The Forty-third 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 Grant's presidency . The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the Ninth Census of the United States in 1870. Both chambers had a Republican majority.
September 18, 1873: New York stock market crash triggered the Panic of 1873, part of the Long Depression
November 4, 1874: United States 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
June 23, 1874: Poland Act, 18 Stat. 253
January 14, 1875: Specie Payment Resumption Act ch. 15, 18 Stat. 296
March 1, 1875: Civil Rights Act of 1875, (Butler-Sumner Act) 18 Stat. 335
March 3, 1875: Tariff of 1875
March 3, 1875: Page Act of 1875, 18 Stat. 477
March 18, 1874: Hawaii signed a treaty with the United States granting exclusive trading rights.
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.
Before this Congress, the 1870 United States Census and resulting reapportionment changed the size of the House to 292 members.
President: Henry Wilson (R)
President pro tempore: Matthew H. Carpenter (R)
Henry B. Anthony (R), elected January 25, 1875.
Speaker: James G. Blaine (R)
Republican Conference Chair: Horace Maynard
Democratic Caucus Chairman: William E. Niblack
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 ended with this Congress, requiring reelection in 1874; Class 2 meant their term began in the last Congress, requiring reelection in 1876; and Class 3 meant their term began in this Congress, requiring reelection in 1878.
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: 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
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
Lists of committees and their party leaders.
Agriculture
Appropriations
Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses of the Senate
Civil Service and Retrenchment
Claims
Commerce
Distributing Public Revenue Among the States (Select)
District of Columbia
Education and Labor
Finance
Foreign Relations
Indian Affairs
Judiciary
Manufactures
Military Affairs
Mines and Mining
Mississippi River Levee System (Select)
Naval Affairs
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
Railroads
Removal of Political Disabilities (Select)
Retrenchment
Revision of the Laws
Revolutionary Claims
Rules (Select)
Tariff Regulation (Select)
Territories
Transportation Routes to the Seaboard (Select)
Whole
Accounts
Agriculture
Appropriations
Alabama Affairs (Select)
Arkansas Affairs (Select)
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
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
Rules (Select)
Standards of Official Conduct
Territories
War Claims
Ways and Means
Whole
Conditions of Indian Tribes (Special)
Enrolled Bills
Inquire into the Affairs of the District of Columbia
Architect of the Capitol: Edward Clark
Librarian of Congress: Ainsworth Rand Spofford
Chaplain: John P. Newman (Methodist)
Byron Sunderland (Presbyterian), elected December 8, 1873
Secretary: George C. Gorham
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: Henry Sherwood
Sergeant at Arms: Nehemiah G. Ordway
