Sen. David Atchison

Former Senator for Missouri

Atchison was a senator from Missouri and was a Democrat. He served from 1849 to 1855.

He was previously a senator from Missouri as a Democrat from 1843 to 1849.

Bioguide

Photo of Sen. David Atchison [D-MO, 1849-1855]

Legislators who enslaved Black people

Atchison was among more than 1,800 legislators who enslaved Black people. The Washington Post compiled the first database of slaveholding members of Congress by examining thousands of pages of census records and historical documents. Atchison was one of them.

Voting Record

Missed Votes

From Jan 1844 to Mar 1855, Atchison missed 504 of 2,435 roll call votes, which is 20.7%. This is better than the median of 25.9% among the lifetime records of senators serving in Mar 1855. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses, major life events, and running for higher office.

Show the numbers...

Time Period	Votes Eligible	Missed Votes	Percent	Percentile
1844 Jan-Feb	28	0	0.0%	0^th
1844 Mar-May	106	27	25.5%	20^th
1844 Jun-Jun	76	14	18.4%	20^th
Dec 1844-Mar 1845	95	9	9.5%	60^th
Dec 1845-Mar 1846	29	1	3.4%	36^th
1846 Apr-Jul	168	17	10.1%	20^th
1846 Aug-Aug	50	4	8.0%	10^th
Dec 1846-Mar 1847	126	16	12.7%	29^th
1845 Mar-Mar	10	4	40.0%	50^th
Dec 1847-Mar 1848	82	19	23.2%	50^th
1848 Apr-Jul	116	23	19.8%	42^nd
1848 Aug-Aug	66	15	22.7%	50^th
Dec 1848-Mar 1849	80	9	11.2%	17^th
Dec 1849-Feb 1850	22	2	9.1%	32^nd
1850 Mar-May	64	3	4.7%	13^th
1850 Jun-Aug	154	4	2.6%	3^rd
1850 Sep-Sep	108	6	5.6%	6^th
Dec 1850-Mar 1851	141	32	22.7%	53^rd
1849 Mar-Mar	10	1	10.0%	29^th
Dec 1851-Mar 1852	38	11	28.9%	49^th
1852 Apr-Jul	80	13	16.2%	27^th
1852 Aug-Aug	91	29	31.9%	74^th
Dec 1852-Mar 1853	127	25	19.7%	34^th
1851 Mar-Mar	22	2	9.1%	22^nd
Dec 1853-Mar 1854	51	10	19.6%	28^th
1854 Apr-Jul	230	29	12.6%	11^th
1854 Aug-Aug	64	14	21.9%	35^th
Dec 1854-Mar 1855	178	163	91.6%	96^th
1853 Mar-Apr	23	2	8.7%	9^th

Primary Sources

The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:

unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
United States Congressional Roll Call Voting Records, 1789-1990 by Howard L. Rosenthal and Keith T. Poole.
Martis’s “The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress”, via Keith Poole’s roll call votes data set, for political party affiliation for Members of Congress from 1789 through about year 2000
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress for the photo

Sen. David Atchison

Legislators who enslaved Black people

I have an opinion I want to share.

I need help, have a question, or want to schedule a tour.

Voting Record

Missed Votes

Primary Sources