry L. Pinckney (N) : . William J. Grayson (N) : . Thomas D. Singleton (N), until November 25, 1833 :: Robert B. Campbell (N), from February 27, 1834 : . John Myers Felder (N) : . George McDuffie (N), until ????, 1834 :: Francis W. Pickens (N), from December 8, 1834 : . Warren R. Davis (N), until January 29, 1835, vacant thereafter : . William K. Clowney (N) : . James Blair (J), until April 1, 1834 :: Richard I. Manning (J), from December 8, 1834 : . John K. Griffin (N) ==== Tennessee ==== : . John Blair (J) : . Samuel Bunch (J) : . Luke Lea (J) : . James I. Standifer (J) : . John B. Forester (J) : . Balie Peyton (J) : . John Bell (J) : . David W. Dickinson (J) : . James K. Polk (J) : . William M. Inge (J) : . Cave Johnson (J) : . David Crockett (NR) : . William C. Dunlap (J) ==== Vermont ==== : . Hiland Hall (NR) : . William Slade (AM) : . Horace Everett (NR) : . Heman Allen (NR) : . Benjamin F. Deming (AM), until July 11, 1834 :: Henry F. Janes (AM), from December 2, 1834 ==== Virginia ==== : . George Loyall (J) : . John Y. Mason (J) : . William S. Archer (J) : . James H. Gholson (NR) : . John Randolph (J), until May 24, 1833 :: Thomas T. Bouldin (J), from December 2, 1833, until February 11, 1834 :: James W. Bouldin (J), from March 28, 1834 : . Thomas Davenport (NR) : . Nathaniel H. Claiborne (J) : . Henry A. Wise (J) : . William P. Taylor (NR) : . Joseph W. Chinn (J) : . Andrew Stevenson (J), until June 2, 1834 :: John Robertson (NR), from December 1, 1834 : . William F. Gordon (J) : . John M. Patton (J) : . Charles F. Mercer (NR) : . Edward Lucas (J) : . James M. H. Beale (J) : . Samuel M. Moore (NR) : . John H. Fulton (J) : . William McComas (J) : . John J. Allen (NR) : . Edgar C. Wilson (NR) Non-voting members : . Ambrose H. Sevier (J) : . Joseph M. White (J) : . Lucius Lyon (J) == Changes in membership ==

The count below reflects changes from the beginning of the first session of this Congress. Senate House of Representatives • Replacements: 18 • Jacksonian: 1 seat net loss • National Republican: 1 seat net gain • Deaths: 8 • Resignations: 15 • Contested election: 1 • Total seats with changes: 23 ==Committees==

Lists of committees and their party leaders. Senate • Agriculture (Chairman: Bedford Brown) • Amendments to the Constitution (Select) • Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses of the Senate (Chairman: Nehemiah Knight) • Claims (Chairman: Samuel Bell) • Commerce (Chairman: Nathaniel Silsbee) • Distributing Public Revenue Among the States (Select) • District of Columbia (Chairman: Ezekiel F. Chambers then John Tyler) • Engrossed Bills (Chairman: Ether Shepley) • Establishing Branches of the Mint (Select) • Executive Patronage (Select) • Finance (Chairman: Daniel Webster) • Foreign Relations (Chairman: William Wilkins then Henry Clay) • French Spoilations (Select) • Indian Affairs (Chairman: Hugh Lawson White) • Judiciary (Chairman: John M. Clayton) • Manufactures (Chairman: Theodore Frelinghuysen) • Michigan and Arkansas Admission to the Union (Select) • Mileage of Members of Congress (Select) • Military Affairs (Chairman: Nathaniel Silsbee) • Militia (Chairman: John M. Robinson) • Naval Affairs (Chairman: Samuel Southard) • Pensions (Chairman: Gideon Tomlinson) • Post Office and Post Roads (Chairman: Felix Grundy) • President's Message Refusing to Furnish a Paper to Senate (Select) • Private Land Claims (Chairman: William Hendricks) • Public Lands (Chairman: George Poindexter) • Purchasing Boyd Reilly's Gas Apparatus (Select) • Revolutionary Claims (Chairman: Gabriel Moore) • Roads and Canals (Chairman: William Hendricks) • Shiloh National Park (Select) • Tariff Regulation (Select) • Whole House of Representatives • Accounts (Chairman: Joel K. Mann) • Agriculture (Chairman: Abraham Bockee) • Bank of the United States (Select) • Biennial Register (Select) • Boundary of the Chickasaw Indians (Select) • Claims (Chairman: Elisha Whittlesey) • Commerce (Chairman: Joel B. Sutherland) • District of Columbia (Chairman: Joseph Chinn) • Elections (Chairman: Nathaniel Claiborne) • Establishing an Assay Office in the Gold Region (Select) • Expenditures in the Navy Department (Chairman: Joseph Hall) • Expenditures in the Post Office Department (Chairman: Albert G. Hawes) • Expenditures in the State Department (Chairman: Augustine Henry Shepperd) • Expenditures in the Treasury Department (Chairman: Heman Allen) • Expenditures in the War Department (Chairman: Frederick Whittlesey) • Expenditures on Public Buildings (Chairman: Reuben Whallon) • Foreign Affairs (Chairman: William S. Archer then John Young Mason) • Foreign Relations (Chairman: William S. Archer then John Young Mason) • Indian Affairs (Chairman: Dixon H. Lewis) • Invalid Pensions (Chairman: Tristam Burges) • Judiciary (Chairman: John Bell then Thomas F. Foster) • Manufactures (Chairman: John Quincy Adams) • Military Affairs (Chairman: Richard M. Johnson) • Naval Affairs (Chairman: Campbell P. White) • Post Office and Post Roads (Chairman: Henry W. Connor) • Private Land Claims (Chairman: Cave Johnson) • Public Expenditures (Chairman: Thomas Davenport) • Public Lands (Chairman: Clement C. Clay) • Revisal and Unfinished Business (Chairman: John Dickson) • Revolutionary Claims (Chairman: Henry A. P. Muhlenberg) • Revolutionary Pensions (Chairman: Daniel Wardwell) • Roads and Canals (Chairman: Charles F. Mercer) • Rules (Select) • Standards of Official Conduct • Territories (Chairman: Lewis Williams) • Ways and Means (Chairman: James K. Polk) • Whole Joint committees • Enrolled Bills • The Library == Employees ==

• Librarian of Congress: John Silva Meehan Senate • Secretary: Walter Lowrie • Sergeant at Arms: Mountjoy Bayly, until December 9, 1833 • John Shackford, elected December 9, 1833 • Chaplain: Charles C. Pise (Roman Catholic), until December 10, 1833 • Frederick W. Hatch (Episcopalian), elected December 10, 1833 House of Representatives • Clerk: Matthew St. Clair Clarke, until December 2, 1833 • Walter S. Franklin, elected December 2, 1833 • Sergeant at Arms: John O. Dunn, until December 6, 1833 • Thomas B. Randolph, elected December 6, 1833 • Doorkeeper: Overton Carr • Postmaster: William J. McCormick • Chaplain: William H. Hammett (Methodist), until December 9, 1833 • Thomas H. Stockton (Methodist), elected December 9, 1833 • Edward D. Smith (Presbyterian), elected December 10, 1834 == See also ==