The 34th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., from March 4, 1855, to March 4, 1857, during the last two years of Franklin Pierce's presidency. The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the 1850 United States census. The Whig Party, one of the two major parties of the era, had largely collapsed, although many former Whigs ran as Republicans or as members of the "Opposition Party." The Senate had a Democratic majority, and the House was controlled by a coalition of Representatives led by Nathaniel P. Banks, a member of the American Party. Major events March 30, 1855: Elections were held for the first Kansas Territory legislature. Missourians crossed the border in large numbers to elect a pro-slavery body. July 2, 1855: The Kansas territorial legislature convened in Pawnee and began enacting proslavery laws. November 21, 1855: Large-scale Bleeding Kansas violence began with events leading to the Wakarusa War between antislavery and proslavery forces. December 3, 1855 – February 2, 1856: The election for the House speakership takes 133 ballots, the longest speaker election in its history. January 24, 1856: President Franklin Pierce declared the new Free-State Topeka government in Bleeding Kansas to be in rebellion. January 26, 1856: First Battle of Seattle: Marines from the drove off Indian attackers after an all-day battle with settlers. February, 1856: Tintic War broke out in Utah. February 18, 1856: The American Party (Know-Nothings) nominated their first Presidential candidate, former President Millard Fillmore. May 21, 1856: Lawrence, Kansas, captured and burned by pro-slavery forces (the "Sacking of Lawrence"). May 22, 1856: Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina attacking Senator Charles Sumner, beating him with a cane in the hall of the Senate, for a speech Sumner had made attacking Southerners who sympathized with the pro-slavery violence in Kansas ("Bleeding Kansas"). Sumner was unable to return to duty for 3 years while he recovered; Brooks became a hero across the South. May 24, 1856: Pottawatomie massacre June 2, 1856: Battle of Black Jack August 30, 1856: Battle of Osawatomie November 4, 1856: 1856 United States presidential election: Democrat James Buchanan defeated former President Millard Fillmore, representing a coalition of "Know-Nothings" and Whigs, and John C. Frémont of the fledgling Republican Party.