The Fifty-fifth United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from March 4, 1897, to March 4, 1899, during the first two years of William McKinley'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 Republican majority. There was one African-American member, George Henry White, a Republican from the state of North Carolina.
March 4, 1897: William McKinley became President of the United States.
February 15, 1898: Spanish–American War: USS Maine exploded in Havana harbor.
December 10, 1898: Treaty of Paris ended Spanish–American War, 30 Stat. 1754.
June 10: War Revenue Act of 1898
July 24, 1897: Dingley tariff, ch. 11, 30 Stat. 151, increased trade duties for revenue and protection
April 20, 1898: Teller Resolution (Cuba), 30 Stat. 738
April 25, 1898: United States declaration of war upon Spain (Spanish–American War), 30 Stat. 364
June 1, 1898: Erdman Act, 30 Stat. 424
June 13, 1898: War Revenue Act of 1898, 30 Stat. 448
July 1, 1898: Bankruptcy Act of 1898 (Henderson-Nelson Act), ch. 541, 30 Stat. 544, gave companies an option of gaining protection from creditors.
July 7, 1898: Newlands Resolution, No. 55, 30 Stat. 750, authorized the annexation of the Republic of Hawaii
March 3, 1899: Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899, Ch. 425, 33 Stat. 401, § 9, 30 Stat. 1151
February 6, 1899: Treaty of Paris, ending the Spanish–American War. Guam, The Philippines, and Puerto Rico became possessions of the U.S.
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.
President: Garret Hobart (R)
President pro tempore: William P. Frye (R)
Republican Conference Chairman: William B. Allison
Democratic Caucus Chair: Arthur Pue Gorman, until 1898
David Turpie, afterwards
Democratic Campaign Committee Chairman: Charles James Faulkner
Speaker: Thomas Brackett Reed (R)
Republican Conference Chair: Charles H. Grosvenor
Democratic Caucus Chairman: James D. Richardson
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
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 re-election in 1898; Class 2 meant their term began in the last Congress, requiring re-election in 1900; and Class 3 meant their term began in this Congress, requiring re-election in 1902.
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: no net change
Republican: no net change
deaths: 5
resignations: 0
Total seats with changes: 8
replacements: 14
Democratic: 1 seat net loss
Republican: 1 seat net gain
deaths: 10
resignations: 9
contested election: 3
Total seats with changes: 23
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
Canadian Relations
Census
Civil Service and Retrenchment
Claims
Coast Defenses
Commerce
Corporations Organized in the District of Columbia
Distributing Public Revenue Among the States (Select)
District of Columbia
Education and Labor
Engrossed Bills
Enrolled Bills
Establish a University in the United States (Select)
Examine the Several Branches in the Civil Service
Finance
Fisheries
Five Civilized Tribes of Indians (Select)
Foreign Relations
Forest Reservations and the Protection of Game
Geological Survey (Select)
Immigration
Immigration and Naturalization
Indian Affairs
International Expositions (Select)
Interstate Commerce
Irrigation and Reclamation
Judiciary
Library
Manufactures
Military Affairs
Mines and Mining
Mississippi River and its Tributaries (Select)
National Banks (Select)
Naval Affairs
Nicaragua Canal (Select)
Omaha Exposition (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 Health and National Quarantine
Public Lands
Railroads
Revision of the Laws
Revolutionary Claims
Rules
Tariff Regulation (Select)
Territories
Transportation and Sale of Meat Products (Select)
Transportation Routes to the Seaboard
Washington City Centennial (Select)
Whole
Woman Suffrage (Select)
Accounts
Agriculture
Alcoholic Liquor Traffic
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
Indian Affairs
Interstate and Foreign Commerce
Invalid Pensions
Irrigation of Arid Lands
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
Alcohol in the Arts (Select)
Conditions of Indian Tribes (Special)
Disposition of (Useless) Executive Papers
Investigate Charities and Reformatory Institutions in the District of Columbia
Architect of the Capitol: Edward Clark
Librarian of Congress: Ainsworth Rand Spofford (until 1897), John Russell Young (starting 1897)
Public Printer of the United States: Thomas E. Benedict
Secretary: William Ruffin Cox of North Carolina
Sergeant at Arms: Richard J. Bright of Indiana
Chaplain: William H. Millburn Methodist
Clerk: Alexander McDowell of Pennsylvania, elected March 15, 1897
Sergeant at Arms: Benjamin F. Russell of Missouri, elected March 15, 1897
Doorkeeper: William J. Glenn of New York, elected March 15, 1897
Postmaster: Joseph C. McElroy of Ohio, elected March 15, 1897
Clerk at the Speaker’s Table: Asher C. Hinds
Chaplain: Henry N. Couden Universalist, elected March 15, 1897
