The 43rd 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, 1873, to March 4, 1875, during the fifth and sixth years of Ulysses S. Grant's presidency.
The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the 1870 United States census.
Both chambers had a Republican majority. This is the last time Republicans held a 2/3 majority in the Senate.
Major events
September 18, 1873: New York stock market crash triggered the Panic of 1873, part of the Long Depression November 4, 1874: United States House of Representatives elections, 1874 -Democrats regained control of the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time since 1860 November 25, 1874: United States Greenback Party established as a political party, made primarily of farmers financially hurt by the Panic of 1873
Major legislation
June 22, 1874: Revised Statutes of the United States June 23, 1874: Poland Act, January 14, 1875: Specie Payment Resumption Act ch. 15, March 1, 1875: Civil Rights Act of 1875, (Butler-Sumner Act) March 3, 1875: Tariff of 1875 March 3, 1875: Page Act of 1875,
Treaties March 18, 1874: Hawaii signed a treaty with the United States granting exclusive trading rights.
Party summary
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.
Senate
House of Representatives Before this Congress, the 1870 United States census and resulting reapportionment changed the size of the House to 292 members.
Leadership
Senate President: Henry Wilson (R) President pro tempore: Matthew H. Carpenter (R) Henry B. Anthony (R), elected January 25, 1875.
House of Representatives Speaker: James G. Blaine (R) Republican Conference Chairman: Horace Maynard Democratic Caucus Chairman: William E. Niblack
Members This list is arranged by chamber, then by state. Senators are listed by class and Members of the House by district. Skip to House of Representatives, below
Senate
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, facing re-election in 1874; class 2 meant their term began in the last Congress, facing re-election in 1876; and class 3 meant their term began in this Congress, facing re-election in 1878.
Alabama 2. George Goldthwaite (D) 3. George E. Spencer (R)
Arkansas 2. Powell Clayton (R) 3. Stephen W. Dorsey (R)
California 1. Eugene Casserly (D), until November 29, 1873 John S. Hager (D), from December 23, 1873 3. Aaron A. Sargent (R)
Connecticut 1. William A. Buckingham (R), until February 5, 1875 William W. Eaton (D), from February 5, 1875 3. Orris S. Ferry (LR)
Delaware 1. Thomas F. Bayard (D) 2. Eli Saulsbury (D)
Florida 1. Abijah Gilbert (R) 3. Simon B. Conover (R)
Georgia 2. Thomas M. Norwood (D) 3. John B. Gordon (D)
Illinois 2. John A. Logan (R) 3. Richard J. Oglesby (R)
Indiana 1. Daniel D. Pratt (R) 3. Oliver P. Morton (R)
Iowa 2. George G. Wright (R) 3. William B. Allison (R)
Kansas 2. Alexander Caldwell (R), until March 24, 1873 Robert Crozier (R), November 24, 1873 - February 12, 1874 James M. Harvey (R), from February 12, 1874 3. John J. Ingalls (R)
Kentucky 2. John W. Stevenson (D) 3. Thomas C. McCreery (D)
Louisiana 2. J. R. West (R) 3: vacant
Maine 1. Hannibal Hamlin (R) 2. Lot M. Morrill (R)
Maryland 1. William T. Hamilton (D) 3. George R. Dennis (D)
Massachusetts 1. Charles Sumner (LR), until March 11, 1874 William B. Washburn (R), from April 17, 1874 2. George S. Boutwell (R), from March 17, 1873
Michigan 1. Zachariah Chandler (R) 2. Thomas W. Ferry (R)
Minnesota 1. Alexander Ramsey (R) 2. William Windom (R)
Mississippi 1. Adelbert Ames (R), until January 10, 1874 Henry R. Pease (R), from February 3, 1874 2. James L. Alcorn (R)
Missouri 1. Carl Schurz (R) 3. Lewis V. Bogy (D)
Nebraska 1. Thomas Tipton (R) 2. Phineas Hitchcock (R)
Nevada 1. William M. Stewart (R) 3. John P. Jones (R)
New Hampshire 2. Aaron H. Cragin (R) 3. Bainbridge Wadleigh (R)
New Jersey 1. John P. Stockton (D) 2. Frederick T. Frelinghuysen (R)
New York 1. Reuben E. Fenton (R) 3. Roscoe Conkling (R)
North Carolina 2. Matt W. Ransom (D) 3. Augustus Summerfield Merrimon (D)
Ohio 1. Allen G. Thurman (D) 3. John Sherman (R)
Oregon 2. James K. Kelly (D) 3. John H. Mitchell (R)
Pennsylvania 1. John Scott (R) 3. Simon Cameron (R)
Rhode Island 1. William Sprague IV (R) 2. Henry B. Anthony (R)
South Carolina 2. Thomas J. Robertson (R) 3. John J. Patterson (R)
Tennessee 1. Parson Brownlow (R) 2. Henry Cooper (D)
Texas 1. James W. Flanagan (R) 2. Morgan C. Hamilton (LR)
Vermont 1. George F. Edmunds (R) 3. Justin S. Morrill (R)
Virginia 1. John F. Lewis (R) 2. John W. Johnston (D)
West Virginia 1. Arthur I. Boreman (R) 2. Henry G. Davis (D)
Wisconsin 1. Matthew H. Carpenter (R) 3. Timothy O. Howe (R)
House of Representatives
The names of representatives are preceded by their district numbers.
Alabama . Frederick G. Bromberg (LR) . James T. Rapier (R) . Charles Pelham (R) . Charles Hays (R) . John Henry Caldwell (D) . Joseph H. Sloss (D) . Charles C. Sheats (R) . Alexander White (R)
Arkansas . Asa Hodges (R) . Oliver P. Snyder (R) . William W. Wilshire (R), until June 16, 1874 Thomas M. Gunter (D), from June 16, 1874 . William J. Hynes (LR)
California . Charles Clayton (R) . Horace F. Page (R) . John K. Luttrell (D) . Sherman Otis Houghton (R)
Connecticut . Joseph R. Hawley (R) . Stephen Kellogg (R) . Henry H. Starkweather (R) . William Barnum (D)
Delaware . James R. Lofland (R)
Florida . Josiah T. Walls (R) . William J. Purman (R), until January 25, 1875
Georgia . Morgan Rawls (D), until March 24, 1874 Andrew Sloan (R), from March 24, 1874 . Richard H. Whiteley (R) . Philip Cook (D) . Henry R. Harris (D) . James C. Freeman (R) . James Henderson Blount (D) . Pierce M. B. Young (D) . Alexander H. Stephens (D), from December 1, 1873 . Hiram Parks Bell (D)
Illinois . John Blake Rice (R), until December 17, 1874 Bernard G. Caulfield (D), from February 1, 1875 . Jasper D. Ward (R) . Charles B. Farwell (R) . Stephen A. Hurlbut (R) . Horatio C. Burchard (R) . John B. Hawley (R) . Franklin Corwin (R) . Greenbury L. Fort (R) . Granville Barrere (R) . William H. Ray (R) . Robert M. Knapp (D) . James Carroll Robinson (D) . John McNulta (R) . Joseph Gurney Cannon (R) . John R. Eden (D) . James Stewart Martin (R) . William Ralls Morrison (D) . Isaac Clements (R) . Samuel S. Marshall (D)
Indiana . William E. Niblack (D) . Simeon K. Wolfe (D) . William S. Holman (D) . Jeremiah M. Wilson (R) . John Coburn (R) . Morton C. Hunter (R) . Thomas J. Cason (R) . James Noble Tyner (R) . John P. C. Shanks (R) . Henry B. Sayler (R) . Jasper Packard (R) . Godlove S. Orth (R) . William Williams (R)
Iowa . George W. McCrary (R) . Aylett R. Cotton (R) . William G. Donnan (R) . Henry O. Pratt (R) . James Wilson (R) . William Loughridge (R) . John A. Kasson (R) . James W. McDill (R) . Jackson Orr (R)
Kansas . Stephen A. Cobb (R) . David P. Lowe (R) . William A. Phillips (R)
Kentucky . Edward Crossland (D) . John Y. Brown (D) . Charles W. Milliken (D) . William B. Read (D) . Elisha D. Standiford (D) . William E. Arthur (D) . James B. Beck (D) . Milton J. Durham (D) . George M. Adams (D) . John D. Young (D)
Louisiana . J. Hale Sypher (R), until March 3, 1875 Effingham Lawrence (D), from March 3, 1875 . Lionel Allen Sheldon (R) . Chester Bidwell Darrall (R) . George Luke Smith (R), from November 24, 1873 . Frank Morey (R) . George A. Sheridan (LR) from March 3, 1875
Maine . John H. Burleigh (R) . William P. Frye (R) . James G. Blaine (R) . Samuel F. Hersey (R), until February 3, 1875 . Eugene Hale (R)
Maryland . Ephraim K. Wilson II (D) . Stevenson Archer (D) . William J. O'Brien (D) . Thomas Swann (D) . William Albert (R) . Lloyd Lowndes Jr. (R)
Massachusetts . James Buffington (R) . Benjamin W. Harris (R) . William Whiting (R), until June 29, 1873 Henry L. Pierce (R), from December 1, 1873 . Samuel Hooper (R) . Daniel W. Gooch (R) . Benjamin F. Butler (R) . Ebenezer R. Hoar (R) . John M. S. Williams (R) . George F. Hoar (R) . Alvah Crocker (R), until December 26, 1874 Charles A. Stevens (R), from January 27, 1875 . Henry L. Dawes (R)
Michigan . Moses W. Field (R) . Henry Waldron (R) . George Willard (R) . Julius C. Burrows (R) . Wilder D. Foster (R), until September 20, 1873 William B. Williams (R), from December 1, 1873 . Josiah Begole (R) . Omar D. Conger (R) . Nathan B. Bradley (R) . Jay Hubbell (R)
Minnesota . Mark H. Dunnell (R) . Horace B. Strait (R) . John T. Averill (R)
Mississippi . Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar (D) . Albert R. Howe (R) . Henry W. Barry (R) . Jason Niles (R) . George C. McKee (R) . John R. Lynch (R)
Missouri . Edwin O. Stanard (R) . Erastus Wells (D) . William Henry Stone (D) . Robert A. Hatcher (D) . Richard P. Bland (D) . Harrison E. Havens (R) . Thomas Theodore Crittenden (D) . Abram Comingo (D) . Isaac C. Parker (R) . Ira B. Hyde (R) . John Bullock Clark Jr. (D) . John Montgomery Glover (D) . Aylett H. Buckner (D)
Nebraska . Lorenzo Crounse (R)
Nevada . Charles West Kendall (D)
New Hampshire . William B. Small (R) . Austin F. Pike (R) . Hosea W. Parker (D)
New Jersey . John W. Hazelton (R) . Samuel A. Dobbins (R) . Amos Clark Jr. (R) . Robert Hamilton (D) . William Walter Phelps (R) . Marcus Lawrence Ward (R) . Isaac W. Scudder (R)
New York . Henry J. Scudder (R) . John G. Schumaker (D) . Stewart L. Woodford (R), until July 1, 1874 Simeon B. Chittenden (IR), from November 3, 1874 . Philip S. Crooke (R) . William R. Roberts (D) . James Brooks (D), until April 30, 1873 Samuel S. Cox (D), from November 4, 1873 . Thomas J. Creamer (D) . John D. Lawson (R) . David B. Mellish (R), until May 23, 1874 Richard Schell (D), from December 7, 1874 . Fernando Wood (D) . Clarkson Nott Potter (D) . Charles St. John (R) . John O. Whitehouse (D) . David M. De Witt (D) . Eli Perry (D) . James S. Smart (R) . Robert S. Hale (R) . William A. Wheeler (R) . Henry H. Hathorn (R) . David Wilber (R) . Clinton L. Merriam (R) . Ellis H. Roberts (R) . William E. Lansing (R) . R. Holland Duell (R) . Clinton D. MacDougall (R) . William H. Lamport (R) . Thomas C. Platt (R) . Horace B. Smith (R) . Freeman Clarke (R) . George G. Hoskins (R) . Lyman K. Bass (R) . Walter L. Sessions (R) . Lyman Tremain (R)
North Carolina . Clinton L. Cobb (R) . Charles R. Thomas (R) . Alfred Moore Waddell (D) . William A. Smith (R) . James M. Leach (D) . Thomas Samuel Ashe (D) . William M. Robbins (D) . Robert B. Vance (D)
Ohio . Milton Sayler (D) . Henry B. Banning (LR) . John Quincy Smith (R) . Lewis B. Gunckel (R) . Charles N. Lamison (D) . Isaac R. Sherwood (R) . Lawrence T. Neal (D) . William Lawrence (R) . James Wallace Robinson (R) . Charles Foster (R) . Hezekiah S. Bundy (R) . Hugh J. Jewett (D), until June 23, 1874 William E. Finck (D), from December 7, 1874 . Milton I. Southard (D) . John Berry (D) . William P. Sprague (R) . Lorenzo Danford (R)