46th United States Congress
46th United States Congress | |
---|---|
45th ← → 47th | |
March 4, 1879 – March 4, 1881 | |
Members | 76 senators 293 representatives 8 non-voting delegates |
Senate majority | Democratic |
Senate President | William A. Wheeler (R) |
House majority | Democratic (coalition) |
House Speaker | Samuel J. Randall (D) |
Sessions | |
1st: March 18, 1879 – July 1, 1879 2nd: December 1, 1879 – June 16, 1880 3rd: December 6, 1880 – March 3, 1881 |
The Forty-sixth 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, 1879, to March 4, 1881, during the last two years of Rutherford Hayes's presidency.
The apportionment of seats in this House of Representatives was based on the Ninth Census of the United States in 1870. The Senate had a Democratic majority, while the House of Representatives had a Democratic plurality. The Democrats were still able to control the House, however, with the help of the Independent politicians who caucused with them.
Party summary
Senate
Party (shading shows control) |
Total | Vacant | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Anti- Monopoly (AM) |
Democratic (D) | Republican (R) | Independent (I) | Other |
|||
End of previous congress | 1 | 36 | 38 | 1 | 0 | 76 | 0 |
Begin | 1 | 42 | 31 | 1 | 0 | 75 | 1 |
End | |||||||
Final voting share | 1.3% | 56.0% | 41.3% | 1.3% | 0.0% | ||
Beginning of next congress | 0 | 37 | 36 | 1 | 1[a] | 75 | 1 |
House of Representatives
Party (shading shows control) |
Total | Vacant | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic (D) |
Independent Democratic (ID) | Independent (I) | National Greenback (NG) | Republican (R) |
|||
End of previous congress | 154 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 136 | 291 | 2 |
Begin | 145 | 4 | 1 | 11 | 131 | 292 | 1 |
End | 146 | 129 | 291 | 2 | |||
Final voting share | 50.2% | 1.4% | 0.3% | 3.8% | 44.3% | ||
Beginning of next congress | 128 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 151 | 291 | 0 |
Leadership
Senate
- President: William A. Wheeler (R)
- President pro tempore: Allen G. Thurman (D)
- Democratic Caucus Chairman: William A. Wallace
- Republican Conference Chairman: Henry B. Anthony
House of Representatives
- Speaker: Samuel J. Randall (D)
- Democratic Caucus Chairman: John Ford House
- Republican Conference Chair: William P. Frye
Major events
- Depression of 1873–79
- March 18, 1879: Samuel J. Randall was elected in one of the most tightly fought contests for the speakership after the Civil War. Randall, who favored the protective tariff and "hard money," drew his greatest strength from northern cities and greatest opposition from the west and south. The midterm elections of 1878 had gone badly for the Democrats, with the Greenback Party making inroads in key districts. This emboldened Randall's opponents, who rallied to the support of Joseph Blackburn from Kentucky. In the end, Randall prevailed in the Democratic caucus to receive the nomination, with 75 votes to Blackburn's 57 and a scattering of 9 votes to three other candidates. Blackburn, in moving to make Randall's nomination unanimous, steered his supporters away from the nomination of Hendrick B. Wright, a Democrat from Pennsylvania who was nominated by the Greenbacks. In the eventual vote in the House to elect the Speaker, Randall prevailed with 144 votes, to 125 for James Garfield (Republican from Ohio), 13 for Wright, and one for William "Pig Iron" Kelley (Pennsylvania).
- November 2, 1880: U.S. presidential election, 1880: James Garfield (R) defeated Winfield S. Hancock (D)
- February 19, 1881: Kansas became the first state to prohibit alcohol.
Major legislation
Members
This list is arranged by chamber, then by state. Senators are listed by class, and Representatives are listed by district.
Senate
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 ended with this Congress, requiring re-election in 1880; Class 2 meant their term began in the last Congress, requiring re-election in 1882; and Class 3 meant their term began in this Congress, requiring re-election in 1884.
House of Representatives
The names of members 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: 4
- Democratic: no net change
- Republican: no net change
- deaths: 3
- resignations: 1
- interim appointments: 2
- Total seats with changes: 5
Template:Ordinal US Congress Senate
|-
| New Hampshire (3)
| Vacant
| Legislature had failed to elect.
An interim successor was appointed March 13, 1879.
| nowrap style="background-color:#FFB6B6" | Charles H. Bell (R)
| March 13, 1879
|- | New Hampshire (3) | nowrap style="background-color:#FFB6B6" | Charles H. Bell (R) | Successor elected June 18, 1879, but did not begin service until June 20, 1879, for unknown reasons. | nowrap style="background-color:#FFB6B6" | Henry W. Blair (R) | June 20, 1879
|-
| Michigan (1)
| nowrap style="background-color:#FFB6B6" | Zachariah Chandler (R)
| Died November 1, 1879.
Successor appointed November 17, 1879, to continue the term.
Appointee was elected January 19, 1881, to finish the term.
| nowrap style="background-color:#FFB6B6" | Henry P. Baldwin (R)
| November 17, 1879
|-
| Alabama (3)
| nowrap style="background-color:#B0CEFF" | George S. Houston (D)
| Died December 31, 1879.
Successor appointed January 7, 1880, to continue the term.
| nowrap style="background-color:#B0CEFF" | Luke Pryor (D)
| January 7, 1880
|-
| Georgia (3)
| nowrap style="background-color:#B0CEFF" | John B. Gordon (D)
| Resigned May 26, 1880, to promote building of the Georgia Pacific Railway.
Successor elected May 26, 1880.
| nowrap style="background-color:#B0CEFF" | Joseph E. Brown (D)
| May 26, 1880
|- | Alabama (3) | nowrap style="background-color:#B0CEFF" | Luke Pryor (D) | Successor elected November 23, 1880. | nowrap style="background-color:#B0CEFF" | James L. Pugh (D) | November 24, 1880
|- | Wisconsin (3) | nowrap style="background-color:#FFB6B6" | Matthew H. Carpenter (R) | Died February 24, 1881. | Vacant | Not filled this term
|}
House of Representatives
- replacements: 8
- Democratic: 1 seat net gain
- Republican: 1 seat net loss
- deaths: 4
- resignations: 3
- contested election: 2
- Total seats with changes: 11
Template:Ordinal US Congress Rep
|- | Texas 6th | Vacant | Rep. Gustav Schleicher died during previous congress | nowrap style="background-color:#B0CEFF" | Christopher C. Upson (D) | April 15, 1879
|- | New York 12th | Vacant | Rep.-elect Alexander Smith died during previous congress | nowrap style="background-color:#B0CEFF" | Waldo Hutchins (D) | November 4, 1879
|- | Iowa 5th | nowrap style="background-color:#FFB6B6" | Rush Clark (R) | Died April 29, 1879 | nowrap style="background-color:#FFB6B6" | William G. Thompson (R) | October 14, 1879
|- | Missouri 7th | nowrap style="background-color:#B0CEFF" | Alfred M. Lay (D) | Died December 8, 1879 | nowrap style="background-color:#B0CEFF" | John F. Philips (D) | January 10, 1880
|- | New York 32nd | nowrap style="background-color:#FFB6B6" | Ray V. Pierce (R) | Resigned September 18, 1880 | nowrap style="background-color:#B0CEFF" | Jonathan Scoville (D) | November 12, 1880
|- | Alabama 6th | nowrap style="background-color:#B0CEFF" | Burwell B. Lewis (D) | Resigned October 1, 1880, to accept presidency of the University of Alabama | nowrap style="background-color:#B0CEFF" | Newton N. Clements (D) | December 8, 1880
|- | Ohio 19th | nowrap style="background-color:#FFB6B6" | James A. Garfield (R) | Resigned November 8, 1880 | nowrap style="background-color:#FFB6B6" | Ezra B. Taylor (R) | December 13, 1880
|- | New Hampshire 3rd | nowrap style="background-color:#FFB6B6" | Evarts W. Farr (R) | Died November 30, 1880 | nowrap style="background-color:#FFB6B6" | Ossian Ray (R) | January 8, 1881
|- | Florida 2nd | nowrap style="background-color:#B0CEFF" | Noble A. Hull (D) | Lost contested election January 22, 1881 | nowrap style="background-color:#FFB6B6" | Horatio Bisbee, Jr. (R) | January 22, 1881
|- | North Carolina 1st | nowrap style="background-color:#FFB6B6" | Joseph J. Martin (R) | Lost contested election January 29, 1881 | nowrap style="background-color:#B0CEFF" | Jesse J. Yeates (D) | January 29, 1881
|- | New York 9th | nowrap style="background-color:#B0CEFF" | Fernando Wood (D) | Died February 14, 1881 | Vacant | Not filled this term
|- | Michigan 7th | nowrap style="background-color:#FFB6B6" | Omar D. Conger (R) | Resigned March 3, 1881, after being elected to the US Senate | Vacant | Not filled this term |}
Committees
Lists of committees and their party leaders, for members (House and Senate) of the committees and their assignments, go into the Official Congressional Directory at the bottom of the article and click on the link (3 links), in the directory after the pages of terms of service, you will see the committees of the Senate, House (Standing with Subcommittees, Select and Special) and Joint and after the committee pages, you will see the House/Senate committee assignments in the directory, on the committees section of the House and Senate in the Official Congressional Directory, the committee's members on the first row on the left side shows the chairman of the committee and on the right side shows the ranking member of the committee.
Senate
- Additional Accommodations for the Library of Congress (Select)
- Agriculture
- Appropriations
- Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses of the Senate
- Cabinet Officers on the Floor of the Senate (Select)
- Civil Service and Retrenchment
- Claims
- Commerce
- Distributing Public Revenue Among the States (Select)
- District of Columbia
- Education and Labor
- Elections of 1878 (Select)
- Emigration of Negroes from the South to North (Select)
- Engrossed Bills
- Enrolled Bills
- Epidemic Diseases (Select)
- Examine the Several Branches in the Civil Service (Select)
- Finance
- Foreign Relations
- Freedman's Savings and Trust Company (Select)
- Indian Affairs
- Indian Territory (Select)
- Manufactures
- Military Affairs
- Mines and Mining
- Mississippi River and its Tributaries (Select)
- Naval Affairs
- Nicaraguan Claims (Select)
- Ordnance and War Ships (Select)
- Patents
- Pensions
- Plueropneumonia among Animals (Select)
- 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
- Alcoholic Liquor Traffic (Select)
- 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
- Judiciary
- Levees and Improvements of the Mississippi River
- Manufactures
- Mileage
- Military Affairs
- Militia
- Mines and Mining
- Naval Affairs
- Pacific Railroads
- Patents
- Pensions
- 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
- Budget Control
- Conditions of Indian Tribes (Special)
Caucuses
- Democratic (House)
- Democratic (Senate)
Employees
- Architect of the Capitol: Edward Clark
- Librarian of Congress: Ainsworth Rand Spofford
- Public Printer of the United States: John D. Defrees
Senate
- Secretary: George C. Gorham
- John C. Burch elected March 24, 1879
- Sergeant at Arms: John R. French
- Richard J. Bright, elected March 23, 1879
- Chaplain: Joseph J. Bullock (Presbyterian)
House of Representatives
- Clerk: George M. Adams
- Sergeant at Arms: John G. Thompson
- Doorkeeper: Charles W. Field
- Postmaster: James M. Steuart
- Clerk at the Speaker’s Table: J. Randolph Tucker, Jr.
- Reading Clerks: [data missing]
- Chaplain: W.P. Harrison (Methodist)
See also
- United States elections, 1878 (elections leading to this Congress)
- United States elections, 1880 (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.
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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 46th Congress, 1st Session.
- Congressional Directory for the 46th Congress, 2nd Session.
- Congressional Directory for the 46th Congress, 2nd Session (Revision).
- Congressional Directory for the 46th Congress, 3rd Session.
- Congressional Directory for the 46th Congress, 3rd Session (Revision).
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