45th United States Congress
44th ←
→ 46th
United States Capitol (1877)
March 4, 1877 – March 4, 1879
Members76 senators
293 representatives
8 non-voting delegates
Senate majorityRepublican
Senate PresidentWilliam A. Wheeler (R)
House majorityDemocratic
House SpeakerSamuel 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 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.

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

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

Major legislation

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 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

House of Representatives

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 2912
Final voting share 52.6% 0.7% 0.0% 0.0% 46.7% 0.0%
Non-voting members 3 00050 8 0
Beginning of next congress 145 4 1 0 131 11 292 1

Leadership

President of the Senate
William A. Wheeler

Senate

House of Representatives

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.

Skip to House of Representatives, below

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
  • Deaths: 2
  • Resignations: 3
  • Interim appointments: 1
  • Contested elections: 0
  • Total seats with changes: 5
Senate changes
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

House of Representatives

  • Replacements: 10
  • Deaths: 7
  • Resignations: 1
  • Contested election: 5
  • Total seats with changes: 13
House changes
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

Committees

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.

Senate

House of Representatives

Joint committees

Caucuses

Employees

Legislative branch agency directors

Senate

House of Representatives

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 When seated or oath administered, not necessarily when service began.

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.
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