48th United States Congress
The 48th 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, 1883, to March 4, 1885, during the last two years of Chester A. Arthur's presidency. The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the 1880 [United States census]. The Senate had a Republican majority, and the House had a Democratic majority.
Major events
- September 5, 1883: Mary F. Hoyt became the first woman appointed to the U.S. federal civil service when she became a clerk in the Bank Redemption Agency of the Department of the Treasury.
- October 15, 1883: The Supreme Court of the United States declared part of the Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional, as the Court allowed private individuals and corporations to discriminate based on race.
- November 18, 1883: U.S. and Canadian railroads instituted 5 standard continental time zones, ending the confusion of thousands of local times.
- August 10, 1884: An earthquake measuring 5.5 affected a very large portion of the eastern United States. The shock had a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII. Chimneys were toppled in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. Property damage was severe in Jamaica and Amityville in New York.
- October 6, 1884: The United States Naval War College was established in Newport, Rhode Island.
- October 22, 1884: International Meridian Conference in Washington, D.C., fixed the Greenwich meridian as the world's prime meridian.
- November 4, 1884: 1884 United States presidential election: Democratic governor of New York Grover Cleveland defeated Republican James G. Blaine in a very close contest to win the first of his non-consecutive terms.
- December 6: 1884: The Washington Monument was completed.
Territories organized
- May 17, 1884: District of Alaska was organized.
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.Leadership
Senate
- President of [the United States Senate|President]: Vacant. Chester Arthur, the most recent Senate president, had become U.S. president on the death of his predecessor September 19, 1881, leaving the office vacant through the end of this Congress.
- President pro tempore: George F. Edmunds
- Republican Conference Chairman: John Sherman
- Democratic Caucus Chairman: George H. Pendleton
House of Representatives
- Speaker: John G. Carlisle
- Democratic Caucus Chairman: George W. Geddes
- Republican Conference Chairman: Joseph Gurney Cannon
- Democratic Campaign Committee Chairman: William Rosecrans
Members
This list is arranged by chamber, then by state.Senate
Senators are listed by their states and Senate class numbers, which indicate the cycle of their election.Georgia">List of United States senators from Georgia">Georgia
Maryland">List of United States senators from Maryland">Maryland
New Hampshire">List of United States senators from New Hampshire">New Hampshire
South Carolina">List of United States senators from South Carolina">South Carolina
House of Representatives
Representatives are preceded by their district numbers.Georgia">List of United States representatives from Georgia">Georgia
Maryland">List of United States representatives from Maryland">Maryland
New Hampshire">List of United States representatives from New Hampshire">New Hampshire
South Carolina">List of United States representatives from South Carolina">South Carolina
Changes in membership
The count below reflects changes from the beginning of the first session of this Congress.Senate
- Replacements: 1
- * Democratic: no net change
- * Republican: 1 seat net gain
- * Liberal Republican: 1 seat net loss
- Deaths: 1
- Resignations: 0
- Interim appointment: 1
- Late election: 1
- '''Total seats with changes: 3'''
House of Representatives
- Replacements: 15
- * Democratic: 1 seat net gain
- * Republican: 1 seat net loss
- * National Greenback: 1 seat net gain
- Deaths: 9
- Resignations: 9
- Contested election: 8
- '''Total seats with changes: 25'''
Committees
Senate
- Additional Accommodations for the Library of Congress
- Agriculture and Forestry
- Appropriations
- Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses of the Senate
- Civil Service and Retrenchment
- Claims
- Commerce
- Distributing Public Revenue Among the States
- District of Columbia
- Education and Labor
- Engrossed Bills
- Enrolled Bills
- Epidemic Diseases
- Examine the Several Branches in the Civil Service
- Expenditures of Public Money
- Finance
- Fisheries
- Foreign Relations
- Indian Affairs
- Judiciary
- Library
- Manufactures
- Military Affairs
- Mines and Mining
- Mississippi River and its Tributaries
- Naval Affairs
- Nicaraguan Claims
- Ordnance and War Ships
- Patents
- Pensions
- Post Office and Post Roads
- Potomac River Front
- Printing
- Private Land Claims
- Privileges and Elections
- Public Buildings and Grounds
- Public Lands
- Railroads
- Revision of the Laws
- Revolutionary Claims
- Rules
- Sioux and Crow Indians
- Steel Producing Capacity of the United States
- Tariff Regulation
- Tenth Census
- Territories
- Transportation Routes to the Seaboard
- Whole
- Woman Suffrage
House of Representatives
- Accounts
- Agriculture
- Alcoholic Liquor Traffic
- American Ship building
- Appropriations
- Banking and Currency
- Boynton Investigation
- Claims
- Coinage, Weights and Measures
- Commerce
- District of Columbia
- Education
- 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
- Labor
- 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
- Private Land Claims
- Public Buildings and Grounds
- Public Lands
- Railways and Canals
- Revision of Laws
- Rivers and Harbors
- Rules
- Standards of Official Conduct
- Territories
- War Claims
- Ways and Means
- Whole
Joint committees
- Conditions of Indian Tribes
- Enrolled Bills
- The Library
- Printing
- Public Buildings and Grounds
- Scientific Bureaus
Caucuses
Employees
Legislative branch agency">List of federal agencies in the United States#United States Congress">Legislative branch agency directors
- Architect of the Capitol: Edward Clark
- Librarian of Congress: Ainsworth Rand Spofford
- Public Printer of the United States: Sterling P. Rounds
Senate
- Chaplain: Joseph J. Bullock, to December 18, 1883
- * Elias D. Huntley, from December 18, 1883
- Librarian: P. J. Pierce, to 1884
- * George M. Weston, from 1884
- Secretary: Francis E. Shober, to December 18, 1883
- * Anson G. McCook, from December 18, 1883
- Sergeant at Arms: Richard J. Bright, to December 18, 1883
- * William P. Canady, from December 18, 1883
House of Representatives
- Chaplain: Frederick D. Power, until December 3, 1883
- * John S. Lindsay, elected December 3, 1883
- Clerk: John B. Clark Jr., elected December 3, 1883
- Clerk at the Speaker's Table: Nathaniel T. Crutchfield
- Doorkeeper: James G. Wintersmith, elected December 3, 1883
- Postmaster: Lycurgus Dalton, elected December 3, 1883
- Reading Clerks: T.O. Walker and Neill S. Brown Jr.
- Sergeant at Arms: George W. Hooker, until December 4, 1883
- * John P. Leedom, until December 4, 1883