United States House Select Committee on an Alleged Abstraction of a Report from the Clerk's Office

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The Committee on an Alleged Abstraction of a Report from the Clerk's Office was a short-lived select committee of the United States House of Representatives appointed to investigate the disappearance of a committee report from the House Clerk's office. [1] The committee existed for less than one day, having been appointed on March 3, 1863, shortly before the 37th Congress adjourned sine die.

United States House of Representatives lower house of the United States Congress

The United States House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they comprise the legislature of the United States.

The Clerk of the United States House of Representatives is an officer of the United States House of Representatives, whose primary duty is to act as the chief record-keeper for the House.

Contents

History

The committee was formed due to controversy surrounding a committee report filed by Representative Charles Van Wyck, a Republican from New York. Rep. Van Wyck, as the former chairman and a member of the Select Committee on Government Contracts submitted a report on March 3, 1863, with his minority views of the committee's final report submitted previously that day.

Charles Van Wyck Union Army officer

Charles Henry Van Wyck was a Representative from New York, a Senator from Nebraska, and a Union Army brigadier general in the American Civil War.

Republican Party (United States) Major political party in the United States

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Rep. Van Wyck was no stranger to criticism, as was the entire Government Contracts Committee during its existence. [2] Van Wyck had been deposed as committee chair after periodic absences from the committee and other activities. [1] When the committee's final report was submitted to the House on March 3, 1863, Van Wyck was given leave to present minority views of the committee to the full House, [3] which per instruction were to be inspected by the other committee members. However, when the time came to review the report, it was nowhere to be found. The new committee chairman Elihu B. Washburne, Republican from Illinois, objected to Van Wyck's report and its printing, claiming it had been "abstracted," or removed, from the clerk's office. [1]

Elihu B. Washburne American politician and diplomat

Elihu Benjamin Washburne was an American politician and diplomat. A member of the Washburn family, which played a prominent role in the early formation of the United States Republican Party, he served as a congressman from Illinois before and during the American Civil War. He was a political ally of President Abraham Lincoln and General Ulysses S. Grant. During Grant's administration, Washburne was the 25th United States Secretary of State, briefly in 1869, and was the United States Minister to France from 1869 to 1877.

Illinois State of the United States of America

Illinois is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It has the fifth largest gross domestic product (GDP), the sixth largest population, and the 25th largest land area of all U.S. states. Illinois is often noted as a microcosm of the entire United States. With Chicago in northeastern Illinois, small industrial cities and immense agricultural productivity in the north and center of the state, and natural resources such as coal, timber, and petroleum in the south, Illinois has a diverse economic base, and is a major transportation hub. Chicagoland, Chicago's metropolitan area, encompasses over 65% of the state's population. The Port of Chicago connects the state to international ports via two main routes: from the Great Lakes, via the Saint Lawrence Seaway, to the Atlantic Ocean and from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River, via the Illinois Waterway to the Illinois River. The Mississippi River, the Ohio River, and the Wabash River form parts of the boundaries of Illinois. For decades, Chicago's O'Hare International Airport has been ranked as one of the world's busiest airports. Illinois has long had a reputation as a bellwether both in social and cultural terms and, through the 1980s, in politics.

Mr. Washburne alleged that a member of the House had contrived with a member of the clerk's office to "abstract," or remove, the report from the clerk's office, and he demanded the creation of a select committee to investigate the matter. In floor debate on the matter on March 3, charges were made that Van Wyck's minority report was nothing more than a baseless attack on the committee members, rather than focusing on the subject matter assigned to the committee. Rep. Washburne also alleged that Rep. Van Wyck's investigation of the customs house was a personal vendetta against the director of the Port of New York. [1]

At the behest of Rep. Washburne, a select committee was formed to investigate the matter. The House Journal of the day indicated that:

Mr. Washburne having, in his place, charged that the minority views of the select committee on government contracts had been abstracted from the Clerk's office by a member of this house, with the connivance of a clerk in the office, moved that a committee of three members be appointed to investigate the same; which motion was agreed to. [4]

However, the committee was appointed shortly before the House adjourned sine die, so it had no time to report on its findings. [1]

Members

Members [4] Party State
Republican Illinois
Democratic Indiana
Democratic Ohio

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 The Congressional Globe. 37th Congress, 3rd session. 3 March 1863, 1549-1551
  2. ↑ Bolles, Albert S. (1886). The Financial History of the United States from 1861 to 1885. New York: D. Appelton and Company. pp. 230–235.
  3. ↑ The Congressional Globe (March 3), Page 1546
  4. 1 2 U.S. House Journal. 37th Congress, 3rd session. 3 March 1863, 617
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