This is a complete list of United States representatives during the 2nd United States Congress listed by seniority. For the most part, representatives are ranked by the beginning of their terms in office.Delegates are non-voting members and representatives are voting members of the United States House of Representatives.
As an historical article, the districts and party affiliations listed reflect those during the 2nd Congress (March 4, 1791 – March 3, 1793). Seats and party affiliations on similar lists for other congresses will be different for certain members.
This article describes the criteria for seniority in the House of Representatives and sets out the list of members by seniority. It is prepared on the basis of the interpretation of seniority applied to the House of Representatives in the current congress. In the absence of information to the contrary, it is presumed that the twenty-first-century practice is identical to the seniority customs used during the 2nd Congress.
House seniority Seniority in the House, for representatives with unbroken service, depends on the date on which the members first term began. That date is either the start of the Congress (4 March in odd numbered years, for the era up to and including the 73rd Congress starting in 1933) or the date of a special election during the Congress. Since many members start serving on the same day as others, ranking between them is based on alphabetical order by the last name of the representative.
Representatives in early congresses were often elected after the legal start of the Congress. Such representatives are attributed with unbroken seniority, from the legal start of the congressional term, if they were the first person elected to a seat in a Congress. The date of the election is indicated in a note.
The seniority date is normally taken from the members entry in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, except where the date given is the legal start of the Congress and the actual election (for someone who was not the first person elected to the seat in that Congress) was later. The date of election is taken from United States Congressional Elections 1788-1997. In a few instances the latter work provides dates, for the start and end of terms, which correct those in the Biographical Directory.
The Biographical Directory normally uses the date of a special election, as the seniority date. However, mostly in early congresses, the date of the member taking his seat can be the one given. The date of the special election is mentioned in a note to the list below, when that date is not used as the seniority date by the Biographical Directory.
Representatives who return to the House, after having previously served, are credited with service equal to one less than the total number of terms they served. When a representative has served a prior term of less than two terms (i.e., prior term minus one equals less than one), he is ranked above all others whose service begins on the same day.
Leadership In this Congress the only formal leader was the speaker of the House. A speakership ballot was held on October 24, 1791, and Jonathan Trumbull, Jr. (P-CT) was elected.Annals of Congress, for the date of election
Standing committees The House created its first standing committee, on April 13, 1789. There was one standing committees in the 2nd Congress.
Committees, in this period, were appointed for a session at a time and not necessarily for every one in a Congress. The speaker appointed the members.
This list refers to the standing committee of the House in the 2nd Congress, the year of establishment as a standing committee, the number of members assigned to the committee and the dates of appointment in each session, the end of the session and its chairman.Based on Rule X Organisation of Committees, in the House Rules and Manual for the current congress. For membership and chairmen, see the Journal of the House of Representatives for the dates specified in the 2nd Congress.
No.CommitteeFromMembersAppointedChairman1Elections17897October 26, 1791 – May 8, 1792Samuel Livermore (P-NH)
List of representatives by seniority A numerical rank is assigned to each of the 65 members initially elected to the 2nd Congress. Other members, who were not the first person elected to a seat but who joined the House during the Congress, are not assigned a number (apart from the representatives from the two states, admitted during the Congress, who are numbered 66–70). Three representatives-elect was not sworn in, as one died and two declined to serve. The list below includes the representative-elect (with names in italics), with the seniority they would have held if they had been sworn in.
Party designations used in this article are A for Anti-Administration members and P for Pro-Administration representatives.
+U.S. House seniorityRankRepresentativePartyDistrictSeniority dateNotes Two consecutive terms1Fisher AmesP2Abraham BaldwinA3Egbert BensonP Last term until 13th Congress.4Elias BoudinotPNJ-al 5John BrownA Term ended on district being admitted as the new state of KY: June 1, 17926Thomas FitzsimonsP Elected to this Congress: October 11, 17917Elbridge GerryA Last term.8Nicholas GilmanPNH-al9Benjamin GoodhueP10Samuel GriffinA Pro-Administration 1789-9111Thomas HartleyP Elected to this Congress: October 11, 179112Daniel HiesterA13Daniel HugerP Last term.14John LauranceP15Richard B. LeeP16George LeonardP Elected to this Congress on April 2, 1792.United States Congressional Elections 1788-1997, page 5 Last term until 4th Congress.17Samuel LivermorePNH-al Anti-Administration 1789–91. Chairman: Elections. Last term.18James MadisonA19Andrew MooreA20Frederick MuhlenbergA Elected to this Congress: October 11, 1791. Pro-Administration 1789–91.21John PageA 22Josiah ParkerA23Theodore SedgwickP24Joshua SeneyA Resigned on December 6, 1792.25Roger ShermanPCT-al Resigned, as Representative-elect, before taking his seat as a US Senator on June 13, 1791 United States Congressional Elections 1788-1997, election result on page 4 and note 1 on page 6 26Peter SilvesterP Last term.27William L. SmithP 28Jonathan SturgesPCT-al Last term(elected to 3rd Congress but declined to serve)29Thomas SumterA Last term until 5th Congress.30George ThatcherP Elected for this Congress: April 4, 1791 United States Congressional Elections 1788-1997, page 5 31Jonathan Trumbull, Jr.PCT-al Speaker of the House32Thomas T. TuckerA Last term.33John M. ViningPDE-al...Jeremiah WadsworthPCT-al Re-elected by special election before the start of this Congress United States Congressional Elections 1788-1997, special election result on page 5 34Alexander WhiteP Last term.35Hugh WilliamsonA36John B. AsheA37John SteeleP38William B. GilesA39Benjamin BournePRI-al One term40Robert BarnwellP Only term (elected to 4th Congress but declined to serve)41Shearjashub BourneP42Abraham ClarkPNJ-al43Jonathan DaytonPNJ-al44Pierpont Edwards-CT-al Declined to serve, as Representative-elect: November 10, 1790 United States Congressional Elections 1788-1997, election result on page 4 and note 2 on page 6 45William FindleyA Elected to this Congress: October 11, 179146James GordonP 47Andrew GreggA Elected to this Congress: October 11, 179148William B. GroveP49James HillhousePCT-al50Israel JacobsP Elected to this Congress: October 11, 1791. Only term.51Philip KeyP Only term.52Aaron KitchellPNJ-al Only term until seated in the 3rd Congress.53John W. KitteraP Elected to this Congress: October 11, 179154Nathaniel MaconA55William V. MurrayP56William PinkneyP Resigned in November 1791. Only term until 14th Congress.57Cornelius C. SchoonmakerA Only term.58Upton SheredineA59Jeremiah SmithPNH-al 60Samuel SterettA Only term.61James Townsend- Died, as Representative-elect: May 24, 1790 United States Congressional Elections 1788-1997, election result on page 4 and note 5 on page 6 62Abraham B. VenableA 63Artemas WardP64Anthony WayneA Seat declared vacant on March 21, 1792. Only term.65Francis WillisA Only term. Members joining the House, after the start of the Congress...Amasa LearnedPCT-al Special election United States Congressional Elections 1788-1997, page 5 66Nathaniel NilesA Representative from a new state67Israel SmithA...Thomas TredwellA Special election April 26–28, 1791 United States Congressional Elections 1788-1997, page 5 ...John F. MercerA Special election68Alexander D. OrrA Representative from a new state69Christopher GreenupA...John MilledgeA Special election. Only term until 4th Congress....William HindmanP Special election
See also 2nd United States Congress List of United States congressional districts List of United States senators in the 2nd Congress
References
United States Congressional Elections 1788-1997, by Michael J. Dubin (McFarland and Company 1998)
External links House Journal, First Forty-three Sessions of Congress House of Representatives list of members of the 2nd Congress