# 43rd United States Congress

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, 18 Stat. 253
* January 14, 1875: Specie Payment Resumption Act ch. 15, 18 Stat. 296
* March 1, 1875: Civil Rights Act of 1875, (Butler-Sumner Act) 18 Stat. 335
* March 3, 1875: Tariff of 1875
* March 3, 1875: Page Act of 1875, 18 Stat. 477

## 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

| | Party (shading shows control) | Party (shading shows control) | Party (shading shows control) | Party (shading shows control) | Total | Vacant |
| | Democratic (D) | Anti- Monopoly (AM) | Liberal Republican (LR) | Republican (R) | Total | Vacant |
| End of previous congress | 17 | 0 | 1 | 54 | 72 | 2 |
| Begin | 19 | 0 | 3 | 50 | 72 | 2 |
| End | 20 | 0 | 2 | 51 | 73 | 1 |
| Final voting share | 27.4% | 0.0% | 2.7% | 69.9% | | |
| Beginning of next congress | 28 | 1 | 0 | 43 | 72 | 2 |

### House of Representatives

Before this Congress, the 1870 United States census and resulting reapportionment changed the size of the House to 292 members.
| | Party (shading shows control) | 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 Democratic (ID) | Independent (I) | Independent Republican (IR) | Liberal Republican (LR) | Republican (R) | Total | Vacant |
| End of previous congress | 97 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 140 | 242 | 1 |
| Begin | 87 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 198 | 290 | 2 |
| End | 91 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 193 | 290 | 2 |
| Final voting share | 31.4% | 0.3% | 0.0% | 0.3% | 1.4% | 66.6% | | |
| Beginning of next congress | 177 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 101 | 286 | 5 |

## 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.

### 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: 5
** Democratic: 1 seat net gain
** Republican: no net change
** Liberal Republican: 1 seat net loss
* Deaths: 3
* Resignations: 3
* Interim appointments: 1
* Vacancy: 1
* Total seats with changes: 7

### House of Representatives

* Replacements: 15
** Democratic: 3 seat net gain
** Republican: 4 seat net loss
** Liberal Republican: 1 seat net gain
* Deaths: 8
* Resignations: 5
* Contested election: 4
* Total seats with changes: 19

## 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: George R. Dennis)
* Appropriations (Chairman: Lot M. Morrill; Ranking Member: William B. Allison)
* Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses of the Senate (Chairman: Matthew H. Carpenter; Ranking Member: George R. Dennis)
* Civil Service and Retrenchment (Chairman: George G. Wright; Ranking Member: Timothy O. Howe)
* Claims (Chairman: John Scott; Ranking Member: George S. Boutwell)
* Commerce (Chairman: Zachariah Chandler; Ranking Member: George S. Boutwell)
* Distributing Public Revenue Among the States (Select)
* District of Columbia (Chairman: John F. Lewis; Ranking Member: John P. Jones)
* Education and Labor (Chairman: James W. Flanagan; Ranking Member: Oliver P. Morton)
* Engrossed Bills (Chairman: Thomas F. Bayard; Ranking Member: Henry Cooper)
* Finance (Chairman: John Sherman; Ranking Member: Thomas W. Ferry)
* Foreign Relations (Chairman: Simon Cameron; Ranking Member: Roscoe Conkling)
* Indian Affairs (Chairman: William A. Buckingham; Ranking Member: John J. Ingalls)
* Judiciary (Chairman: George F. Edmunds; Ranking Member: George G. Wright)
* Manufactures (Chairman: Thomas J. Robertson; Ranking Member: Reuben E. Fenton)
* Military Affairs (Chairman: John A. Logan; Ranking Member: Bainbridge Wadleigh)
* Mines and Mining (Chairman: Hannibal Hamlin; Ranking Member: George Goldthwaite)
* Mississippi River Levee System (Select)
* Naval Affairs (Chairman: Aaron H. Cragin; Ranking Member: Simon B. Conover)
* Ordnance and War Ships (Select)
* Outrages in Southern States (Select)
* Patents (Chairman: Orris S. Ferry; Ranking Member: William T. Hamilton)
* Pensions (Chairman: Daniel D. Pratt; Ranking Member: Morgan C. Hamilton)
* Post Office and Post Roads (Chairman: Alexander Ramsey; Ranking Member: John P. Jones)
* Private Land Claims (Chairman: Allen G. Thurman; Ranking Member: Thomas F. Bayard)
* Privileges and Elections (Chairman: Oliver P. Morton; Ranking Member: John H. Mitchell)
* Public Buildings and Grounds (Chairman: Justin S. Morrill; Ranking Member: John J. Patterson)
* Public Lands (Chairman: William Sprague; Ranking Member: Bainbridge Wadleigh)
* Railroads (Chairman: William M. Stewart; Ranking Member: Timothy O. Howe)
* Removal of Political Disabilities (Select)
* Retrenchment
* Revision of the Laws (Chairman: Hannibal Hamlin; Ranking Member: James L. Alcorn)
* Revolutionary Claims (Chairman: William G. Brownlow; Ranking Member: John W. Johnston)
* Rules (Select)
* Tariff Regulation (Select)
* Territories (Chairman: Arthur I. Boreman; Ranking Member: John J. Patterson)
* Transportation Routes to the Seaboard (Select) (Chairman: William Windom; Ranking Member: John H. Mitchell)
* Whole

### House of Representatives

* Accounts (Chairman: James Buffington; Ranking Member: Alexander S. Wallace)
* Agriculture (Chairman: Charles Hays; Ranking Member: Sobieski Ross)
* Appropriations (Chairman: James A. Garfield; Ranking Member: James N. Tyner)
* Alabama Affairs (Select)
* Arkansas Affairs (Select)
* Banking and Currency (Chairman: Horace Maynard; Ranking Member: Jay Abel Hubbell)
* Claims (Chairman: John B. Hawley; Ranking Member: Julius C. Burrows)
* Coinage, Weights and Measures (Chairman: Samuel Hooper; Ranking Member: Horace B. Strait)
* Commerce (Chairman: William A. Wheeler; Ranking Member: Richard C. Parsons)
* District of Columbia (Chairman: Alfred C. Harmer; Ranking Member: Charles Pelham)
* Education and Labor (Chairman: James Monroe; Ranking Member: Alexander S. McDill)
* Elections (Chairman: Horace B. Smith; Ranking Member: Horace H. Harrison)
* Expenditures in the Interior Department (Chairman: Jackson Orr; Ranking Member: James C. Robinson)
* Expenditures in the Justice Department (Chairman: James B. Sener; Ranking Member: Robert M. Speer)
* Expenditures in the Navy Department (Chairman: Julius C. Burrows; Ranking Member: John A. Magee)
* Expenditures in the Post Office Department (Chairman: Henry W. Barry; Ranking Member: Pierce M. B. Young)
* Expenditures in the State Department (Chairman: Jasper Packard; Ranking Member: William R. Morrison)
* Expenditures in the Treasury Department (Chairman: J. Hale Sypher; Ranking Member: John G. Schumaker)
* Expenditures in the War Department (Chairman: William Williams; Ranking Member: John M. Bright)
* Expenditures on Public Buildings (Chairman: R. Holland Duell; Ranking Member: Henry O. Pratt)
* Freedmen's Affairs (Chairman: Clinton L. Cobb; Ranking Member: J. Allen Barber)
* Foreign Affairs (Chairman: Godlove Stein Orth; Ranking Member: William J. Albert)
* Indian Affairs (Chairman: John T. Averill; Ranking Member: John D. Lawson)
* Invalid Pensions (Chairman: Jeremiah McLain Rusk; Ranking Member: William B. Small)
* Judiciary (Chairman: Benjamin F. Butler; Ranking Member: Alexander White)
* Manufactures (Chairman: Charles B. Farwell; Ranking Member: Laurin D. Woodworth)
* Mileage (Chairman: Hezekiah S. Bundy; Ranking Member: James W. Nesmith)
* Military Affairs (Chairman: John Coburn; Ranking Member: Clinton D. MacDougall)
* Militia (Chairman: Roderick R. Butler; Ranking Member: Josiah T. Walls)
* Mines and Mining (Chairman: David P. Lowe; Ranking Member: Christopher C. Sheats)
* Naval Affairs (Chairman: Glenni W. Scofield; Ranking Member: John H. Burleigh)
* Pacific Railroads (Chairman: Philetus Sawyer; Ranking Member: James W. McDill)
* Patents (Chairman: Omar D. Conger; Ranking Member: Henry B. Sayler)
* Post Office and Post Roads (Chairman: John B. Packer; Ranking Member: Stephen A. Cobb)
* Private Land Claims (Chairman: Jasper Packard; Ranking Member: James C. Freeman)
* Public Buildings and Grounds (Chairman: James H. Platt Jr.; Ranking Member: Lloyd Lowndes Jr.)
* Public Expenditures (Chairman: Harrison E. Havens; Ranking Member: Josiah W. Begole)
* Public Lands (Chairman: Washington Townsend; Ranking Member: William A. Phillips)
* Railways and Canals (Chairman: George W. McCrary; Ranking Member: Alexander W. Taylor)
* Reform on Civil Service (Chairman: Stephen W. Kellogg; Ranking Member: James D. Strawbridge)
* Revision of Laws (Chairman: Luke P. Poland; Ranking Member: William S. Moore)
* Revolutionary Pensions and War of 1812 (Chairman: Lazarus D. Shoemaker; Ranking Member: William Crutchfield)
* Rules (Select) (Chairman: James G. Blaine; Ranking Member: Samuel S. Cox)
* Standards of Official Conduct
* Territories (Chairman: George C. McKee; Ranking Member: Greenbury L. Fort)
* War Claims (Chairman: William Lawrence; Ranking Member: Abraham H. Smith)
* Ways and Means (Chairman: Henry L. Dawes; Ranking Member: Lionel A. Sheldon)
* Whole

### Joint committees

* Conditions of Indian Tribes (Special)
* Enrolled Bills (Chairman: Rep. Chester B. Darrall; Vice Chairman: Rep. Henry R. Harris)
* Inquire into the Affairs of the District of Columbia (Select) (Chairman: Rep. Jeremiah M. Wilson; Vice Chairman: Rep. Hugh J. Jewett)
* The Library (Chairman: Rep. William P. Frye; Vice Chairman: Rep. Hiester Clymer)
* Printing (Chairman: Rep. William G. Donnan; Vice Chairman: Rep. Alfred M. Waddell)

## 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), until December 8, 1873
** Byron Sunderland (Presbyterian), elected December 8, 1873
* Librarian: George S. Wagner
* 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: Henry Sherwood, elected December 1, 1873
* Reading Clerks: Charles N. Clisbee (D) and William K. Mehaffey (R)
* Sergeant at Arms: Nehemiah G. Ordway