Rep. Orsamus Matteson
Former Representative for New York’s 20th District
Matteson was the representative for New York’s 20th congressional district and was a Republican. He served from 1857 to 1859.
He was previously the representative for New York’s 20th congressional district as an Ind. Republican-Democrat from 1855 to 1857; the representative for New York’s 20th congressional district as a Whig from 1853 to 1855; and the representative for New York’s 20th congressional district as a Whig from 1849 to 1851.
Misconduct
Matteson faced an allegation of “defam[ing] character of House” by accepting money in exchange for supporting the Minnesota land bill. On Feb. 19, 1857, a special committee recommended expulsion in the majority report, but the minority report found committee lacked jurisdiction. On Feb. 27, 1857, the House of Representatives censured him, 145-17 while the expulsion resolution was tabled. On Feb. 27, 1857, he resigned prior to House action; reelected later in 1857.
| Feb. 19, 1857 | Special committee recommended expulsion in the majority report, but the minority report found committee lacked jurisdiction. |
| Feb. 27, 1857 | House of Representatives censured him, 145-17 while the expulsion resolution was tabled |
| Feb. 27, 1857 | Resigned prior to House action; reelected later in 1857. |
Voting Record
Missed Votes
From Dec 1849 to Mar 1859, Matteson missed 531 of 2,402 roll call votes, which is 22.1%. This is on par with the median of 23.0% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Mar 1859. 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
