List of members of the United States Congress who owned slaves

This is a list of members of the United States Congress who enslaved Black and Indigenous peoples. Slavery was legal in the United States from its beginning as a nation, having been practiced in North America from early colonial days. More than 1,700 members of Congress have been documented as owning slaves.

Synopsis At least 1,700 members of Congress enslaved Black and Indigenous peoples at some point in their lives, including 374 senators, at least 1,477 representatives, at least 23 territorial delegates to the U.S. House, at least 6 members of the Congress of the Confederation, and at least 2 members of the Continental Congress.

Slaveowners, whether enslaving Black and Indigenous peoples in office or previously as adults, represented 37 states in either house of Congress, from 1789 to 1923:

Alabama Arkansas California Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Illinois Indiana Iowa Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Mississippi Missouri New Hampshire New Jersey New York North Carolina Ohio Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina Tennessee Texas Virginia West Virginia Wisconsin

In addition, the following territories and insular areas were represented by contemporary or former slaveowners who were elected as delegates:

Arkansas Territory Florida Territory Illinois Territory Indiana Territory Louisiana Territory Michigan Territory Mississippi Territory Missouri Territory New Mexico Territory Northwest Territory Oregon Territory Utah Territory Washington Territory Wisconsin Territory

Numerous slaveowners, contemporary and former, served in the Continental Congress and the Congress of the Confederation, and slaveowning men constituted at least half of the membership of Congress from 1789 to 1819. The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution formally abolished slavery in 1865, immediately after the end of the American Civil War. During Reconstruction, the number of former slaveowners declined, but then rose following the end of Reconstruction, followed by a gradual decline in the number of former slaveowners.

William Richardson of Alabama was the last of the continuous line of former slaveholders to serve in Congress, having died in office in 1914. The 64th Congress of 1915–1917 was the first full session to not have any contemporary or former slaveholders in its roster. The last slaveholder to ever hold office in Congress was Rebecca Latimer Felton, who was appointed to represent Georgia in the United States Senate for one day during the 67th Congress. In addition to being the first woman to serve in the Senate, she was the only female slaveowner to ever hold office in Congress.

On January 10, 2022, The Washington Post launched the first known database of documented contemporary or former slaveowners who held office in Congress and its preceding legislatures.

Senate Senator Party State Term start Term end Approximate numberof slaves held While in office? Notes John Adair Democratic-Republican Kentucky Stephen Adams Democratic Mississippi James Lusk Alcorn Whig, Republican Mississippi Alexander Outlaw Anderson Democratic Tennessee William S. Archer Democratic-Republican Virginia John Armstrong Jr. Democratic-Republican New York Chester Ashley Democratic Arkansas David Rice Atchison Democratic Missouri George Edmund Badger Whig North Carolina Arthur P. Bagby Democratic Alabama Theodorus Bailey Anti-Administration,Democratic-Republican New York James E. Bailey Democratic Tennessee James Barbour Democratic-Republican , National Republican , Whig Virginia John S. Barbour Jr. Democratic Virginia Robert Woodward Barnwell Democratic South Carolina 128+ Yes Alexander Barrow Whig Louisiana William Taylor Barry Democratic-Republican Democratic Kentucky Richard Bassett Federalist Delaware William Brimage Bate Democratic Tennessee Martin Waltham Bates FederalistDemocratic Delaware James A. Bayard Sr. Federalist Delaware James Burnie Beck Democratic Kentucky John Bell Democratic-Republican (1817–1825)Jacksonian(1825–1835)Whig(1835–1854)American(1854–1860)Constitutional Union (1860–1861) Tennessee Judah P. Benjamin Whig (before 1856)Democratic (from 1856) Louisiana Thomas Hart Benton Democratic-Republican, Jacksonian, Democratic Missouri John M. Berrien Democratic (before 1834)Whig (1834–1856) Georgia George Mortimer Bibb Democratic Kentucky William Wyatt Bibb Democratic-Republican Georgia Asa Biggs Democratic North Carolina John Black Whig Mississippi Francis Preston Blair Jr. Democratic (before 1848, 1866–1875)Free Soil (1848–1854)Republican (1854–1866) Missouri Jesse Bledsoe Democratic-Republican Kentucky Timothy Bloodworth Democratic-Republican North Carolina William Blount Democratic-Republican Tennessee Elijah Boardman Democratic-Republican Connecticut Lewis Vital Bogy Democratic Missouri Solon Borland Democratic Arkansas Charles Dominique Joseph Bouligny Democratic-Republican (Before 1828)National Republican (1828–1833) Louisiana Lemuel Jackson Bowden Union Virginia William Bradford FederalistPro-Administration Rhode Island Thomas Bragg Democratic North Carolina John Branch Democratic-Republican (before 1825)Jacksonian (1825–1837)Democratic (1837–1863) North Carolina John Breckinridge Democratic-Republican Kentucky John Cabell Breckinridge Democratic Kentucky >5Later became vice president. Breckinridge defended states' rights in regards to slavery and defended the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. He also supported manumission and African colonization. He joined the Confederacy as a general and was expelled from Congress. Richard Brent Democratic-Republican Virginia Jesse David Bright Democratic Indiana Walker Brooke Democratic Mississippi Albert Gallatin Brown Democratic Mississippi Bedford Brown Democratic North Carolina James Brown Democratic-Republican Louisiana John Brown Democratic-Republican Virginia, Kentucky Also served in the House Joseph Emerson Brown Whig, Democratic, Republican Georgia William Gannaway Brownlow WhigAmericanRepublican Tennessee Alexander Buckner Jacksonian Missouri William Bellinger Bulloch Democratic-Republican Georgia Aaron Burr Democratic-Republican New York 6+?Later became vice president. Burr was born into a slaveholding family. He became a slaveholder himself upon his marriage to Theodosia Bartow Prevost, who held slaves from her prior marriage to Jacques Marcus Prevost, and bought a servant named Carlos. Burr personally opposed to slavery, proposing a 1785 bill for immediate emancipation which failed in the New York State Assembly in favor of another bill which required gradual emancipation and was never passed; a later bill for immediate emancipation was passed after Burr returned to the State Assembly in 1799. His son John Pierre Burr became an abolitionist and civil rights activist. Andrew Pickens Butler Democratic South Carolina Pierce Butler Federalist, Democratic-Republican South Carolina Donelson Caffery Democratic Louisiana John C. Calhoun Democratic-Republican (before 1828)Democratic (1828, 1839–1850)Nullifier (1828–1839) South Carolina Later became vice president. Wilkinson Call Democratic Florida Johnson Newlon Camden Democratic West Virginia Allen Taylor Caperton Democratic West Virginia John Snyder Carlile Union Virginia Charles Carroll of Carrollton FederalistMarylandLewis Cass DemocraticMichiganJoseph Williams ChalmersDemocraticMississippiEzekiel Forman ChambersNational RepublicanMarylandChristopher Grant ChamplinFederalistRhode IslandRobert Milledge CharltonDemocraticGeorgiaJames Chesnut Jr.Democratic, Conservative PartySouth CarolinaWilliam Charles Cole ClaiborneDemocratic-RepublicanTennessee, LouisianaClement Claiborne Clay Jr.DemocraticAlabamaClement Comer ClayDemocraticAlabamaHenry ClayDemocratic-Republican (1797–1825)National Republican (1825–1833)Whig (1833–1852)KentuckyJohn Middleton ClaytonFederalist Party (Before 1824) National Republican (Before 1834) Whig (1824–1854) American (1854–1856)DelawareThomas ClaytonFederalist, WhigDelawareDe Witt ClintonDemocratic-RepublicanNew YorkThomas Willis CobbDemocratic-RepublicanGeorgiaWilliam CockeDemocratic-RepublicanTennesseeFrancis Marion CockrellDemocraticMissouriRichard CokeDemocraticTexasJohn Ewing ColhounDemocratic-RepublicanSouth CarolinaAlfred Holt ColquittDemocraticGeorgiaWalter Terry ColquittDemocraticGeorgiaJohn ConditDemocratic-RepublicanNew JerseyCharles Magill ConradWhigLouisianaWilliam Harris CrawfordDemocratic-Republican (1803–1828) Democratic (1828–1834)GeorgiaJohn Jordan CrittendenDemocratic-Republican (before 1825)National Republican (1825–1830)Whig (1830–1856)American (1856–1859)Constitutional Union (1859–1861)Union Democratic (1861–1863)KentuckyAlfred CuthbertDemocraticGeorgiaTristram DaltonPro-AdministrationMassachusettsMar. 3, 1789Mar. 2, 1791Garrett DavisWhig, Union Democratic, DemocratKentuckyMar. 3, 1839Sep. 21, 1872Henry Gassaway DavisDemocraticWest VirginiaMar. 3, 1871Mar. 2, 1883Jefferson DavisDemocraticMississippiMar. 3, 1845Jan. 20, 1861William Crosby DawsonStates' Rights Party, WhigGeorgiaDec. 6, 1835Mar. 2, 1855George Robertson DennisDemocraticMarylandMar. 3, 1873Mar. 2, 1879William Ford De SaussureDemocraticSouth CarolinaMay. 9, 1852Mar. 2, 1853Jean Noel DestréhanDemocratic-RepublicanLouisianaSep. 2, 1812Sep. 30, 1812James De WolfDemocratic-RepublicanRhode IslandMar. 3, 1821Oct. 30, 1825Archibald DixonWhigKentuckyAug. 31, 1852Mar. 2, 1855Henry DodgeDemocraticWisconsinMar. 3, 1841Mar. 2, 1857Stephen Arnold DouglasDemocraticIllinoisMar. 3, 1843Jun. 2, 1861Solomon Weathersbee DownsDemocraticLouisianaMar. 3, 1847Mar. 2, 1853Charles Daniel DrakeRepublicanMissouriMar. 3, 1867Dec. 18, 1870John Henry EatonDemocratic-Republican (Before 1828), Democratic (1828–1840), Whig (1840–1856)TennesseeSep. 4, 1818Mar. 8, 1829John EdwardsAnti-AdministrationKentuckyJun. 17, 1792Mar. 2, 1795Ninian EdwardsDemocratic-RepublicanIllinoisDec. 2, 1818Mar. 3, 1824John ElliottDemocratic-RepublicanGeorgiaMar. 3, 1819Mar. 2, 1825Franklin Harper ElmoreDemocraticSouth CarolinaDec. 9, 1836May. 28, 1850John Wayles EppesDemocratic-RepublicanVirginiaOct. 16, 1803Dec. 3, 1819George EvansNational Republican, WhigMaineDec. 6, 1829Mar. 2, 1847Josiah James EvansDemocraticSouth CarolinaMar. 3, 1853May. 5, 1858William Lee Davidson EwingDemocraticIllinoisDec. 29, 1835Mar. 2, 1837Rebecca Latimer FeltonDemocraticGeorgiaOct. 2, 1922Nov. 20, 1922First woman in the Senate, last slaveholder in the SenateWilliam FindlayDemocratic-RepublicanPennsylvaniaDec. 9, 1821Mar. 2, 1827Benjamin FitzpatrickDemocraticAlabamaNov. 24, 1848Jan. 20, 1861James Winright FlanaganRepublicanTexasMar. 30, 1870Mar. 2, 1875Henry Stuart FooteDemocraticMississippiMar. 3, 1847Jan. 7, 1852John ForsythDemocratic-Republican (before 1825) Democratic (1825–1841)GeorgiaMay. 23, 1813Jun. 26, 1834Ephraim Hubbard FosterWhigTennesseeSep. 16, 1838Mar. 2, 1845Jesse FranklinDemocratic-RepublicanNorth CarolinaDec. 6, 1795Mar. 2, 1813Frederick FrelinghuysenFederalistNew JerseyMar. 3, 1793Nov. 11, 1796Eligius FromentinDemocratic-RepublicanLouisianaMar. 3, 1813Mar. 2, 1819William Savin FultonJacksonian, DemocraticArkansasSep. 17, 1836Aug. 14, 1844John GaillardDemocratic-RepublicanSouth CarolinaDec. 5, 1804Feb. 25, 1826Augustus Hill GarlandWhig (before 1855) American (1855–1859) Constitutional Union (1859–1860) Democratic (1860–1899)ArkansasMar. 3, 1877Mar. 5, 1885James Zachariah GeorgeDemocraticMississippiMar. 3, 1881Aug. 13, 1897Henry Sheffie GeyerWhig, OppositionMissouriMar. 3, 1851Mar. 2, 1857Randall Lee GibsonDemocraticLouisianaMar. 4, 1875Dec. 14, 1892William Branch GilesDemocratic-RepublicanVirginiaMar. 3, 1789Mar. 2, 1815Robert Henry GoldsboroughFederalist; WhigMarylandMay. 20, 1813Oct. 4, 1836George GoldthwaiteDemocraticAlabamaMar. 3, 1871Mar. 2, 1877James GordonDemocraticMississippiDec. 26, 1909Feb. 21, 1910John Brown GordonDemocraticGeorgiaMar. 3, 1873Mar. 2, 1897William Alexander GrahamWhig (before 1860) Constitutional Union (1860–1861)