James Harlan, former Senator for Iowa

Harlan was a senator from Iowa and was a Republican. He served from 1867 to 1873.

He was previously a senator from Iowa as a Republican from 1861 to 1865; and a senator from Iowa as a Republican from 1855 to 1861.

Alleged misconduct & resolution

Harlan 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 recommended censure. On Mar. 4, 1873, his term ended.

Feb. 27, 1873	Morrill Committee recommended censure.
Mar. 4, 1873	Term ended.

Photo of Sen. James Harlan [R-IA, 1867-1873]

Voting Record

Missed Votes

From Jan 1856 to Mar 1873, Harlan missed 894 of 5,404 roll call votes, which is 16.5%. 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.

Show the numbers...

Time Period	Votes Eligible	Missed Votes	Percent	Percentile
1856 Jan-Mar	32	4	12.5%	20^th
1856 Apr-Jul	133	78	58.6%	40^th
1856 Aug-Aug	124	13	10.5%	20^th
1856 Aug-Aug	16	2	12.5%	0^th
Dec 1856-Mar 1857	123	36	29.3%	40^th
Dec 1857-Feb 1858	57	6	10.5%	14^th
1858 Mar-May	217	12	5.5%	0^th
1858 Jun-Jun	121	21	17.4%	14^th
Dec 1858-Mar 1859	269	9	3.3%	0^th
1857 Mar-Mar	29	4	13.8%	0^th
1858 Jun-Jun	9	0	0.0%	0^th
Dec 1859-Feb 1860	43	7	16.3%	25^th
1860 Mar-May	158	18	11.4%	0^th
1860 Jun-Jun	132	15	11.4%	12^th
Dec 1860-Mar 1861	232	32	13.8%	56^th
1859 Mar-Mar	32	2	6.2%	25^th
1860 Jun-Jun	10	5	50.0%	25^th
1861 Jul-Aug	79	17	21.5%	70^th
Dec 1861-Feb 1862	73	9	12.3%	64^th
1862 Mar-May	146	29	19.9%	91^st
1862 Jun-Jul	214	12	5.6%	9^th
Dec 1862-Mar 1863	247	21	8.5%	45^th
1861 Mar-Mar	42	10	23.8%	80^th
Dec 1863-Feb 1864	69	1	1.4%	0^th
1864 Mar-May	167	44	26.3%	69^th
1864 Jun-Jul	181	20	11.0%	15^th
Dec 1864-Mar 1865	161	25	15.5%	20^th
1863 Mar-Mar	19	0	0.0%	0^th
1866 Jun-Jul	2	2	100.0%	89^th
1865 Mar-Mar	6	3	50.0%	71^st
1867 Mar-Apr	98	9	9.2%	19^th
1867 Jul-Jul	35	5	14.3%	33^rd
1867 Nov-Nov	4	0	0.0%	0^th
Dec 1867-Feb 1868	55	6	10.9%	22^nd
1868 Mar-May	180	43	23.9%	86^th
1868 Jun-Jul	187	18	9.6%	3^rd
1868 Sep-Sep	1	0	0.0%	0^th
Dec 1868-Mar 1869	156	27	17.3%	26^th
1869 Mar-Apr	59	15	25.4%	62^nd
Dec 1869-Feb 1870	81	7	8.6%	25^th
1870 Mar-May	168	13	7.7%	6^th
1870 Jun-Jul	215	26	12.1%	6^th
Dec 1870-Mar 1871	194	28	14.4%	7^th
1869 Apr-Apr	25	1	4.0%	10^th
1871 Mar-Apr	61	9	14.8%	31^st
Dec 1871-Feb 1872	79	30	38.0%	71^st
1872 Mar-May	339	104	30.7%	35^th
1872 Jun-Jun	93	33	35.5%	51^st
Dec 1872-Mar 1873	195	63	32.3%	52^nd
1871 May-May	36	0	0.0%	0^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

James Harlan is pronounced:

The letters stand for sounds according to the following table:

Letter	Sounds As In

Capital letters indicate a stressed syllable.

Sen. James Harlan

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Alleged misconduct & resolution

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Voting Record

Missed Votes

Primary Sources