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The United States on March 17, 1851

Who held every office, how Congress and the Court were made up, and what happened within a week. Diff this day against today →

President
Fillmore
Millard Fillmore W · since Jul 9, 1850
Senate
22 D · 17 W
42 senators · 32nd Congress
House
1 D
1 representatives
Supreme Court
8 D · 1 W
9 justices by appointing party
Union
31 states
12 amendments in force
Public debt
$63M
as of Jul 1, 1850
1851-03-17/executiveThe administration
President Millard Fillmore W
since Jul 9, 1850
Vice President vacant
Attorney General John J. Crittenden W
since Jul 22, 1850
Secretary of State Daniel Webster W
since Jul 23, 1850
Secretary of the Treasury Thomas Corwin R
since Jul 23, 1850
Secretary of the Navy William Alexander Graham W
since Aug 2, 1850
Secretary of War Charles Magill Conrad W
since Aug 15, 1850
Secretary of the Interior Alexander Hugh Holmes Stuart W
since Sep 14, 1850
1851-03-17/congress32nd Congress
Senate · 22 D · 17 W · 2 FS · 1 IRD
William Rufus de Vane King (Democrat, AL)Jeremiah Clemens (Democrat, AL)William King Sebastian (Democrat, AR)Solon Borland (Democrat, AR)William McKendree Gwin (Democrat, CA)George Wallace Jones (Democrat, IA)Augustus Caesar Dodge (Democrat, IA)Stephen Arnold Douglas (Democrat, IL)James Shields (Democrat, IL)James Whitcomb (Democrat, IN)Solomon Weathersbee Downs (Democrat, LA)Pierre Soulé (Democrat, LA)James Ware Bradbury (Democrat, ME)Alpheus Felch (Democrat, MI)David Rice Atchison (Democrat, MO)Henry Stuart Foote (Democrat, MS)Moses Norris Jr. (Democrat, NH)Andrew Pickens Butler (Democrat, SC)Robert Barnwell Rhett (Democrat, SC)Samuel Houston (Democrat, TX)Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter (Democrat, VA)Isaac Pigeon Walker (Democrat, WI)Thomas George Pratt (Ind. Republican-Democrat, MD)John Parker Hale (Free Soil, NH)Salmon Portland Chase (Free Soil, OH)Truman Smith (Whig, CT)Presley Spruance (Whig, DE)Jackson Morton (Whig, FL)John Macpherson Berrien (Whig, GA)William Crosby Dawson (Whig, GA)Joseph Rogers Underwood (Whig, KY)Henry Clay (Whig, KY)John Davis (Whig, MA)James Alfred Pearce (Whig, MD)Willie Person Mangum (Whig, NC)George Edmund Badger (Whig, NC)Jacob Welsh Miller (Whig, NJ)William Henry Seward (Whig, NY)James Cooper (Whig, PA)John Hopkins Clarke (Whig, RI)John Bell (Whig, TN)William Upham (Whig, VT)
House · 1 D
Robert Rantoul Jr. (Democrat, MA-2)
1851-03-17/supreme-courtThe bench
John McLean D
Associate Justice · appointed by Andrew Jackson · since Mar 7, 1829
James Moore Wayne D
Associate Justice · appointed by Andrew Jackson · since Jan 9, 1835
Roger Brooke Taney D
Chief Justice · appointed by Andrew Jackson · since Mar 15, 1836
John Catron D
Associate Justice · appointed by Andrew Jackson · since Mar 8, 1837
John McKinley D
Associate Justice · appointed by Martin Van Buren · since Sep 25, 1837
Peter Vivian Daniel D
Associate Justice · appointed by Martin Van Buren · since Mar 3, 1841
Samuel Nelson W
Associate Justice · appointed by John Tyler · since Feb 13, 1845
Levi Woodbury D
Associate Justice · appointed by James K. Polk · since Jan 3, 1846
Robert Cooper Grier D
Associate Justice · appointed by James K. Polk · since Aug 4, 1846
1851-03-17/weekWithin a week · Mar 10, 1851 – Mar 24, 1851
Ruling Clements v. Berry
Mar 10, 1851 · 52 U.S. 398
Ruling The Philadelphia and Wilmington Railroad Company v. Maryland
Mar 10, 1851 · 51 U.S. 376
Ruling Den v. Baskerville
Mar 10, 1851 · 52 U.S. 329
Ruling Parks v. Ross
Mar 10, 1851 · 52 U.S. 362
Ruling Frederic D. Conrad v. Griffey
Mar 10, 1851 · 52 U.S. 480
Ruling United States v. Hughes
Mar 10, 1851 · 52 U.S. 552
Ruling Moore v. Brown
Mar 11, 1851 · 52 U.S. 414
Ruling Buren v. Digges
Mar 11, 1851 · 52 U.S. 461
Ruling Arthur Spear of the Schooner Lucy Ann and Cargo v. Place
Mar 11, 1851 · 52 U.S. 522
Ruling Gill v. Executors
Mar 11, 1851 · 52 U.S. 529

Each office is shown as it stood at the end of the day. Cabinet records come from Wikidata and have gaps for some historical offices.