43rd United States Congress
The 43rd 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, 1873, to March 4, 1875, during the fifth and sixth years of Ulysses S. Grant's presidency.
The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the 1870 [United States census].
Both chambers had a Republican majority. This is the last time Republicans held a 2/3 majority in the Senate.
Major events
- September 18, 1873: New York stock market crash triggered the Panic of 1873, part of the Long Depression
- November 4, 1874: House of Representatives elections, 1874">United States House of Representatives">House of Representatives elections, 1874 -Democrats regained control of the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time since 1860
- November 25, 1874: United States Greenback Party established as a political party, made primarily of farmers financially hurt by the Panic of 1873
Major legislation
- June 22, 1874: Revised Statutes of the United States
- June 23, 1874: Poland Act,
- January 14, 1875: Specie Payment Resumption Act ch. 15,
- March 1, 1875: Civil Rights Act of 1875,
- March 3, 1875: Tariff of 1875
- March 3, 1875: Page Act of 1875,
Treaties
- March 18, 1874: Hawaii signed a treaty with the United States granting exclusive trading rights.
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.House of Representatives
Before this Congress, the 1870 United States census and resulting reapportionment changed the size of the House to 292 members.Leadership
Senate
- President: Henry Wilson
- President pro tempore: Matthew H. Carpenter
- * Henry B. Anthony, elected January 25, 1875.
House of Representatives
- Speaker: James G. Blaine
- Republican Conference Chairman: Horace Maynard
- Democratic Caucus Chairman: William E. Niblack
Members
This list is arranged by chamber, then by state. Senators are listed by class and Members of the House 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 ended with this Congress, facing re-election in 1874; class 2 meant their term began in the last Congress, facing re-election in 1876; and class 3 meant their term began in this Congress, facing re-election in 1878.Illinois">List of United States senators from Illinois">Illinois
Massachusetts">List of United States senators from Massachusetts">Massachusetts
New Jersey">List of United States senators from New Jersey">New Jersey
Tennessee">List of United States senators from Tennessee">Tennessee
House of Representatives
The names of representatives are preceded by their district numbers.Illinois">List of United States representatives from Illinois">Illinois
Massachusetts">List of United States representatives from Massachusetts">Massachusetts
New Jersey">List of United States representatives from New Jersey">New Jersey
Tennessee">List of United States representatives from Tennessee">Tennessee
Changes in membership
The count below reflects changes from the beginning of the first session of this Congress.Senate
- Replacements: 5
- * Democratic: 1 seat net gain
- * Republican: no net change
- * Liberal Republican: 1 seat net loss
- Deaths: 3
- Resignations: 3
- Interim appointments: 1
- Vacancy: 1
- '''Total seats with changes: 7'''
House of Representatives
- Replacements: 15
- * Democratic: 3 seat net gain
- * Republican: 4 seat net loss
- * Liberal Republican: 1 seat net gain
- Deaths: 8
- Resignations: 5
- Contested election: 4
- '''Total seats with changes: 19'''
Committees
Senate
- Agriculture
- 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
- Finance
- Foreign Relations
- Indian Affairs
- Judiciary
- Manufactures
- Military Affairs
- Mines and Mining
- Mississippi River Levee System
- Naval Affairs
- Ordnance and War Ships
- Outrages in Southern States
- Patents
- Pensions
- Post Office and Post Roads
- Private Land Claims
- Privileges and Elections
- Public Buildings and Grounds
- Public Lands
- Railroads
- Removal of Political Disabilities
- Retrenchment
- Revision of the Laws
- Revolutionary Claims
- Rules
- Tariff Regulation
- Territories
- Transportation Routes to the Seaboard
- Whole
House of Representatives
- Accounts
- Agriculture
- Appropriations
- Alabama Affairs
- Arkansas Affairs
- Banking and Currency
- Claims
- Coinage, Weights and Measures
- Commerce
- District of Columbia
- Education and Labor
- Elections
- 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
- Freedmen's Affairs
- Foreign Affairs
- Indian Affairs
- Invalid Pensions
- Judiciary
- Manufactures
- Mileage
- Military Affairs
- Militia
- Mines and Mining
- Naval Affairs
- Pacific Railroads
- Patents
- Post Office and Post Roads
- Private Land Claims
- Public Buildings and Grounds
- Public Expenditures
- Public Lands
- Railways and Canals
- Reform on Civil Service
- Revision of Laws
- Revolutionary Pensions and War of 1812
- Rules
- Standards of Official Conduct
- Territories
- War Claims
- Ways and Means
- Whole
Joint committees
- Conditions of Indian Tribes
- Enrolled Bills
- Inquire into the Affairs of the District of Columbia
- The Library
- Printing
Caucuses
Employees
Legislative branch agency">List of federal agencies in the United States#United States Congress">Legislative branch agency directors
Senate
- Chaplain: John P. Newman, until December 8, 1873
- * Byron Sunderland, elected December 8, 1873
- Librarian: George S. Wagner
- Secretary: George C. Gorham
- Sergeant at Arms: John R. French