The Fifty-sixth 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, 1899 to March 4, 1901, during the third and fourth years of William McKinley's presidency. The apportionment of seats in this 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 of North Carolina, who served his second and final term as a Representative in this Congress, and would be the last black member of Congress until 1928, and the last black member of Congress from the South until 1972.
June 2, 1899: The Filipino Rebellion began the Philippine–American War.
November 21, 1899: Vice President Garret Hobart died.
January 8, 1900: President McKinley placed Alaska under military rule.
January 17, 1900: Brigham H. Roberts was refused a seat in the United States House of Representatives because of his polygamy.
February 5, 1900: Britain and the United States signed a treaty for the building of a Central American shipping canal through Nicaragua.
February 16, 1900: The United States, Germany and Great Britain ratified the Tripartite Convention partitioning the Samoan Islands.
November 6, 1900: U.S. presidential election, 1900: Republican incumbent William McKinley was reelected by defeating Democratic challenger William Jennings Bryan.
March 14, 1900: Gold Standard Act, Sess. 1, ch. 41, 31 Stat. 45
April 2, 1900: Foraker Act, Sess. 1, ch. 191, 31 Stat. 77 (Puerto Rico Civil Code)
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), until November 21, 1899; vacant thereafter.
President pro tempore: William P. Frye (R)
Democratic Caucus Chairman: James K. Jones (D)
Republican Conference Chairman: William B. Allison (R)
Democratic Campaign Committee Chairman: Stephen M. White (D)
Speaker: David B. Henderson (R)
Democratic Caucus Chairman: James Hay (D)
Republican Conference Chairman: Joseph G. Cannon (R)
Majority Leader: Sereno E. Payne
Majority Whip: James A. Tawney
Minority Leader: James D. Richardson
Minority Whip: Oscar Underwood
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
At this time, 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 with this Congress, requiring re-election in 1904; Class 2 meant their term ended with this Congress, requiring re-election in 1900; and Class 3 meant their term began in the last Congress, requiring re-election in 1902.
The count below reflects changes from the beginning of the first session of this Congress.
replacements: 7
Democratic: no net change
Republican: 1 seat loss
Populist: 1 seat gain
deaths: 3
resignations: 1
vacancy: 5
interim appointments: 2
Total seats with changes: 9
replacements: 21
Democratic: 5 seat loss
Republican: 5 seat gain
Populist: no net change
deaths: 12
resignations: 7
contested election: 3
new seats: 1
Total seats with changes: 26
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 and Insular Survey
Coast Defenses
Commerce
Corporations Organized in the District of Columbia
Cuban Relations
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
Expenditures in Executive Departments
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
Irrigation and Reclamation
Industrial Expositions
International Expositions (Select)
Interoceanic Canals
Interstate Commerce
Judiciary
Library
Manufactures
Military Affairs
Mines and Mining
Mississippi River and its Tributaries (Select)
National Banks (Select)
Naval Affairs
Nicaragua Canal (Select)
Pacific Islands and Puerto Rico
Pacific Railroads
Patents
Pensions
Philippines
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
Insular 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
Conditions of Indian Tribes (Special)
Disposition of (Useless) Executive Papers
Architect of the Capitol: Edward Clark
Librarian of Congress: John Russell Young (until 1899), Herbert Putnam (starting 1899)
Public Printer of the United States: Frank W. Palmer
Chaplain: William H. Millburn (Methodist)
Secretary: William Ruffin Cox
Charles G. Bennett, elected February 1, 1900
Sergeant at Arms: Richard J. Bright
Daniel M. Ransdell, elected February 1, 1900
Chaplain: Henry N. Couden (Universalist)
Clerk: Alexander McDowell
Clerk at the Speaker’s Table: Asher C. Hinds
Doorkeeper: William J. Glenn
Postmaster: Joseph C. McElroy
Sergeant at Arms: Henry Casson
