# 42nd United States Congress

The 42nd 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, 1871, to March 4, 1873, during the third and fourth years of Ulysses S. Grant's presidency. The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the 1860 United States census. Both chambers had a Republican majority.

## Major events

* June 10, 1871: U.S. Marines make naval attack on the Han River forts in Korea
* March 1, 1872: Yellowstone National Park was established as the world's first national park
* November 5, 1872: 1872 United States presidential election

## Major legislation

* April 20, 1871: Enforcement Act of 1871
* March 1, 1872: Yellowstone National Park founded
* May 10, 1872: General Mining Act of 1872
* May 23, 1872: Amnesty Act of 1872
* June 1, 1872: Practice Conformity Act (precursor to the Rules Enabling Act), ch. 255, 17 Stat. 196
* February 12, 1873: Coinage Act of 1873
* March 3, 1873: Timber Culture Act
* March 3, 1873: Comstock Act
* March 3, 1873: Salary Grab Act (so called)

## 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

| | Party (shading shows control) | Party (shading shows control) | Party (shading shows control) | Total | Vacant |
| | Democratic (D) | Liberal Republican (LR) | Republican (R) | Total | Vacant |
| End of previous congress | 12 | 0 | 62 | 74 | 0 |
| Begin | 14 | 1 | 55 | 70 | 4 |
| End | 17 | 1 | 54 | 72 | 2 |
| Final voting share | 23.6% | 1.4% | 75.0% | | |
| Beginning of next congress | 19 | 3 | 50 | 72 | 2 |

### House of Representatives

| | Party (shading shows control) | Party (shading shows control) | Party (shading shows control) | Party (shading shows control) | Party (shading shows control) | Total | Vacant |
| | Democratic (D) | Independent Republican (IR) | Liberal Republican (LR) | Republican (R) | Other | Total | Vacant |
| End of previous congress | 67 | 0 | 0 | 169 | 5 | 241 | 2 |
| Begin | 102 | 1 | 3 | 135 | 0 | 241 | 2 |
| End | 106 | 1 | 4 | 130 | 0 | 241 | 2 |
| Final voting share | 44.0% | 0.4% | 1.7% | 53.9% | 0.0% | | |
| Beginning of next congress | 91 | 0 | 4 | 189 | 6 | 290 | 2 |

## Leadership
### Senate

* President: Schuyler Colfax (R)
* President pro tempore: Henry B. Anthony (R)

### House of Representatives

* Speaker: James G. Blaine (R)
* Republican Conference Chairman: Austin Blair

## Members

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

### 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 began in the last Congress, requiring re-election in 1874; Class 2 meant their term began in this Congress, requiring re-election in 1876; and Class 3 meant their term ended in this Congress, requiring re-election in 1872.

### House of Representatives

The names of members of the House of Representatives are preceded by their district numbers.

## Changes in membership

The count below reflects changes from the beginning of the first session of this Congress.

### Senate

* Replacements: 0
** Democratic: no net change
** Republican: no net change
* Deaths: 0
* Resignations: 2
* Contested elections: 0
* Total seats with changes: 4

### House of Representatives

* Replacements: 11
** Democratic: 4 seat net gain
** Republican: 5 seat net loss
** Liberal Republican: 1 seat net gain
* Deaths: 3
* Resignations: 6
* Contested election: 4
* Total seats with changes: 16

## Committees

Lists of committees and their party leaders for members of the House and Senate committees can be found through the Official Congressional Directory at the bottom of this article. The directory after the pages of terms of service lists committees of the Senate, House (Standing with Subcommittees, Select and Special) and Joint and, after that, House/Senate committee assignments. On the committees section of the House and Senate in the Official Congressional Directory, the committee's members on the first row on the left side shows the chairman of the committee and on the right side shows the ranking member of the committee.

### Senate

* Agriculture (Chairman: Frederick T. Frelinghuysen; Ranking Member: Henry G. Davis)
* Appropriations (Chairman: Lot M. Morrill; Ranking Member: William Windom)
* Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses of the Senate (Chairman: Matthew H. Carpenter; Ranking Member: Eli Saulsbury)
* Civil Service and Retrenchment (Chairman: George G. Wright; Ranking Member: N/A)
* Claims (Chairman: John Scott; Ranking Member: Arthur I. Boreman)
* Commerce (Chairman: Zachariah Chandler; Ranking Member: William A. Buckingham)
* Distributing Public Revenue Among the States (Select)
* District of Columbia (Chairman: John F. Lewis; Ranking Member: Frederick A. Sawyer)
* Education and Labor (Chairman: James W. Flanagan; Ranking Member: James W. Patterson)
* Engrossed Bills (Chairman: Thomas F. Bayard; Ranking Member: Thomas M. Norwood)
* Finance (Chairman: John Sherman; Ranking Member: Adelbert Ames)
* Foreign Relations (Chairman: Simon Cameron; Ranking Member: Carl Schurz)
* Indian Affairs (Chairman: William A. Buckingham; Ranking Member: Henry Wilson)
* Investigation and Retrenchment (Chairman: William A. Buckingham; Ranking Member; William M. Stewart)
* Judiciary (Chairman: George F. Edmunds; Ranking Member: Frederick T. Frelinghuysen)
* Manufactures (Chairman: Thomas J. Robertson; Ranking Member: Abijah Gilbert)
* Military Affairs (Chairman: John A. Logan; Ranking Member: John A. Logan)
* Mines and Mining (Chairman: Hannibal Hamlin; Ranking Member: Alexander Caldwell)
* Mississippi River Levee System (Select)
* Naval Affairs (Chairman: Aaron H. Cragin; Ranking Member: Thomas W. Ferry)
* Ordnance and War Ships (Select)
* Outrages in Southern States (Select)
* Pacific Railroad (Chairman: William M. Stewart; Ranking Member: William P. Kellogg)
* Patents (Chairman: Orris S. Ferry; Ranking Member: William Windom)
* Pensions (Chairman: Daniel D. Pratt; Ranking Member: Morgan C. Hamilton)
* Post Office and Post Roads (Chairman: Alexander Ramsey; Ranking Member: Hannibal Hamlin)
* Private Land Claims (Chairman: Allen G. Thurman; Ranking Member: Thomas F. Bayard)
* Privileges and Elections (Chairman: Oliver P. Morton; Ranking Member: Joshua Hill)
* Public Buildings and Grounds (Chairman: Justin S. Morrill; Ranking Member: Cornelius Cole)
* Public Lands (Chairman: William Sprague; Ranking Member: William Windom)
* Railroads (Chairman: William M. Stewart; Ranking Member: N/A)
* Removal of Political Disabilities (Select)
* Retrenchment
* Revision of the Laws (Chairman: Hannibal Hamlin; Ranking Member: George G. Wright)
* Revolutionary Claims (Chairman: William G. Brownlow; Ranking Member: Joshua Hill)
* Rules (Select)
* Tariff Regulation (Select)
* Territories (Chairman: Arthur I. Boreman; Ranking Member: Phineas W. Hitchcock)
* Transportation Routes to the Seaboard (Select)
* Whole

### House of Representatives

* Accounts (Chairman: James Buffington; Ranking Member: Stevenson Archer)
* Agriculture (Chairman: Charles Hays; Ranking Member: John W. Hazelton)
* Appropriations (Chairman: James A. Garfield; Ranking Member: Eugene Hale)
* Alabama Affairs (Select)
* Arkansas Affairs (Select)
* Banking and Currency (Chairman: Horace Maynard; Ranking Member: Clinton L. Merriam)
* Claims (Chairman: John B. Hawley; Ranking Member: William P. Frye)
* Coinage, Weights and Measures (Chairman: Samuel Hooper; Ranking Member: John Critcher)
* Commerce (Chairman: William A. Wheeler; Ranking Member: James S. Negley)
* District of Columbia (Chairman: Alfred C. Harmer; Ranking Member: Aylett R. Cotton)
* Education and Labor (Chairman: James Monroe; Ranking Member: Robert B. Elliott)
* Elections (Chairman: Horace B. Smith; Ranking Member: Benjamin T. Eames)
* Expenditures in the Interior Department (Chairman: Jackson Orr; Ranking Member: George M. Adams)
* Expenditures in the Justice Department (Chairman: James B. Sener; Ranking Member: N/A)
* Expenditures in the Navy Department (Chairman: Julius C. Burrows; Ranking Member: Benjamin T. Biggs)
* Expenditures in the Post Office Department (Chairman: Henry W. Barry; Ranking Member: William R. Roberts)
* Expenditures in the State Department (Chairman: Jasper Packard; Ranking Member: John Rogers)
* Expenditures in the Treasury Department (Chairman: J. Hale Sypher; Ranking Member: William H. Barnum)
* Expenditures in the War Department (Chairman: William Williams; Ranking Member: Ephraim L. Acker)
* Expenditures on Public Buildings (Chairman: R. Holland Duell; Ranking Member: Fernando Wood)
* Freedmen's Affairs (Chairman: Clinton L. Cobb; Ranking Member: Joseph H. Rainey)
* Foreign Affairs (Chairman: Godlove Stein Orth; Ranking Member: Jasper Packard)
* Indian Affairs (Chairman: John T. Averill; Ranking Member: John C. Edwards)
* Invalid Pensions (Chairman: Jeremiah McLain Rusk; Ranking Member: Benjamin S. Turner)
* Judiciary (Chairman: Benjamin F. Butler; Ranking Member: Milo Goodrich)
* Manufactures (Chairman: Charles B. Farwell; Ranking Member: John M. Rice)
* Mileage (Chairman: Hezekiah S. Bundy; Ranking Member: Edward I. Golladay)
* Military Affairs (Chairman: John Coburn; Ranking Member: George E. Harris)
* Militia (Chairman: Roderick R. Butler; Ranking Member: John C. Conner)
* Mines and Mining (Chairman: David P. Lowe; Ranking Member: Walter L. Sessions)
* Naval Affairs (Chairman: Glenni W. Scofield; Ranking Member: John M. Coghlan)
* Pacific Railroads (Chairman: Philetus Sawyer; Ranking Member: John T. Averill)
* Patents (Chairman: Omar D. Conger; Ranking Member: Joseph M. Warren)
* Post Office and Post Roads (Chairman: John B. Packer; Ranking Member: Charles H. Porter)
* Private Land Claims (Chairman: Jasper Packard; Ranking Member: J. Allen Barber)
* Public Buildings and Grounds (Chairman: James H. Platt Jr.; Ranking Member: Walter L. Sessions)
* Public Expenditures (Chairman: Harrison E. Havens; Ranking Member: Thomas Kinsella)
* Public Lands (Chairman: Washington Townsend; Ranking Member: Jeremiah M. Rusk)
* Railways and Canals (Chairman: George W. McCrary; Ranking Member: Charles St. John
* Reform on Civil Service (Chairman: Stephen W. Kellogg; Ranking Member: N/A)
* Revision of Laws (Chairman: Luke P. Poland; Ranking Member: John S. Bigby)
* Revolution Claims (Chairman: Alexander S. Wallace; Ranking Member: Abram Comingo)
* Revolutionary Pensions and War of 1812 (Chairman: Lazarus D. Shoemaker; Ranking Member: John M. Rice)
* Rules (Select) (Chairman: James G. Blaine; Ranking Member: Samuel S. Cox)
* Standards of Official Conduct
* Territories (Chairman: George C. McKee; Ranking Member: Lazarus D. Shoemaker)
* War Claims (Chairman: William Lawrence; Ranking Member: N/A)
* Ways and Means (Chairman: Henry L. Dawes; Ranking Member: Horatio C. Burchard)
* Whole

### Joint committees

* Conditions of Indian Tribes (Special)
* Enrolled Bills (Chairman: Rep. Chester B. Darrall; Vice Chairman: Rep. John T. Bird)
* Inquire into the Affairs of the District of Columbia (Select) (Chairman: Rep. Jeremiah M. Wilson; Vice Chairman: N/A)
* The Library (Chairman: Rep. William P. Frye; Vice Chairman: Rep. Lewis D. Campbell)
* Printing (Chairman: Rep. William G. Donnan; Vice Chairman: Rep. William P. Price)

## Caucuses

* Democratic (House)
* Democratic (Senate)

## Employees
### Legislative branch agency directors

* Architect of the Capitol: Edward Clark
* Librarian of Congress: Ainsworth Rand Spofford

### Senate

* Chaplain: John P. Newman (Methodist)
* Librarian: George S. Wagner, from 1871
* Secretary: George C. Gorham
* Sergeant at Arms: John R. French

### House of Representatives

* Chaplain: John G. Butler (Presbyterian)
* Clerk: Edward McPherson
* Clerk at the Speaker's Table: John M. Barclay
* Doorkeeper: Otis S. Buxton
* Postmaster: William S. King
* Reading Clerks: Charles N. Clisbee (D) and William K. Mehaffey (R)
* Sergeant at Arms: Nehemiah G. Ordway