The Forty-second 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, 1871 to March 4, 1873, during the third and fourth years of Ulysses S. Grant's presidency. The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the Eighth Census of the United States in 1860. Both chambers had a Republican majority.
June 10, 1871: U.S. Marines make naval attack on the Han River forts in Korea
March 1, 1872: Yellowstone National Park was established as the world's first national park
November 5, 1872: United States presidential election, 1872
April 20, 1871: Civil Rights Act of 1871
March 1, 1872: Yellowstone National Park founded
May 10, 1872: General Mining Act of 1872
May 23, 1872: Amnesty Act of 1872
June 1, 1872: Practice Conformity Act (precursor to the Rules Enabling Act), ch. 255, 17 Stat. 196
February 12, 1873: Coinage Act of 1873
March 3, 1873: Timber Culture Act
March 3, 1873: Comstock Act
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.
President: Schuyler Colfax (R)
President pro tempore: Henry B. Anthony (R)
Speaker: James G. Blaine (R)
Republican Conference Chair: Austin Blair
This list is arranged by chamber, then by state. Senators are listed in order of seniority, and Representatives are listed by district.
Skip to House of Representatives, below
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 re-election in 1874; Class 2 meant their term began in this Congress, requiring re-election in 1876; and Class 3 meant their term ended in this Congress, requiring re-election in 1872.
The names of members of the House of Representatives are preceded by their district numbers.
The count below reflects changes from the beginning of the first session of this Congress.
replacements: 0
Democratic: no net change
Republican: no net change
deaths: 0
resignations: 2
contested elections: 0
Total seats with changes: 4
replacements: 11
Democratic: 4 seat net gain
Republican: 4 seat net loss
Liberal Republican: 0 net change
deaths: 3
resignations: 6
contested election: 4
Total seats with changes: 16
Lists of committees and their party leaders.
Agriculture
Appropriations
Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses of the Senate
Claims
Commerce
Distributing Public Revenue Among the States (Select)
District of Columbia
Education and Labor
Evidence Affecting Certain members of the Senate (Select)
Finance
Foreign Relations
Indian Affairs
Investigation and Retrenchment
Judiciary
Manufactures
Military Affairs
Mines and Mining
Mississippi River Levee System (Select)
Naval Affairs
Ordnance Stores (Select)
Ordnance and War Ships (Select)
Outrages in Southern States (Select)
Pacific Railroad
Patents
Pensions
Post Office and Post Roads
Private Land Claims
Privileges and Elections
Public Lands
Publication of the Treaty of Washington (Select)
Removal of Political Disabilities (Select)
Retrenchment
Revision of the Laws
Revolutionary Claims
Rules (Select)
Sale of Arms to French Agents (Select)
Senator Pomeroy (Select)
Tariff Regulation (Select)
Territories
Transportation Routes to the Seaboard (Select)
Whole
Accounts
Agriculture
Appropriations
Banking and Currency
Claims
Coinage, Weights and Measures
Commerce
District of Columbia
Education and Labor
Elections
Expenditures in the Interior 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
Manufactures
Mileage
Military Affairs
Militia
Mines and Mining
Naval Affairs
Pacific Railroads
Patents
Post Office and Post Roads
Public Buildings and Grounds
Public Expenditures
Public Lands
Railways and Canals
Revision of Laws
Revolutionary Claims
Rules (Select)
Standards of Official Conduct
Territories
Ways and Means
Whole
Conditions of Indian Tribes (Special)
Enrolled Bills
Inquire into the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States
Architect of the Capitol: Edward Clark
Librarian of Congress: Ainsworth Rand Spofford
Chaplain: John P. Newman (Methodist)
Secretary: George C. Gorham of Massachusetts
Sergeant at Arms: John R. French
Chaplain: John G. Butler (Presbyterian)
Clerk: Edward McPherson
Clerk at the Speaker’s Table: John M. Barclay
Doorkeeper: Otis S. Buxton
Postmaster: William S. King
Sergeant at Arms: Nehemiah G. Ordway
