The Forty-sixth 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, 1879 to March 4, 1881, during the last two years of the administration of U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes.
The apportionment of seats in this House of Representatives was based on the Ninth Census of the United States in 1870. The Senate had a Democratic majority, while the House of Representatives had a Democratic plurality. The Democrats were still able to control the House, however, with the help of the Independent politicians who caucused with them.
President: William A. Wheeler (R)
President pro tempore: Allen G. Thurman (D)
Democratic Caucus Chairman: William A. Wallace
Republican Conference Chairman: Henry B. Anthony
Speaker: Samuel J. Randall (D)
Democratic Caucus Chairman: John Ford House
Republican Conference Chair: William P. Frye
Depression of 1873–79
March 18, 1879: Samuel J. Randall was elected in one of the most tightly fought contests for the speakership after the Civil War. Randall, who favored the protective tariff and "hard money," drew his greatest strength from northern cities and greatest opposition from the west and south. The midterm elections of 1878 had gone badly for the Democrats, with the Greenback Party making inroads in key districts. This emboldened Randall's opponents, who rallied to the support of Joseph Blackburn from Kentucky. In the end, Randall prevailed in the Democratic caucus to receive the nomination, with 75 votes to Blackburn's 57 and a scattering of 9 votes to three other candidates. Blackburn, in moving to make Randall's nomination unanimous, steered his supporters away from the nomination of Hendrick B. Wright, a Democrat from Pennsylvania who was nominated by the Greenbacks. In the eventual vote in the House to elect the Speaker, Randall prevailed with 144 votes, to 125 for James Garfield (Republican from Ohio), 13 for Wright, and one for William "Pig Iron" Kelley (Pennsylvania).
November 2, 1880: U.S. presidential election, 1880: James Garfield (R) defeated Winfield S. Hancock (D)
February 19, 1881: Kansas became the first state to prohibit alcohol.
[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
This list is arranged by chamber, then by state. Senators are listed by class, and Representatives are listed by district.
Skip to House of Representatives, below
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 re-election in 1880; Class 2 meant their term began in the last Congress, requiring re-election in 1882; and Class 3 meant their term began in this Congress, requiring re-election in 1884.
The names of members are preceded by their district numbers.
The count below reflects changes from the beginning of the first session of this Congress.
replacements: 4
Democratic: no net change
Republican: no net change
deaths: 3
resignations: 1
interim appointments: 2
Total seats with changes: 5
replacements: 8
Democratic: 1 seat net gain
Republican: 1 seat net loss
deaths: 4
resignations: 3
contested election: 2
Total seats with changes: 11
Lists of committees and their party leaders.
Additional Accommodations for the Library of Congress (Select)
Agriculture
Appropriations
Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses of the Senate
Cabinet Officers on the Floor of the Senate (Select)
Civil Service and Retrenchment
Claims
Commerce
Distributing Public Revenue Among the States (Select)
District of Columbia
Education and Labor
Elections of 1878 (Select)
Emigration of Negroes from the South to North (Select)
Engrossed Bills
Enrolled Bills
Epidemic Diseases (Select)
Examine the Several Branches in the Civil Service (Select)
Finance
Foreign Relations
Freedman's Savings and Trust Company (Select)
Indian Affairs
Indian Territory (Select)
Manufactures
Military Affairs
Mines and Mining
Mississippi River and its Tributaries (Select)
Naval Affairs
Nicaraguan Claims (Select)
Ordnance and War Ships (Select)
Patents
Pensions
Plueropneumonia among Animals (Select)
Post Office and Post Roads
Private Land Claims
Privileges and Elections
Public Lands
Railroads
Revision of the Laws
Revolutionary Claims
Rules
Tariff Regulation (Select)
Tenth Census (Select)
Territories
Transportation Routes to the Seaboard (Select)
Treasury Department Account Discrepancies (Select)
Whole
Accounts
Alcoholic Liquor Traffic (Select)
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
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
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
Railways and Canals
Revision of Laws
Rules (Select)
Standards of Official Conduct
Territories
War Claims
Ways and Means
Whole
Budget Control
Conditions of Indian Tribes (Special)
Architect of the Capitol: Edward Clark
Librarian of Congress: Ainsworth Rand Spofford
Public Printer of the United States: John D. Defrees
Secretary: George C. Gorham
John C. Burch elected March 24, 1879
Sergeant at Arms: John R. French
Richard J. Bright, elected March 23, 1879
Chaplain: Joseph J. Bullock (Presbyterian)
Clerk: George M. Adams
Sergeant at Arms: John G. Thompson
Doorkeeper: Charles W. Field
Postmaster: James M. Steuart
Clerk at the Speaker’s Table: J. Randolph Tucker, Jr.
George P. Miller
Michael Sullivan
Chaplain: W.P. Harrison (Methodist)
