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Rep. Samuel Caruthers

Former Representative for Missouri’s 7th District

Caruthers was the representative for Missouri’s 7th congressional district and was a Democrat. He served from 1857 to 1859.

He was previously the representative for Missouri’s 7th congressional district as an Ind. Republican-Democrat from 1855 to 1857; and the representative for Missouri’s 7th congressional district as a Whig from 1853 to 1855.

Legislators who enslaved Black people

Caruthers 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compiled the first database of slaveholding members of Congress by examining thousands of pages of census records and historical documents. Caruthers was one of them.

Voting Record

Missed Votes

From Dec 1853 to Mar 1859, Caruthers missed 954 of 1,884 roll call votes, which is 50.6%. This is much worse than 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.

Show the numbers...

Primary Sources

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