Sen. Wade Hampton

Former Senator for South Carolina

Hampton was a senator from South Carolina and was a Democrat. He served from 1885 to 1891.

He was previously a senator from South Carolina as a Democrat from 1879 to 1885.

Bioguide

Photo of Sen. Wade Hampton [D-SC, 1885-1891]

Legislators who enslaved Black people

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compiled the first database of slaveholding members of Congress by examining thousands of pages of census records and historical documents.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

Voting Record

Missed Votes

From Apr 1879 to Mar 1891, Hampton missed 1,107 of 3,337 roll call votes, which is 33.2%. This is on par with the median of 35.4% among the lifetime records of senators serving in Mar 1891. 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
1879 Mar-Jul	168	40	23.8%	27^th
Dec 1879-Feb 1880	49	23	46.9%	81^st
1880 Mar-May	127	22	17.3%	19^th
1880 Jun-Jun	39	4	10.3%	7^th
Dec 1880-Mar 1881	164	52	31.7%	54^th
Dec 1881-Mar 1882	96	8	8.3%	11^th
1882 Apr-Jul	212	37	17.5%	29^th
1882 Aug-Aug	38	6	15.8%	44^th
Dec 1882-Mar 1883	401	179	44.6%	76^th
1881 Mar-Mar	178	13	7.3%	12^th
1881 Oct-Oct	61	38	62.3%	54^th
Dec 1883-Feb 1884	65	29	44.6%	68^th
1884 Mar-May	114	55	48.2%	80^th
1884 Jun-Jul	78	10	12.8%	15^th
Dec 1884-Mar 1885	171	14	8.2%	2^nd
Dec 1885-Mar 1886	63	22	34.9%	71^st
1886 Apr-Jul	234	112	47.9%	74^th
1886 Aug-Aug	12	12	100.0%	93^rd
Dec 1886-Mar 1887	143	33	23.1%	46^th
1885 Mar-Apr	9	8	88.9%	96^th
Dec 1887-Feb 1888	50	9	18.0%	17^th
1888 Mar-May	64	10	15.6%	8^th
1888 Jun-Aug	62	14	22.6%	18^th
1888 Sep-Oct	14	2	14.3%	17^th
Dec 1888-Mar 1889	199	102	51.3%	66^th
Dec 1889-Feb 1890	31	16	51.6%	57^th
1890 Mar-May	114	49	43.0%	52^nd
1890 Jun-Aug	150	73	48.7%	59^th
1890 Sep-Sep	79	61	77.2%	87^th
Dec 1890-Mar 1891	143	52	36.4%	45^th
1889 Mar-Apr	9	2	22.2%	25^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

Sen. Wade Hampton

Legislators who enslaved Black people

I have an opinion I want to share.

I need help, have a question, or want to schedule a tour.

Voting Record

Missed Votes

Primary Sources