# 45th United States Congress

The 45th 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, 1877, to March 4, 1879, during the first two years of Rutherford Hayes's presidency. The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the 1870 United States census. The Senate had a Republican majority, and the House had a Democratic majority.
The 45th Congress remained politically divided between a Democratic House and Republican Senate. President Hayes vetoed an Army appropriations bill from the House which would have ended Reconstruction and prohibited the use of federal troops to protect polling stations in the former Confederacy. Striking back, Congress overrode another of Hayes's vetoes and enacted the Bland-Allison Act that required the purchase and coining of silver. Congress also approved a generous increase in pension eligibility for Northern Civil War veterans.

## Major events

* March 4, 1877: Rutherford B. Hayes became President of the United States

## Major legislation

* February 28, 1878: Bland–Allison Act (Coinage Act (Silver Dollar)), Sess. 2, ch. 20, 20 Stat. 25
* April 29, 1878: National Quarantine Act of 1878, Sess. 2, ch. 66, 20 Stat. 37
* June 3, 1878: Timber and Stone Act, Sess. 2, ch. 151, 20 Stat. 89
* June 18, 1878: Posse Comitatus Act, Sess. 2, ch. 263, §15, 20 Stat. 152

## 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.
During this Congress, two Senate seats and one House seat were added for the new state, Colorado.

### Senate

Republicans controlled the Senate through a VP-tie-breaking majority.
| | Party (shading shows control) | Party (shading shows control) | Party (shading shows control) | Party (shading shows control) | Total | Vacant |
| | Anti- Monopoly (AM) | Democratic (D) | Republican (R) | Independent (I) | Total | Vacant |
| End of previous congress | 1 | 30 | 45 | 0 | 76 | 0 |
| Begin | 1 | 35 | 39 | 1 | 76 | 0 |
| End | 1 | 36 | 38 | 1 | 76 | 0 |
| Final voting share | 1.3% | 47.4% | 50.0% | 1.3% | | |
| Beginning of next congress | 1 | 42 | 32 | 1 | 76 | 0 |

### House of Representatives

| | 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 | Independent Republican | Republican (R) | Greenback | Total | Vacant |
| End of previous congress | 183 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 100 | 0 | 291 | 1 |
| Begin | 149 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 141 | 0 | 292 | 1 |
| End | 153 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 136 | 0 | 291 | 2 |
| Final voting share | 52.6% | 0.7% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 46.7% | 0.0% | | |
| Non-voting members | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| Beginning of next congress | 145 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 131 | 11 | 292 | 1 |

## Leadership
### Senate

* President: William A. Wheeler (R)
* President pro tempore: Thomas W. Ferry (R)
* Republican Conference Chairman: Henry B. Anthony
* Democratic Caucus Chairman: William A. Wallace

### House of Representatives

* Speaker: Samuel J. Randall (D)
* Democratic Caucus Chairman: Hiester Clymer
* Republican Conference Chairman: Eugene Hale
* Democratic Campaign Committee Chairman: Joseph Clay Stiles Blackburn

## Members

This list is arranged by chamber, then by state. Senators are listed in order of seniority, and representatives are listed by district.

### 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 reelection in 1880; Class 2 meant their term began in this Congress, requiring reelection in 1882; and Class 3 meant their term ended in this Congress, requiring reelection in 1878.
    Skip to House of Representatives, below

### 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: 1 seat net loss
* Deaths: 2
* Resignations: 3
* Interim appointments: 1
* Contested elections: 0
* Total seats with changes: 5

### House of Representatives

* Replacements: 10
** Democratic: 5 seat net gain
** Republican: 5 seat net loss
* Deaths: 7
* Resignations: 1
* Contested election: 5
* Total seats with changes: 13

## 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: Algernon S. Paddock; Ranking Member: Henry G. Davis)
* Appropriations (Chairman: William Windom; Ranking Member: Henry G. Davis)
* Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses of the Senate (Chairman: John P. Jones; Ranking Member: George R. Dennis)
* Civil Service and Retrenchment (Chairman: Henry M. Teller; Ranking Member: Thomas C. McCreery)
* Claims (Chairman: Samuel J. R. McMillan; Ranking Member: Francis M. Cockrell)
* Commerce (Chairman: Roscoe Conkling; Ranking Member: John B. Gordon)
* Distributing Public Revenue Among the States (Select)
* District of Columbia (Chairman: Stephen W. Dorsey; Ranking Member: Augustus S. Merrimon)
* Education and Labor (Chairman: Ambrose E. Burnside; Ranking Member: John B. Gordon)
* Elections of 1878 (Select)
* Engrossed Bills (Chairman: Thomas F. Bayard; Ranking Member: Henry B. Anthony)
* Epidemic Diseases (Select)
* Examine the Several Branches in the Civil Service (Select) (Chairman: Jerome B. Chaffee; Ranking Member: Augustus S. Merrimon)
* Finance (Chairman: Justin S. Morrill; Ranking Member: Thomas F. Bayard)
* Foreign Relations (Chairman: Hannibal Hamlin; Ranking Member: Thomas C. McCreery)
* Hot Springs (Arkansas) Commission (Special)
* Indian Affairs (Chairman: William B. Allison; Ranking Member: Thomas C. McCreery)
* Judiciary (Chairman: George F. Edmunds; Ranking Member: David Davis)
* Late Presidential Election Louisiana
* Manufactures (Chairman: Edward H. Rollins; Ranking Member: John W. Johnston)
* Mexican Relations (Select)
* Military Affairs (Chairman: George E. Spencer; Ranking Member: Theodore F. Randolph)
* Mines and Mining (Chairman: William Sharon; Ranking Member: Frank Hereford)
* Mississippi River Levee System (Select) (Chairman: Blanche Bruce; Ranking Member: Francis M. Cockrell)
* Naval Affairs (Chairman: Aaron A. Sargent; Ranking Member: William P. Whyte)
* Ordnance and War Ships (Select)
* Patents (Chairman: Newton Booth; Ranking Member: Francis Kernan)
* Pensions (Chairman: John J. Ingalls; Ranking Member: Robert E. Withers)
* Post Office and Post Roads (Chairman: Thomas W. Ferry; Ranking Member: Ambrose E. Burnside)
* Private Land Claims (Chairman: Allen G. Thurman; Ranking Member: Isaac P. Christiancy)
* Privileges and Elections (Chairman: Bainbridge Wadleigh; Ranking Member: John J. Ingalls)
* Public Lands (Chairman: Richard J. Oglesby; Ranking Member: Joseph E. McDonald)
* Railroads (Chairman: John H. Mitchell; Ranking Member: Stanley Matthews)
* Revision of the Laws (Chairman: Isaac P. Christiancy; Ranking Member: William A. Wallace)
* Revolutionary Claims (Chairman: John W. Johnston; Ranking Member: Henry L. Dawes)
* Rules (Chairman: James G. Blaine; Ranking Member: Augustus S. Merrimon)
* Tariff Regulation (Select)
* Tenth Census (Select) (Chairman: Justin S. Morrill; Ranking Member: N/A)
* Territories (Chairman: John J. Patterson; Ranking Member: Augustus H. Garland)
* Transportation Routes to the Seaboard (Select) (Chairman: Angus Cameron; Ranking Member: N/A)
* Treasury Department Account Discrepancies (Select) (Chairman: Henry G. Davis; Ranking Member: John J. Ingalls)
* Whole

### House of Representatives

* Accounts (Chairman: Charles B. Roberts; Ranking Member: Henry W. Blair)
* Agriculture (Chairman: Augustus W. Cutler; Ranking Member: Walter L. Steele)
* Appropriations (Chairman: John DeWitt Clinton Atkins; Ranking Member: Eugene Hale)
* Banking and Currency (Chairman: Aylett H. Buckner; Ranking Member: Elizur K. Hart)
* Claims (Chairman: John M. Bright; Ranking Member: Daniel N. Lockwood)
* Coinage, Weights and Measures (Chairman: Alexander H. Stephens; Ranking Member: John B. Clarke)
* Commerce (Chairman: John H. Reagan; Ranking Member: John E. Kenna)
* District of Columbia (Chairman: Alpheus S. Williams then Joseph C.S. Blackburn; Ranking Member: Gabriel Bouck)
* Education and Labor (Chairman: John Goode; Ranking Member: Van H. Manning)
* Elections (Chairman: John T. Harris; Ranking Member: E. John Ellis)
* Enrolled Bills (Chairman: Andrew H. Hamilton; Ranking Member: Nelson H. Van Vorhes)
* Expenditures in the Interior Department (Chairman: William A.J. Sparks; Ranking Member: Edwin Willits)
* Expenditures in the Justice Department (Chairman: Edward S. Bragg; Ranking Member: Nicholas Muller)
* Expenditures in the Navy Department (Chairman: Benjamin A. Willis; Ranking Member: Jay A. Hubbell)
* Expenditures in the Post Office Department (Chairman: Jeremiah N. Williams; Ranking Member: Curtis H. Brogden)
* Expenditures in the State Department (Chairman: William M. Springer; Ranking Member: Thomas M. Bayne)
* Expenditures in the Treasury Department (Chairman: John M. Glover; Ranking Member: Henry L. Dickey)
* Expenditures in the War Department (Chairman: Joseph C. S. Blackburn; Ranking Member: Benjamin T. Eames)
* Expenditures on Public Buildings (Chairman: William P. Lynde; Ranking Member: William S. Stenger)
* Foreign Affairs (Chairman: Thomas Swann; Ranking Member: Benjamin Wilson)
* Indian Affairs (Chairman: Alfred M. Scales; Ranking Member: George M. Beebe)
* Invalid Pensions (Chairman: Americus V. Rice; Ranking Member: Clement H. Sinnickson)
* Judiciary (Chairman: J. Proctor Knott; Ranking Member: David B. Culberson)
* Levees and Improvements of the Mississippi River
* Manufactures (Chairman: Hendrick B. Wright; Ranking Member: Robert F. Ligon)
* Mileage (Chairman: Thomas R. Cobb; Ranking Member: Lorenzo Danford)
* Military Affairs (Chairman: Henry B. Banning; Ranking Member: Edward S. Bragg)
* Militia (Chairman: Miles Ross; Ranking Member: Thomas Turner)
* Mines and Mining (Chairman: George M. Beebe; Ranking Member: James T. Jones)
* Mississippi Levees (Chairman: Edward W. Robertson; Ranking Member: Benjamin F. Martin)
* Naval Affairs (Chairman: Washington C. Whitthorne; Ranking Member: Benjamin W. Harris)
* Pacific Railroads (Chairman: James W. Throckmorton; Ranking Member: Charles O'Neill)
* Patents (Chairman: Robert B. Vance; Ranking Member: Augustus W. Cutler)
* Post Office and Post Roads (Chairman: Alfred M. Waddell; Ranking Member: Terence J. Quinn then Joseph G. Cannon)
* Private Land Claims (Chairman: Thomas M. Gunter; Ranking Member: Dudley C. Denison)
* Public Buildings and Grounds (Chairman: Philip Cook; Ranking Member: James A. McKenzie)
* Public Expenditures (Chairman: Robert A. Hatcher; Ranking Member: Robert H.M. Davidson)
* Public Lands (Chairman: William R. Morrison; Ranking Member: William E. Smith)
* Railways and Canals (Chairman: George C. Cabell; Ranking Member: Alvah A. Clark)
* Revision of Laws (Chairman: William Walsh; Ranking Member: Walbridge A. Field)
* Rules (Select) (Chairman: Samuel J. Randall; Ranking Member: James A. Garfield)
* Revolutionary Pensions (Chairman: Levi A. Mackey; Ranking Member: William Kimmel)
* Standards of Official Conduct
* Territories (Chairman: Benjamin J. Franklin; Ranking Member: George A. Bagley)
* War Claims (Chairman: John R. Eden; Ranking Member: S. Addison Oliver)
* Ways and Means (Chairman: Fernando Wood; Ranking Member: William D. Kelley)
* Whole

### Joint committees

* Conditions of Indian Tribes (Special)
* Enrolled Bills (Chairman: Rep. Andrew H. Hamilton; Vice Chairman: Rep. Nelson H. Van Vorhes)
* The Library (Chairman: Rep. Samuel S. Cox; Vice Chairman: Rep. Eugene Hale)
* Printing (Chairman: Rep. Otho R. Singleton; Vice Chairman: Rep. Latimer W. Ballou)
* Reorganization of the Army
* Transfer of the Indian Bureau

## Caucuses

* Democratic (House)
* Democratic (Senate)

## Employees
### Legislative branch agency directors

* Architect of the Capitol: Edward Clark
* Librarian of Congress: Ainsworth Rand Spofford
* Public Printer of the United States: John D. Defrees

### Senate

* Chaplain: Byron Sunderland (Presbyterian)
* Librarian: George F. Dawson
* Secretary: George C. Gorham
* Sergeant at Arms: John R. French

### House of Representatives

* Chaplain: I.L. Townsend (Episcopalian), until October 15, 1877
** John Poise (Methodist), until December 3, 1877
** W. P. Harrison (Methodist), elected December 3, 1877
* Clerk: George M. Adams
* Clerk at the Speaker’s Table: William H. Scudder
** J. Randolph Tucker Jr.
* Doorkeeper: John W. Polk, elected October 17, 1877
** Charles W. Field, elected April 8, 1878
* Postmaster: James M. Steuart
* Reading Clerks: Thomas S. Pettit (D) and Neill S. Brown Jr. (R)
* Sergeant at Arms: John G. Thompson