The Eighteenth 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 Fourth Census of the United States in 1820. Both chambers had a Democratic-Republican majority.
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: The House of Representatives elected John Quincy Adams as President of the United States
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
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.
President: Daniel D. Tompkins (DR)
President pro tempore: John Gaillard (DR)
Speaker: Henry Clay (DR)
This list is arranged by chamber, then by state. Senators are listed in order of seniority, and Representatives are listed by district.
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 reelection in 1826; Class 2 meant their term began with this Congress, requiring reelection in 1828; and Class 3 meant their term ended with this Congress, requiring reelection in 1824.
The names of members of the House of Representatives are preceded by their district numbers.
The count below reflects changes from the beginning of the first session of this Congress.
deaths: 3
resignations: 3
vacancy: 2
Total seats with changes: 8
deaths: 3
resignations: 5
contested election: 2
Total seats with changes: 10
Lists of committees and their party leaders.
Amendments to the Constitution (Select)
Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses of the Senate
Banks in Which Deposits Have Been Made (Select)
Claims
Commerce and Manufactures
Debt Imprisonment Abolition (Select)
District of Columbia
Finance
Foreign Relations
Indian Affairs
Judiciary
Manufactures
Marquis de La Fayette (Select)
Memorial of the Legislature of Arkansas (Select)
Military Affairs
Militia
National Road from Cumberland to Wheeling (Select)
Naval Affairs
Peale's Portrait of Washington (Select)
Pensions
Post Office and Post Roads
Public Lands
Roads and Canals (Select)
Tariff Regulation (Select)
Whole
Accounts
Agriculture
Arms Contracts (Select)
Banking Memorials (Select)
Claims
Commerce
District of Columbia
Elections
Expenditures in the Navy Department
Expenditures in the Post Office Department
Expenditures in the State Department
Expenditures in the Treasury Department
Expenditures in the War Department
Expenditures on Public Buildings
Foreign Affairs
Indian Affairs
Manufactures
Military Affairs
Naval Affairs
Pensions and Revolutionary War Claims
Post Office and Post Roads
Public Expenditures
Public Lands
Revisal and Unfinished Business
Standards of Official Conduct
Ways and Means
Whole
Enrolled Bills
Architect of the Capitol: Charles Bulfinch
Librarian of Congress: George Watterston
Chaplain: William Staughton (Baptist), elected December 10, 1823
Charles P. McIlvaine (Episcopalian), elected December 14, 1824
Secretary: Charles Cutts
Sergeant at Arms: Mountjoy Bayly
Chaplain: Henry B. Bascom (Methodist) elected December 1, 1823
Reuben Post (Presbyterian) elected December 6, 1824
Clerk: Matthew St. Clair Clarke
Doorkeeper: Benjamin Birch
Sergeant at Arms: Thomas Dunn, elected December 1, 1823, died
John O. Dunn, elected December 6, 1824
