45th United States Congress
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The Forty-fifth 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, 1877 to March 4, 1879, during the first two years of Rutherford Hayes's presidency. The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the Ninth Census of the United States in 1870. The Senate had a Republican majority, and the House had a Democratic majority.
The 45th Congress remained politically divided between a Democratic House and Republican Senate.[1] President Hayes vetoed an Army appropriations bill from the House which would have ended Reconstruction and prohibited the use of federal troops to protect polling stations in the former Confederacy.[1] Striking back, Congress overrode another of Hayes’s vetoes and enacted the Bland-Allison Act that required the purchase and coining of silver.[1] Congress also approved a generous increase in pension eligibility for Northern Civil War veterans.[1]
Major events
- March 4, 1877: Rutherford B. Hayes became President of the United States
Major legislation
- February 28, 1878: Bland–Allison Act (Coinage Act (Silver Dollar)), Sess. 2, ch. 20, 20 Stat. 25
- April 29, 1878: National Quarantine Act, Sess. 2, ch. 66, 20 Stat. 37
- June 3, 1878: Timber and Stone Act, Sess. 2, ch. 151, 20 Stat. 89
- June 18, 1878: Posse Comitatus Act, Sess. 2, ch. 263, §15, 20 Stat. 152
Party summary
The count below identifies party affiliations at the beginning of the first session of this Congress, and includes members from vacancies and newly admitted states, when they were first seated. Changes resulting from subsequent replacements are shown below in the "Changes in membership" section.
During this Congress, two Senate seats and one House seat were added for the new state, Colorado.
Senate
| Party (shading shows control) |
Total | Vacant | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anti- Monopoly (AM) |
Democratic (D) | Republican (R) | Independent (I) | |||
| End of the previous congress | 1 | 28 | 47 | 0 | 76 | 0 |
| Begin | 1 | 35 | 39 | 1 | 76 | 0 |
| End | 36 | 38 | ||||
| Final voting share | 1.3% | 47.4% | 50.0% | 1.3% | ||
| Beginning of the next congress | 1 | 42 | 32 | 1 | 76 | 0 |
House of Representatives
| Party (shading shows control) |
Total | Vacant | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic (D) |
Independent Democratic (ID) | Independent | Independent Republican | Republican (R) | National Greenback | |||
| End of the previous congress | 183 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 100 | 0 | 291 | 1 |
| Begin | 151 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 141 | 0 | 293 | 0 |
| End | 154 | 136 | 291 | 2 | ||||
| Final voting share | 52.9% | 0.3% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 46.7% | 0.0% | ||
| Non-voting members | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| Beginning of the next congress | 145 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 131 | 11 | 292 | 1 |
Leadership
William A. Wheeler
Senate
House of Representatives
- Speaker: Samuel J. Randall (D)
Members
This list is arranged by chamber, then by state. Senators are listed in order of seniority, and Representatives are listed by district.
Senate
Senators were elected by the state legislatures every two years, with one-third beginning new six-year terms with each Congress. Preceding the names in the list below are Senate class numbers, which indicate the cycle of their election. In this Congress, Class 1 meant their term began in the last Congress, requiring reelection in 1880; Class 2 meant their term began in this Congress, requiring reelection in 1882; and Class 3 meant their term ended in this Congress, requiring reelection in 1878.
House of Representatives
The names of members of the House of Representatives are preceded by their district numbers.
Changes in membership
The count below reflects changes from the beginning of the first session of this Congress.
Senate
- replacements: 5
- Democratic: 1 seat net gain
- Republican: 1 seat net loss
- deaths: 2
- resignations: 3
- interim appointments: 1
- contested elections: 0
- Total seats with changes: 5
| State (class) |
Vacator | Reason for change | Successor | Date of successor's formal installation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ohio (3) | John Sherman (R) | Resigned March 8, 1877 to become U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. Successor elected March 21, 1877. |
Stanley Matthews (R) | March 21, 1877 |
| Pennsylvania (3) | Simon Cameron (R) | Resigned March 12, 1877. Successor elected March 20, 1877. |
J. Donald Cameron (R) | March 20, 1877 |
| Missouri (3) | Lewis V. Bogy (D) | Died September 20, 1877. Successor was appointed September 29, 1877 to continue the term. |
David H. Armstrong (D) | September 29, 1877 |
| Indiana (3) | Oliver P. Morton (R) | Died November 1, 1877. Successor elected January 31, 1879. |
Daniel W. Voorhees (D) | November 6, 1877 |
| Missouri (3) | David H. Armstrong (D) | Interim appointee retired. Successor elected January 26, 1879. |
James Shields (D) | January 27, 1879 |
| Michigan (1) | Isaac P. Christiancy (R) | Resigned February 10, 1879 due to ill health. Successor elected February 22, 1879. |
Zachariah Chandler (R) | February 22, 1879 |
House of Representatives
- replacements: 10
- Democratic: 5 seat net gain
- Republican: 5 seat net loss
- deaths: 7
- resignations: 1
- contested election: 5
- Total seats with changes: 13
| District | Vacator | Reason for change | Successor | Date successor seated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Georgia 9th | Vacant | Rep Benjamin Harvey Hill resigned in previous congress | Hiram P. Bell (D) | March 13, 1877 |
| Colorado At-large | James B. Belford (R) | Lost contested election December 13, 1877 | Thomas M. Patterson (D) | December 13, 1877 |
| California 4th | Romualdo Pacheco (R) | Lost contested election February 7, 1878 | Peter D. Wigginton (D) | February 7, 1878 |
| Louisiana 3rd | Chester B. Darrall (R) | Lost contested election February 20, 1878 | Joseph H. Acklen (D) | February 20, 1878 |
| Louisiana 5th | John E. Leonard (R) | Died March 15, 1878 | J. Smith Young (D) | November 5, 1878 |
| Massachusetts 3rd | Walbridge A. Field (R) | Lost contested election March 28, 1878 | Benjamin Dean (D) | March 28, 1878 |
| New York 16th | Terence J. Quinn (D) | Died June 18, 1878 | John M. Bailey (R) | November 5, 1878 |
| Nebraska At-large | Frank Welch (R) | Died September 4, 1878 | Thomas J. Majors (R) | November 5, 1878 |
| Michigan 1st | Alpheus S. Williams (D) | Died December 21, 1878 | Vacant | Not filled this term |
| Virginia 1st | Beverly B. Douglas (D) | Died December 22, 1878 | Richard L. T. Beale (D) | January 23, 1879 |
| Georgia 1st | Julian Hartridge (D) | Died January 8, 1879 | William B. Fleming (D) | February 10, 1879 |
| Texas 6th | Gustav Schleicher (D) | Died January 10, 1879 | Vacant | Not filled this term |
| Florida 2nd | Horatio Bisbee, Jr. (R) | Lost contested election February 20, 1879 | Jesse J. Finley (D) | February 20, 1879 |
Committees
Lists of committees and their party leaders.
Senate
- Agriculture
- Appropriations
- Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses of the Senate
- Civil Service and Retrenchment
- Claims
- Commerce
- Distributing Public Revenue Among the States (Select)
- District of Columbia
- Education and Labor
- Elections of 1878 (Select)
- Engrossed Bills
- Epidemic Diseases (Select)
- Examine the Several Branches in the Civil Service (Select)
- Finance
- Foreign Relations
- Hot Springs (Arkansas) Commission (Special)
- Indian Affairs
- Judiciary
- Late Presidential Election Louisiana
- Manufactures
- Mexican Relations (Select)
- Military Affairs
- Mines and Mining
- Mississippi River Levee System (Select)
- Naval Affairs
- Ordnance and War Ships (Select)
- Patents
- Pensions
- Post Office and Post Roads
- Private Land Claims
- Privileges and Elections
- Public Lands
- Railroads
- Revision of the Laws
- Revolutionary Claims
- Rules
- Tariff Regulation (Select)
- Tenth Census (Select)
- Territories
- Transportation Routes to the Seaboard (Select)
- Treasury Department Account Discrepancies (Select)
- Whole
House of Representatives
- Accounts
- Agriculture
- Appropriations
- Banking and Currency
- Claims
- Coinage, Weights and Measures
- Commerce
- District of Columbia
- Education and Labor
- Elections
- Enrolled Bills
- Expenditures in the Interior Department
- Expenditures in the Justice Department
- Expenditures in the Navy Department
- Expenditures in the Post Office Department
- Expenditures in the State Department
- Expenditures in the Treasury Department
- Expenditures in the War Department
- Expenditures on Public Buildings
- Foreign Affairs
- Indian Affairs
- Invalid Pensions
- Levees and Improvements of the Mississippi River
- Manufactures
- Mileage
- Military Affairs
- Militia
- Mines and Mining
- Mississippi Levees
- Naval Affairs
- Pacific Railroads
- Patents
- Post Office and Post Roads
- Public Buildings and Grounds
- Public Expenditures
- Public Lands
- Railways and Canals
- Revision of Laws
- Rules (Select)
- Standards of Official Conduct
- Territories
- War Claims
- Ways and Means
- Whole
Joint committees
- Conditions of Indian Tribes (Special)
- Reorganization of the Army
- Transfer of the Indian Bureau
Employees
- Architect of the Capitol: Edward Clark
- Librarian of Congress: Ainsworth Rand Spofford
- Public Printer of the United States: John D. Defrees
Senate
- Chaplain: Byron Sunderland (Presbyterian)
- Secretary: George C. Gorham
- Sergeant at Arms: John R. French
House of Representatives
- Chaplain: John Poise (Methodist)
- W. P. Harrison (Methodist), elected December 3, 1877
- Clerk: George M. Adams
- Clerk at the Speaker’s Table: William H. Scudder
- Doorkeeper: John W. Polk
- Postmaster: James M. Steuart
- Sergeant at Arms: John G. Thompson
See also
- United States elections, 1876 (elections leading to this Congress)
- United States elections, 1878 (elections during this Congress, leading to the next Congress)
References
- Martis, Kenneth C. (1989). The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
- Martis, Kenneth C. (1982). The Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
- 1 2 3 4 "Congress Profiles: 45th Congress (1877–1879)". Clerk of the United States House of Representatives. Retrieved June 5, 2015.
External links
- Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress
- U.S. House of Representatives: House History
- U.S. Senate: Statistics and Lists
- Congressional Directory for the 45th Congress, 1st Session.
- Congressional Directory for the 45th Congress, 2nd Session.
- Congressional Directory for the 45th Congress, 2nd Session (1st Revision).
- Congressional Directory for the 45th Congress, 2nd Session (2nd Revision).
- Congressional Directory for the 45th Congress, 3rd Session.