The Fifty-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, 1893 to March 4, 1895, during the fifth and sixth years of Grover Cleveland's presidency. The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the Eleventh Census of the United States in 1890. Both chambers had a Democratic majority.
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: 211 (majority)
Republican: 133
Populist: 11
Independent Democratic: 1
TOTAL members: 356
President: Adlai Stevenson (D)
President pro tempore: Charles F. Manderson (D)
Isham G. Harris (D), elected March 22, 1893
Matt Whitaker Ransom (D), elected January 7, 1895
Isham G. Harris (D), elected January 10, 1895
Democratic Caucus Chairman: Arthur P. Gorman
Republican Conference Chairman: John Sherman
Speaker: Charles F. Crisp (D)
Democratic Caucus Chairman: William S. Holman
Republican Conference Chair: Thomas J. Henderson
Democratic Campaign Committee Chairman: John L. Mitchell
March 4, 1893: Grover Cleveland became President of the United States for a second time.
May 5, 1893: Panic of 1893: A crash on the New York Stock Exchange started a depression.
November 7, 1893: Colorado women were granted the right to vote
May 1, 1894: Coxey's Army, the first significant American protest march, arrived in Washington, D.C.
July 16, 1894: Utah Enabling Act
August 27, 1894: Wilson–Gorman Tariff Act
February 18, 1895: Maguire Act of 1895
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 this Congress, requiring reelection in 1898; Class 2 meant their term ended in this Congress, requiring reelection in 1894; and Class 3 meant their term began in the last Congress, requiring reelection in 1896.
The count below reflects changes from the beginning of the first session of this Congress.
replacements: 6
Democratic: no net change
Republican: no net change
Liberal Republican: 1 seat net loss
deaths: 4
resignations: 8
interim appointments: 2
Total seats with changes: 12
replacements: 22
Democratic: 2 seat net gain
Republican: 2 seat net loss
deaths: 11
resignations: 13
contested election: 3
Total seats with changes: 30
Lists of committees and their party leaders.
Additional Accommodations for the Library of Congress (Select)
Agriculture and Forestry
Appropriations
Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses of the Senate
Bribery Attempts Investigation (Special)
Canadian Relations
Census
Civil Service and Retrenchment
Claims
Coast Defenses
Commerce
Corporations Organized in the District of Columbia (Select)
Distributing Public Revenue Among the States (Select)
District of Columbia
Education and Labor
Engrossed Bills
Enrolled Bills
Epidemic Diseases
Establish a University in the United States (Select)
Examine the Several Branches in the Civil Service
Finance
Fisheries
Five Civilized Tribes of Indians (Select)
Ford Theater Disaster (Select)
Foreign Relations
Forest Reservations (Select)
Geological Survey (Select)
Immigration
Immigration and Naturalization (Select)
Indian Affairs
Interstate Commerce
Irrigation and Reclamation
Judiciary
Library
Manufactures
Military Affairs
Mines and Mining
Mississippi River and its Tributaries (Select)
National Banks (Select)
Naval Affairs
Nicaraguan Claims (Select)
Pacific Railroads
Patents
Pensions
Post Office and Post Roads
Potomac River Front (Select)
Printing
Private Land Claims
Privileges and Elections
Public Buildings and Grounds
Public Distress (Select)
Public Lands
Quadrocentennial (Select)
Railroads
Revision of the Laws
Revolutionary Claims
Rules
Tariff Regulation (Select)
Territories
Transportation and Sale of Meat Products (Select)
Transportation Routes to the Seaboard
Whole
Woman Suffrage (Select)
Accounts
Agriculture
Alcoholic Liquor Traffic (Select)
Appropriations
Banking and Currency
Claims
Coinage, Weights and Measures
Disposition of Executive Papers
District of Columbia
Education
Election of the President, Vice President and Representatives in Congress
Elections
Enrolled Bills
Expenditures in the Agriculture Department
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
Immigration and Naturalization
Irrigation of Arid Lands
Indian Affairs
Interstate and Foreign Commerce
Invalid Pensions
Labor
Levees and Improvements of the Mississippi River
Manufactures
Merchant Marine and Fisheries
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
Reform in the Civil Service
Revision of Laws
Rivers and Harbors
Rules
Standards of Official Conduct
Territories
Ventilation and Acoustics
War Claims
Ways and Means
Whole
Celebrate the Cenntennial of the Laying of the Capitol Cornerstone
Conditions of Indian Tribes (Special)
Dedication of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park
Disposition of (Useless) Executive Papers
Ford's Theater Disaster
Naval Affairs
Naval Personnel
Architect of the Capitol: Edward Clark
Librarian of Congress: Ainsworth Rand Spofford
Public Printer of the United States: Frank W. Palmer (until 1894), Thomas E. Benedict (starting 1894)
Chaplain of the Senate: William H. Millburn (Methodist)
Secretary of the Senate: Anson G. McCook
William Ruffin Cox, elected April 6, 1893
Sergeant at Arms of the Senate: Edward K. Valentine
Richard J. Bright, elected August 8, 1893
Chaplain of the House
Samuel W. Haddaway (Methodist)
Edward B. Bagby (Christian), elected December 4, 1893
Clerk of the House: James Kerr
Doorkeeper of the House: Alvin B. Hurt
Postmaster of the House: Lycurgus Dalton
Clerk at the Speaker’s Table: Charles R. Crisp
Sergeant at Arms of the House: Herman W. Snow
