47th United States Congress
The 47th 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, 1881, to March 4, 1883, during the six months of James Garfield's presidency, and the first year and a half of Chester Arthur's presidency. The apportionment of seats in this House of Representatives was based on the 1870 United States census. The House had a Republican majority; the Senate was evenly divided for the first time ever, with no vice president to break ties for most of this term.
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: Chester A. Arthur, until September 19, 1881; vacant thereafter
- President pro tempore: Thomas F. Bayard, October 10, 1881 – October 13, 1881
- * David Davis, from October 13, 1881
- * George F. Edmunds, from March 3, 1883
- Democratic Caucus Chairman: George H. Pendleton
- Republican Conference Chairman: Henry B. Anthony
House of Representatives
- Speaker of the [United States House of Representatives|Speaker]: J. Warren Keifer
- Republican Conference Chairman: George M. Robeson
Major events
- March 4, 1881: James A. Garfield became President of the United States
- September 19, 1881: President Garfield died. Vice President Chester A. Arthur became President of the United States
Major legislation
- February 25, 1882: Apportionment of the Tenth Census, ch. 20,
- May 6, 1882: Chinese Exclusion Act,
- August 2, 1882: Passenger Act of 1882,
- August 2, 1882: Rivers and Harbors Act
- January 16, 1883: Pendleton [Civil Service Reform Act], ch. 27,
- March 3, 1883: Tariff of 1883 (Mongrel Tariff)
Members
This list is arranged by chamber, then by state. Senators are listed by class, 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.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
Names of 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 this Congress.Senate
- Deaths: 2
- Resignations: 8
- Interim appointments: 1
- Total replacements: 8
- * Democratic: no net change
- * Republican: no net change
- '''Total seats with changes: 10'''
House of Representatives
- Deaths: 6
- Resignations: 9
- Contested elections: 8
- Total replacements: 14
- * Democratic: 1 seat net gain
- * Republican: 1 seat net loss
- '''Total seats with changes: 22'''
Committees
Senate
- Additional Accommodations for the Library of Congress
- Agriculture
- Appropriations
- United States Senate [Committee to Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses of the Senate|Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses of the Senate]
- Cabinet Officers on the Floor of the Senate
- Civil Service and Retrenchment
- Claims
- Commerce
- Distilled Spirit Tax Bill
- Distributing Public Revenue Among the States
- District of Columbia
- United States Senate [Committee on Education and Labor|Education and Labor]
- Engrossed Bills
- Enrolled Bills
- Epidemic Diseases
- Examine the Several Branches in the Civil Service
- Finance
- Foreign Relations
- Indian Affairs
- Judiciary
- Manufactures
- Military Affairs
- Mines and Mining
- Mississippi River and its Tributaries
- Naval Affairs
- Nicaraguan Claims
- Ordnance and Gunnery
- Ordnance and Projectiles
- Ordnance and War Ships
- Patents
- Pensions
- Post Office and Post Roads
- Potomac River Front
- Private Land Claims
- Privileges and Elections
- Public Lands
- Railroads
- Revenue Collections in North Carolina
- Revision of the Laws
- Revolutionary Claims
- Rules
- Sioux and Crow Indians
- Tariff Regulation
- Tenth Census
- Territories
- Transportation Routes to the Seaboard
- Whole
- Woman Suffrage
House of Representatives
- Accounts
- Alcoholic Liquor Traffic
- 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
- 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
- Indian Affairs
- Invalid Pensions
- Judiciary
- Levees and Improvements of the Mississippi River
- Manufactures
- Memorial on Services Rendered by Carlisle P. Patterson
- 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
- Private Land Claims
- Railways and Canals
- Revision of Laws
- Rules
- United States House [Committee on Standards of Official Conduct|Standards of Official Conduct]
- Territories
- War Claims
- Ways and Means
- Whole (United States House of Representatives)|Whole]
Joint committees
- American Shipbuilding
- Budget Control
- Conditions of Indian Tribes
- Enrolled Bills
- The Library
- Printing
- Public Buildings and Grounds
- State, War and Navy Department Building
Caucuses
- Democratic Caucus|Democratic]
- Democratic
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: John D. Defrees, until 1882
- * Sterling P. Rounds, from 1882
Senate
- Secretary: John C. Burch, elected March 24, 1879, died July 28, 1881
- * Francis E. Shober,, elected October 25, 1881
- Librarian: P. J. Pierce
- Sergeant at Arms: Richard J. Bright
- Chaplain: Joseph J. Bullock
House of Representatives
- Clerk: George M. Adams, until December 5, 1881
- * Edward McPherson, from December 5, 1881
- Sergeant at Arms: John G. Thompson, until December 5, 1881
- * George W. Hooker, from December 5, 1881
- Doorkeeper: Walter P. Brownlow, elected December 5, 1881
- Postmaster: Henry Sherwood, elected December 5, 1881
- Clerk at the Speaker's Table: J. Guilford White
- * Michael Sullivan
- Clerk of the United States House of Representatives|Reading Clerks]: Charles N. Clisbee and Neill S. Brown Jr.
- Chaplain: William P. Harrison, until December 5, 1881
- * Frederick D. Power, from December 5, 1881