Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

Report of Legislative Proceedings regarding the Accuracy of Votes, 6 January 1849

Mr. LINCOLN, (addressing the Chair). I have had information brought to me in relation to the record of my vote on the bill which has just been passed. I desire to be informed by the Clerk how my vote is recorded.

The Clerk. The vote is recorded in the negative.

Mr. LINCOLN. That is right.1

1Abraham Lincoln’s vote was on a bill to compensate a resident of Florida $1,000 for a slave that moved with the Seminole Indians when they were forced, as part of Indian Removal, to migrate west of the Mississippi River after the end of the Second Seminole War. Sources disagree about the vote on this bill. The Congressional Globe recorded that the House passed the bill on January 6 by a vote of 91 ayes to 89 nays. The House Journal, however, reported that the House passed the bill, but recorded a vote of 89 yeas to 91 nays, thus indicating that the House rejected the bill. On January 8, the House Journal vote was corrected to 89 yeas and 90 nays. On January 8, the Congressional Globe corrected itself, reporting that the vote was 89 yeas to 90 nays. On January 12, the House reconsidered the vote rejecting the bill, and continued debate on the subject on the 13th. On January 19, the House agreed to reconsider by a vote of 98 yeas to 93 nays, with Lincoln voting nay. The House then passed the bill by a vote of 101 yeas to 95 nays, with Lincoln again voting nay. On January 19, the Senate referred the bill to the Committee on Military Affairs. The Committee on Miliary Affairs reported back the bill on February 5 with a report, which the Senate ordered printed. There is no indication that the Senate took any further action.
U.S. House Journal. 1849. 30th Cong., 2nd sess., 207-8, 211, 237, 242, 276-78; U.S. Senate Journal. 1849. 30th Cong., 2nd sess., 138, 183; Cong. Globe, 30th Cong., 2nd Sess. 177, 187, 442 (1849).