45th United States Congress
1877-1879 U.S. Congress From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1877-1879 U.S. Congress From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 45th 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 1870 United States census. The Senate had a Republican majority, and the House had a Democratic majority.
| 45th United States Congress | |
|---|---|
44th ← → 46th | |
United States Capitol (1877) | |
March 4, 1877 – March 4, 1879 | |
| Members | 76 senators 293 representatives 8 non-voting delegates |
| Senate majority | Republican |
| Senate President | William A. Wheeler (R) |
| House majority | Democratic |
| House Speaker | Samuel J. Randall (D) |
| Sessions | |
| Special: March 5, 1877 – March 17, 1877 1st: October 15, 1877 – December 3, 1877 2nd: December 3, 1877 – June 20, 1878 3rd: December 2, 1878 – March 3, 1879 | |
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]
| House seats by party holding plurality in state | |
|---|---|
80+% Democratic |
80+% Republican |
60+ to 80% Democratic |
60+ to 80% Republican |
Up to 60% Democratic |
Up to 60% Republican |
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.
| Party (shading shows control) |
Total | Vacant | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anti- Monopoly (AM) |
Democratic (D) | Republican (R) | Independent (I) | |||
| End of previous congress | 1 | 30 | 45 | 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 next congress | 1 | 42 | 32 | 1 | 76 | 0 |
| Party (shading shows control) |
Total | Vacant | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic (D) |
Independent Democratic (ID) | Independent | Independent Republican | Republican (R) | Greenback | |||
| End of previous congress | 183 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 100 | 0 | 291 | 1 |
| Begin | 149 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 141 | 0 | 292 | 1 |
| End | 153 | 136 | 291 | 2 | ||||
| Final voting share | 52.6% | 0.7% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 46.7% | 0.0% | ||
| Non-voting members | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| Beginning of next congress | 145 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 131 | 11 | 292 | 1 |
This list is arranged by chamber, then by state. Senators are listed in order of seniority, and representatives are listed by district.
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.
The names of members of the House of Representatives are preceded by their district numbers.
The count below reflects changes from the beginning of the first session of this Congress.
| State (class) |
Vacated by | Reason for change | Successor | Date of successor's formal installation[lower-alpha 1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| District | Vacated by | Reason for change | Successor | Date of successor's formal installation[lower-alpha 1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
Lists of committees and their party leaders for members of the House and Senate committees can be found through the Official Congressional Directory at the bottom of this article. The directory after the pages of terms of service lists committees of the Senate, House (Standing with Subcommittees, Select and Special) and Joint and, after that, House/Senate committee assignments. 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.
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