The Forty-eighth 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, 1883 to March 4, 1885, during the last two years of the administration of U.S. President Chester A. Arthur. The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the Tenth Census of the United States in 1880. The Senate had a Republican majority, and the House had a Democratic majority.
September 5, 1883: Mary F. Hoyt became the first woman appointed to the U.S. federal civil service (and the second person appointed by examination (in which she came top) instituted under the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act) when she became a clerk in the Bank Redemption Agency of the Department of the Treasury.
October 15, 1883: The Supreme Court of the United States declared part of the Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional, as the Court allowed private individuals and corporations to discriminate based on race.
November 18, 1883: U.S. and Canadian railroads instituted 5 standard continental time zones, ending the confusion of thousands of local times.
August 10, 1884: An earthquake measuring 5.5 Mfa (based on the felt area) affected a very large portion of the eastern United States. The shock had a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong). Chimneys were toppled in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. Property damage was severe in Jamaica and Amityville in New York.
October 6, 1884: The United States Naval War College was established in Newport, Rhode Island.
October 22, 1884: International Meridian Conference in Washington, D.C. fixed the Greenwich meridian as the world's prime meridian.
November 4, 1884: United States presidential election, 1884: Democratic Governor of New York Grover Cleveland defeated Republican James G. Blaine in a very close contest to win the first of his non-consecutive terms.
December 6: 1884: The Washington Monument was completed.
May 17, 1884: District of Alaska was organized.
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.
Democratic: 196 (majority)
Republican: 117
Readjuster: 4
National Greenback: 2
Independent: 2
Independent Democratic: 3
Independent Republican: 1
TOTAL members: 325
President: Vacant. Chester Arthur (R), the most recent Senate President, had become U.S. President on the death of his predecessor September 19, 1881, leaving the office vacant through the end of this Congress.
President pro tempore: George F. Edmunds (R)
Republican Conference Chairman: John Sherman
Democratic Caucus Chairman: George H. Pendleton
Speaker: John G. Carlisle (D)
Democratic Caucus Chairman: George W. Geddes
Republican Conference Chair: Joseph Gurney Cannon
Democratic Campaign Committee Chairman: William Rosecrans
This list is arranged by chamber, then by state.
Skip to House of Representatives, below
Senators are listed by their states and Senate class numbers, which indicate the cycle of their election.
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: 1
Democratic: no net change
Republican: 1 seat net gain
Liberal Republican: 1 seat net loss
Deaths: 1
Resignations: 0
Interim appointment: 1
Late election: 1
Total seats with changes: 3
replacements: 15
Democratic: 1 seat net gain
Republican: 1 seat net loss
National Greenback: 1 seat net gain
deaths: 9
resignations: 9
contested election: 8
Total seats with changes: 25
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
Civil Service and Retrenchment
Claims
Commerce
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)
Expenditures of Public Money
Finance
Fisheries
Foreign Relations
Indian Affairs
Judiciary
Library
Manufactures
Military Affairs
Mines and Mining
Mississippi River and its Tributaries (Select)
Naval Affairs
Nicaraguan Claims (Select)
Ordnance and War Ships (Select)
Patents
Pensions
Post Office and Post Roads
Potomac River Front (Select)
Printing
Private Land Claims
Privileges and Elections
Public Buildings and Grounds
Public Lands
Railroads
Revision of the Laws
Revolutionary Claims
Rules
Sioux and Crow Indians (Select)
Steel Producing Capacity of the United States (Select)
Tariff Regulation (Select)
Tenth Census (Select)
Territories
Transportation Routes to the Seaboard
Whole
Woman Suffrage (Select)
Accounts
Agriculture
Alcoholic Liquor Traffic (Select)
American Ship building (Select)
Appropriations
Banking and Currency
Boynton Investigation (Select)
Claims
Coinage, Weights and Measures
Commerce
District of Columbia
Education
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
Labor
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
Rivers and Harbors
Rules
Standards of Official Conduct
Territories
War Claims
Ways and Means
Whole
Conditions of Indian Tribes (Special)
Scientific Bureaus
Architect of the Capitol: Edward Clark
Librarian of Congress: Ainsworth Rand Spofford
Public Printer of the United States: Sterling P. Rounds
Chaplain: Elias D. Huntley (Methodist)
Secretary: Francis E. Shober (Acting), to December 18, 1883
Anson G. McCook, from December 18, 1883
Sergeant at Arms: Richard J. Bright, to December 18, 1883
William P. Canady, from December 18, 1883
Chaplain: John S. Lindsay (Episcopalian)
Clerk: John B. Clark, Jr.
Clerk at the Speaker’s Table: Nathaniel T. Crutchfield
Doorkeeper: James G. Wintersmith
Postmaster: Lycurgus Dalton
Sergeant at Arms: John P. Leedom
