Henry Wilson, former Vice President of the United States

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Wilson was Vice President of the United States and was a Republican. He served from 1873 to 1875.

He was previously a senator from Massachusetts as a Republican from 1865 to 1873; a senator from Massachusetts as a Republican from 1859 to 1865; and a senator from Massachusetts as a Republican from 1855 to 1859.

Misconduct

Wilson faced an allegation of bribery and corruption in management of Union Pacific Railroad and Credit Mobilier of America. On Feb. 27, 1873, the Morrill Committee no formal recommendation, but he was reprimanded in report.

Feb. 27, 1873

Morrill Committee no formal recommendation, but reprimanded in report

Photo of Vice President Henry Wilson [R, 1873-1875]

Voting Record

Missed Votes

From Feb 1855 to Mar 1873, Wilson missed 992 of 6,038 roll call votes, which is 16.4%. This is better than the median of 31.3% among the lifetime records of senators serving in Mar 1873. 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
Dec 1854-Mar 1855	120	23	19.2%	33^rd
1856 Jan-Mar	32	9	28.1%	60^th
1856 Apr-Jul	133	57	42.9%	20^th
1856 Aug-Aug	124	19	15.3%	40^th
1856 Aug-Aug	16	2	12.5%	0^th
Dec 1856-Mar 1857	144	15	10.4%	0^th
Dec 1857-Feb 1858	57	7	12.3%	29^th
1858 Mar-May	217	27	12.4%	29^th
1858 Jun-Jun	121	15	12.4%	0^th
Dec 1858-Mar 1859	269	39	14.5%	14^th
1857 Mar-Mar	29	4	13.8%	0^th
1858 Jun-Jun	9	8	88.9%	29^th
Dec 1859-Feb 1860	43	13	30.2%	75^th
1860 Mar-May	158	27	17.1%	25^th
1860 Jun-Jun	132	6	4.5%	0^th
Dec 1860-Mar 1861	232	2	0.9%	0^th
1859 Mar-Mar	32	1	3.1%	0^th
1860 Jun-Jun	10	5	50.0%	25^th
1861 Jul-Aug	79	3	3.8%	10^th
Dec 1861-Feb 1862	73	0	0.0%	0^th
1862 Mar-May	146	5	3.4%	9^th
1862 Jun-Jul	214	57	26.6%	82^nd
Dec 1862-Mar 1863	247	11	4.5%	9^th
1861 Mar-Mar	42	6	14.3%	50^th
Dec 1863-Feb 1864	69	2	2.9%	15^th
1864 Mar-May	167	19	11.4%	31^st
1864 Jun-Jul	181	16	8.8%	8^th
Dec 1864-Mar 1865	161	14	8.7%	7^th
1863 Mar-Mar	19	0	0.0%	0^th
Dec 1865-Feb 1866	39	2	5.1%	16^th
1866 Mar-May	102	9	8.8%	17^th
1866 Jun-Jul	137	12	8.8%	0^th
Dec 1866-Mar 1867	217	28	12.9%	5^th
1865 Mar-Mar	6	0	0.0%	0^th
1867 Mar-Apr	98	34	34.7%	78^th
1867 Jul-Jul	35	1	2.9%	0^th
1867 Nov-Nov	4	2	50.0%	70^th
Dec 1867-Feb 1868	55	12	21.8%	59^th
1868 Mar-May	180	17	9.4%	11^th
1868 Jun-Jul	187	30	16.0%	14^th
1868 Sep-Sep	1	0	0.0%	0^th
Dec 1868-Mar 1869	156	15	9.6%	3^rd
1869 Mar-Apr	59	7	11.9%	19^th
Dec 1869-Feb 1870	81	4	4.9%	11^th
1870 Mar-May	168	57	33.9%	63^rd
1870 Jun-Jul	215	47	21.9%	24^th
Dec 1870-Mar 1871	194	51	26.3%	42^nd
1869 Apr-Apr	25	2	8.0%	23^rd
1871 Mar-Apr	61	10	16.4%	37^th
Dec 1871-Feb 1872	79	10	12.7%	14^th
1872 Mar-May	339	126	37.2%	50^th
1872 Jun-Jun	93	36	38.7%	57^th
Dec 1872-Mar 1873	195	64	32.8%	59^th
1871 May-May	36	4	11.1%	21^st

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

Vice President Henry Wilson

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Misconduct

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Voting Record

Missed Votes

Primary Sources