The Forty-seventh 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 administration of U.S. President James A. Garfield, and the first year of the administration of his successor, U.S. President Chester A. Arthur. The apportionment of seats in this House of Representatives was based on the Ninth Census of the United States in 1870. The House had a Republican majority; the Senate was evenly divided (The Great Senate Deadlock of 1881).
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.
(R)
President: Chester A. Arthur (R), until September 19, 1881; vacant thereafter
President pro tempore: Thomas F. Bayard (D), October 10, 1881 – October 13, 1881
David Davis (I), from October 13, 1881
George F. Edmunds (R), from March 3, 1883
Democratic Caucus Chairman: George H. Pendleton
Republican Conference Chairman: Henry B. Anthony
Speaker: J. Warren Keifer (R)
Republican Conference Chair: George M. Robeson
March 4, 1881: James A. Garfield became President of the United States
September 19, 1881: Chester A. Arthur became President of the United States
February 25, 1882: Apportionment of the Tenth Census, ch. 20, 22 Stat. 5
May 6, 1882: Chinese Exclusion Act, 22 Stat. 58
August 2, 1882: Rivers and Harbors Act
January 16, 1883: Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, ch. 27, 22 Stat. 403
March 3, 1883: Tariff of 1883 (Mongrel Tariff)
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.
Members' names are preceded by their district numbers.
The count below reflects changes from the beginning of this Congress.
Deaths: 2
Resignations: 8
Interim appointments: 1
Total replacements: 8
Democratic: no net change
Republican: no net change
Total seats with changes: 10
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
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
Distilled Spirit Tax Bill (Select)
Distributing Public Revenue Among the States (Select)
District of Columbia
Education and Labor
Engrossed Bills
Enrolled Bills
Epidemic Diseases (Select)
Examine the Several Branches in the Civil Service (Select)
Finance
Foreign Relations
Indian Affairs
Judiciary
Manufactures
Memorial on Services Rendered by Carlisle P. Patterson
Military Affairs
Mines and Mining
Mississippi River and its Tributaries (Select)
Naval Affairs
Nicaraguan Claims (Select)
Ordnance and Gunnery (Select)
Ordnance and Projectiles (Select)
Ordnance and War Ships (Select)
Patents
Pensions
Post Office and Post Roads
Potomac River Front (Select)
Private Land Claims
Privileges and Elections
Public Lands
Railroads
Revenue Collections in North Carolina (Special)
Revision of the Laws
Revolutionary Claims
Rules
Sioux and Crow Indians (Select)
Tariff Regulation (Select)
Tenth Census (Select)
Territories
Transportation Routes to the Seaboard
Whole
Woman Suffrage (Select)
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
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 Lands
Railways and Canals
Revision of Laws
Rules
Standards of Official Conduct
Territories
War Claims
Ways and Means
Whole
American Shipbuilding (Select)
Budget Control
Conditions of Indian Tribes (Special)
State, War and Navy Department Building
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 (starting 1882)
Secretary: John C. Burch, elected March 24, 1879, died July 28, 1881
Francis E. Shober, (Acting), elected October 25, 1881
Sergeant at Arms: Richard J. Bright
Chaplain: Joseph J. Bullock (Presbyterian)
Clerk: Edward McPherson
Sergeant at Arms: George W. Hooker
Doorkeeper: Walter P. Brownlow
Postmaster: Henry Sherwood
Clerk at the Speaker’s Table: J. Guilford White
Michael Sullivan
Chaplain: Frederick D. Power (Disciples of Christ)
