Breckinridge was a senator from Kentucky and was a Democrat. He served from 1861 to 1861.
He was previously Vice President of the United States as a Democratic from 1857 to 1861; the representative for Kentucky’s 8th congressional district as a Democrat from 1853 to 1855; and the representative for Kentucky’s 8th congressional district as a Democrat from 1851 to 1853.
Misconduct
Breckinridge faced an allegation of disloyalty to the union. On Dec. 4, 1861, the Senate expelled him, 36-0.
| Dec. 4, 1861 | Senate expelled, 36-0 |
![Photo of Sen. John Cabell Breckinridge [D-KY, 1861-1861]](/static/legislator-photos/401746-200px.jpeg)
Voting Record
Missed Votes
From Mar 1861 to Aug 1861, Breckinridge missed 28 of 121 roll call votes, which is 23.1%. This is on par with the median of 20.5% among the lifetime records of senators serving in Aug 1861. 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.
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
