59th United States Congress
The 59th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1905, to March 4, 1907, during the fifth and sixth years of Theodore Roosevelt's presidency. The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the 1900 United States census. Both chambers had a Republican majority.
Major events
- March 4, 1905: President Theodore Roosevelt began his second term.
Major legislation
- May 28, 1906: Foreign Dredge Act of 1906
- June 8, 1906: Antiquities Act
- June 29, 1906: Hepburn Act
- June 30, 1906: Pure [Food and Drug Act of 1906], ch. 3915,
- June 30, 1906: Meat Inspection Act
- 1906: The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching chartered.
- March 2, 1907: Expatriation Act of 1907,
Leaders
Senate leadership
Presiding
- President: Charles W. Fairbanks
- President pro tempore: William P. Frye
- Republican Conference Chairman: William B. Allison
- Democratic Caucus Chair: Arthur Pue Gorman, until June 4, 1906
- * Joseph Clay Stiles Blackburn, afterwards
- Democratic Conference Secretary|Democratic Caucus Secretary]: Edward W. Carmack
House leadership
Presiding
- Speaker of the [United States House of Representatives|Speaker]: Joseph G. Cannon
Majority (Republican) leadership
- Majority Leader: Sereno E. Payne
- Majority Whip: James E. Watson
- Republican Conference Chair: William Peters Hepburn
Minority (Democratic) leadership
- Minority Leader: John Sharp Williams
- Minority Whip: James T. Lloyd
- Democratic Caucus Chairman: Robert Lee Henry
- Democratic Campaign Committee Chairman: James M. Griggs
Members
This list is arranged by chamber, then by state. Senators are listed by class, and representatives are listed by district.Senate
At this time, 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 2 meant their term ended with this Congress, requiring reelection in 1906; Class 3 meant their term began in the last Congress, requiring reelection in 1908; and Class 1 meant their term began in this Congress, requiring reelection in 1910.Georgia">List of United States senators from Georgia">Georgia
Maine">List of United States senators from Maine">Maine
Nebraska">List of United States senators from Nebraska">Nebraska
Oregon">List of United States senators from Oregon">Oregon
Vermont">List of United States senators from Vermont">Vermont
House of Representatives
Georgia">List of United States representatives from Georgia">Georgia
Maine">List of United States representatives from Maine">Maine
Nebraska">List of United States representatives from Nebraska">Nebraska
Oregon">List of United States representatives from Oregon">Oregon
Vermont">List of United States representatives from Vermont">Vermont
Changes in membership
The count below reflects changes from the beginning of the first session of this Congress.Senate
- Replacements: 8
- * Democratic: no net change
- * Republican: no net change
- Deaths: 5
- Resignations: 1
- Vacancies: 2Total seats with changes: 9
| State | Vacated by | Reason for vacancy | Subsequent | Date of successor's installation |
| Missouri | Vacant | Legislature had elected late. | William Warner | March 18, 1905 |
| Delaware | Vacant | Legislature had elected late. | Henry A. du Pont | June 13, 1906 |
| Tennessee | William B. Bate | Died March 9, 1905. Successor was elected. | James B. Frazier | March 21, 1905 |
| Connecticut | Orville H. Platt | Died April 21, 1905. Successor was appointed and subsequently elected. | Frank B. Brandegee | May 10, 1905 |
| Oregon | John H. Mitchell | Died December 8, 1905. Successor was appointed. | John M. Gearin | December 13, 1905 |
| Kansas | Joseph R. Burton | Resigned June 4, 1906, due to a conviction of corruption charges. Successor was appointed. | Alfred W. Benson | June 11, 1906 |
| Maryland | Arthur P. Gorman | Died June 4, 1906. Successor was appointed. | William P. Whyte | June 8, 1906 |
| Oregon | John M. Gearin | Successor was elected. | Frederick W. Mulkey | January 23, 1907 |
| Michigan | Russell A. Alger | Died January 24, 1907. Successor was elected. | William A. Smith | February 6, 1907 |
| Kansas | Alfred W. Benson | Successor was elected. | Charles Curtis | January 29, 1907 |
House of Representatives
- Replacements: 17
- * Democratic: no net change
- * Republican: no net change
- Deaths: 12
- Resignations: 11
- Contested elections: 1
- New seats: 1Total seats with changes: 26
Committees
Senate
- Additional Accommodations for the Library of Congress
- Agriculture and Forestry
- Appropriations
- United States Senate [Committee to Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses of the Senate|Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses of the Senate]
- Canadian Relations
- Census
- Civil Service and Retrenchment
- Claims
- Coast and Insular Survey
- Coast Defenses
- Commerce
- Corporations Organized in the District of Columbia
- Cuban Relations
- Distributing Public Revenue Among the States
- District of Columbia
- United States Senate [Committee on Education and Labor|Education and Labor]
- Engrossed Bills
- Enrolled Bills
- Establish a University in the United States
- Examination of Disposition of Documents
- Examine the Several Branches in the Civil Service
- Expenditures in Executive Departments
- Finance
- Fisheries
- Five Civilized Tribes of Indians
- Foreign Relations
- Forest Reservations and the Protection of Game
- Geological Survey
- Immigration
- Indian Affairs
- Indian Depredations
- Industrial Expositions
- Investigate the Condition of the Potomac River Front at Washington
- Indian Territory
- Interoceanic Canals
- Interstate Commerce
- Irrigation and Reclamation of Arid Lands
- Judiciary
- Library
- Manufactures
- Military Affairs
- Mines and Mining
- Mississippi River and its Tributaries
- National Banks
- Naval Affairs
- Organization, Conduct and Expenditures of the Executive Departments
- Pacific Islands and Puerto Rico
- Pacific Railroads
- Patents
- Pensions
- Philippines
- Post Office and Post Roads
- Potomac River Front
- Printing
- Private Land Claims
- Privileges and Elections
- Public Buildings and Grounds
- Public Health and National Quarantine
- Public Lands
- Railroads
- Revision of the Laws
- Revolutionary Claims
- Rules
- United States Senate Select [Committee on Standards, Weights and Measures|Standards, Weights and Measures]
- Tariff Regulation
- Territories
- Transportation and Sale of Meat Products
- Transportation Routes to the Seaboard
- Trespassers upon Indian Lands
- Ventilation and Acoustics
- Whole
- Woman Suffrage
House of Representatives
- Accounts
- Agriculture
- Alcoholic Liquor Traffic
- Appropriations
- Banking and Currency
- Census
- Claims
- Coinage, Weights and Measures
- Disposition of Executive Papers
- District of Columbia
- Education
- Election of the President, Vice President and Representatives in Congress
- Elections No.#1
- Elections No.#2
- Elections No.#3
- Enrolled Bills
- Agriculture Department|Expenditures in the Agriculture Department]
- Commerce Department|Expenditures in the Commerce and Labor Departments]
- Expenditures in the Interior Department
- Expenditures in the Justice Department
- United States House Committee on Expenditures [in the Navy 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
- Immigration and Naturalization|Immigration and Naturalization]
- Indian Affairs
- Industrial Arts and Expositions
- Insular Affairs
- Interstate and Foreign Commerce
- Invalid Pensions
- Irrigation of Arid Lands
- Judiciary
- Labor
- Levees and Improvements of the Mississippi River
- Library
- Manufactures
- Merchant Marine and Fisheries
- Mileage
- Military Affairs
- Militia
- Mines and Mining
- Naval Affairs
- Pacific Railroads
- Patents
- Pensions
- Post Office and Post Roads
- Printing
- Private Land Claims
- Public Buildings and Grounds
- Public Lands
- Railways and Canals
- Reform in the Civil Service
- Revision of Laws
- Rivers and Harbors
- Rules
- Standards of Official Conduct
- Territories
- Ventilation and Acoustics
- War Claims
- Ways and Means
- Whole (United States House of Representatives)|Whole]
Joint committees
- Conditions of Indian Tribes
- Disposition of (Useless) Executive Papers
- Revision of the Laws
- The Library
- Printing
- Second Class Mail Matter
Caucuses
Employees
Legislative branch agency">List of federal agencies in the United States#United States Congress">Legislative branch agency directors
- Architect of the Capitol: Elliott Woods
- Librarian of Congress: Herbert Putnam
- Public Printer of the United States: Francis W. Palmer, until 1905
- * Charles A. Stillings, from 1905
Senate
- Secretary: Charles G. Bennett
- Librarian: Edward C. Goodwin
- Sergeant at Arms: Daniel M. Ransdell
- Chaplain: The Rev. Edward E. Hale, Unitarian
House of Representatives
- Clerk: Alexander McDowell
- Sergeant at Arms: Henry Casson
- Doorkeeper: Frank B. Lyon
- Postmaster: Joseph C. McElroy
- Clerk at the Speaker's Table: Asher C. Hinds
- Clerk of the United States House of Representatives|Reading Clerks]: E.L. Sampson and Dennis E. Alward
- Chaplain: The Rev. Henry N. Couden, Universalist