The Thirty-eighth 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, 1863, to March 4, 1865, during the last two years of the first administration of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the Eighth Census of the United States in 1860. The Senate had a Republican majority, and the House of Representatives had a Republican plurality.
American Civil War, which had started in 1861, continued through this Congress and ended later in 1865
January 8, 1863: Ground broken in Sacramento, California on the construction of the First Transcontinental Railroad in the United States
November 19, 1863: Gettysburg Address
April 22, 1864: Coinage Act of 1864, Sess. 1, ch. 66, 13 Stat. 54
June 30, 1864: Yosemite Valley Grant Act, Sess. 1, 16 Stat. 48
March 3, 1865: Freedmen's Bureau, Sess. 2, ch. 90, 13 Stat. 507
January 31, 1865: Thirteenth Amendment passed Congress with a Senate vote of 31 Republican, 2 Democrat, 1 Unionist & 4 Unconditional Unionist votes of "Yea", 5 Democrats & 1 Unionist votes of "Nay" with 3 Democrat, 2 Unionist & 1 Unconditional Unionist not voting. The House of Representatives passed on 84 Republican, 14 Democrat, 2 Independent Republican, 3 Unionist, 16 Unconditional Unionist votes of "Yea", 50 Democrat & 2 Unionist votes of "Nay" with 8 Democrat & 4 Unionist not voting and then sent to the states for ratification, 13 Stat. 567
February 9, 1865: Chippewa Indians, 13 Stat. 393
June 19, 1863: West Virginia admitted (formed from a portion of Virginia), 13 Stat. 731 (See also 12 Stat. 633)
October 31, 1864: Nevada admitted, 13 Stat. 749 (See also 13 Stat. 30)
The Confederacy fielded armies and sustained the rebellion into a second Congress, but the Union did not accept secession and secessionists were not eligible for Congress. Elections held in Missouri and Kentucky seated all members to the House and Senate for the 38th Congress. Elections held among Unionists in Virginia, Tennessee and Louisiana were marred by disruption resulting in turnouts that were so low compared with 1860, that Congress did not reseat the candidates with a majority of the votes cast.
In rebellion 1862–64 according to the Emancipation Proclamation were Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (parts), Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia (parts). Tennessee was not held to be in rebellion as of the end of 1862.
May 26, 1864: Montana Territory organized, Sess. 1, ch. 95, 13 Stat. 85
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.
During this Congress, two seats were added for each of the new states of Nevada and West Virginia, thereby adding four new seats.
Before this Congress, the 1860 United States Census and resulting reapportionment changed the size of the House to 241 members. During this Congress, one seat was added for the new state of Nevada, and three seats were reapportioned from Virginia to the new state of West Virginia.
President: Hannibal Hamlin (R)
President pro tempore: Solomon Foot (R), until April 13, 1864
Daniel Clark (R), elected April 26, 1864
Republican Conference Chairman: Henry B. Anthony
Speaker: Schuyler Colfax (R)
Republican Conference Chairman: Justin S. Morrill
Chairman, Committee on Ways and Means: Thaddeus Stevens (R)
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
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 this Congress, requiring reelection in 1868; Class 2 meant their term ended in this Congress, requiring reelection in 1864; and Class 3 meant their term began in the last Congress, requiring reelection in 1866.
The count below reflects changes from the beginning of the first session of this Congress.
replacements: 2
Democratic: no net change
Republican: no net change
Unionist: no net change
Unconditional Union: no net change
deaths: 1
resignations: 2
interim appointments: 1
seats of newly admitted seats: 4
Total seats with changes: 4
replacements: 6
Democratic: no net change
Republican: no net change
Unionist: no net change
Unconditional Union: no net change
deaths: 3
resignations: 3
contested election: 1
seats of newly admitted seats: 4
Total seats with changes: 7
Lists of committees and their party leaders.
Agriculture (John Sherman, Chair)
Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses of the Senate (James Dixon, Chair)
Claims (Daniel Clark, Chair)
Commerce (Zachariah Chandler, Chair)
Distributing Public Revenue Among the States (Select)
District of Columbia (James W. Grimes, Chair)
Finance (William P. Fessenden, Chair)
Foreign Relations (Charles Sumner, Chair)
Indian Affairs
Judiciary
Manufactures
Military Affairs
Naval Affairs
Naval Supplies (Select)
Ordnance and War Ships (Select)
Overland Mail Service (Select)
Pacific Railroad (Select)
Patents and the Patent Office
Pensions
Post Office and Post Roads
Private Land Claims
Public Lands
Retrenchment
Revolutionary Claims
Slavery and the Treatment of Freedmen (Select)
Tariff Regulation (Select)
Territories
Whole
Accounts
Agriculture
Banking and Currency
Bankrupt Law (Select)
Claims
Commerce
District of Columbia
Elections
Expenditures in the Interior Department
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
Invalid Pensions
Manufactures
Mileage
Military Affairs
Militia
Naval Affairs
Patents
Post Office and Post Roads
Public Buildings and Grounds
Public Expenditures
Public Lands
Revisal and Unfinished Business
Revolutionary Claims
Roads and Canals
Rules (Select)
Standards of Official Conduct
Territories
Ways and Means
Whole
Conditions of Indian Tribes (Special)
Conduct of the War
Enrolled Bills
Senate Chamber and the Hall of the House of the Representatives
Architect of the Capitol: Thomas U. Walter
Librarian of Congress: John Gould Stephenson (until 1864), Ainsworth Rand Spofford (starting 1864)
Chaplain: Byron Sunderland (Presbyterian)
Thomas Bowman (Methodist), elected May 11, 1864
Secretary: John W. Forney
Sergeant at Arms: George T. Brown
Chaplain: William H. Channing (Unitarian)
Clerk: Edward McPherson
Doorkeeper: Ira Goodnow
Messenger: Thaddeus Morrice
William D. Todd
Postmaster: William S. King
Sergeant at Arms: Nehemiah G. Ordway
