39th United States Congress

The 39th United States Congress , made up of the House and Senate , was the United States' legislature . Its legislative period lasted from March 4, 1865 to March 4, 1867. All members of the House of Representatives and a third of the senators ( Class II ) were elected in the 1864 congressional elections. This resulted in a majority for the Republican Party in both chambers . The only remaining role for the Democratic Party was in the opposition. The congress met in the American capital Washington, DC President was Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson . The United States then consisted of 36 states. At the time of the election, the American Civil War was still in full swing and the eleven states of the Confederation were of course not represented in Congress. After the end of the war, but still in the course of this legislative period, Tennessee was the first former southern state to be accepted back into the Union, which was then represented accordingly in Congress. The other former secession states followed in the next two legislative periods. On March 1, 1867, Nebraska became the 37th state to join the Union. The distribution of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the 1860 census .

Important events

See also 1865 1866 and 1867

• March 4, 1865: beginning of the legislative period of the 40th Congress. At the same time, President Abraham Lincoln, who was also re-elected in November 1864, is introduced into his second term.
• During the entire legislative period the Indian wars continued in the west . In addition, the civil war continued until April 1865. Then the reconstruction period begins . In addition, the political relationship between the two parties is becoming increasingly tense, partly because of the reconstruction policy.
• April 9, 1865: The Civil War ends with the surrender of the Confederate Commander in Chief Robert Edward Lee . However, some units of the Confederation continued to fight for a few months. In June the last noteworthy unit surrenders.
• April 15, 1865: President Lincoln is assassinated. Vice President Andrew Johnson moves up to the highest office in America. In addition to the fatal assassination attempt on Lincoln, there was also a conspiracy to assassinate Secretary of State William H. Seward , who was injured but survived. A third assassination attempt on Andrew Johnson is planned but will not be carried out.
• April 26, 1865: The fleeing Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth is caught and shot by a soldier named Boston Corbett.
• April 27, 1865: The steamboat Sultana explodes about eight miles upstream from Memphis on the Mississippi River . The ship was hopelessly overloaded with former prisoners of war who were released from the Confederate camps after the war ended. An estimated 1,700 people were killed in the accident, around 200 more than 47 years later in the sinking of the Titanic.
• May 10, 1865: Former Confederate President Jefferson Davis is apprehended and arrested by Union forces in Georgia .
• July 5, 1865: The United States Secret Service is founded.
• July 7, 1865: Four of the perpetrators involved in the plot to assassinate President Lincoln are executed after being sentenced to death by a military tribunal.
• December 11, 1865: The United States House Committee on Appropriations is established.
• December 18, 1865: The 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified. With it, slavery will be abolished in the United States.
• December 24, 1865: The racist secret society Ku Klux Klan is founded in Pulaski , Tennessee.
• January 1866: After eleven years of construction, the dome of the Capitol in Washington DC is completed.
• July 24, 1866: Tennessee becomes the first state in the former confederation to re-join the Union.
• November 5, 1866: Republicans defend their majority in both houses in the congressional elections.
• March 1, 1837: Nebraska becomes the 37th state to join the Union.

The main laws

During the session of the 39th Congress, the following federal laws were passed ( see also: Legislative procedure ):

• April 9, 1866: Civil Rights Act of 1866
• July 16, 1866: Freedmen's Bureau Bill
• July 23, 1866: Judicial Circuits Act
• July 25, 1866: For the United States Army is by law the ranking general in the United States Army created. Today that's equivalent to a five-star general. It was a four-star general then. The then Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant was the first to receive this rank and is the first American four-star general, apart from the later posthumous promotions of George Washington .
• July 28, 1866: Metric Act of 1866. This makes the metric system legal in the United States, although not common in all areas.

Composition according to parties

senate

• Democratic Party: 9
• Republican Party: 41
• Others: 4
• Vacant: 20 (The senators from the former Confederate states except Tennessee)

Total: 74 at the end of the legislative period

House of Representatives

• Democratic Party: 41
• Republican Party: 134
• Others: 18
• Vacant: 49 (MPs from the former Confederate States)

Total: 242 at the end of the legislative period

There were also nine congressional delegates who were not entitled to vote

Public officials

senate

• President of the Senate : Andrew Johnson (D) until April 15, 1865, after which the office was vacant.
• President per tempore : Lafayette S. Foster (R) until March 2, 1867. Thereafter Benjamin Wade (R)

House of Representatives

• House Speaker : Schuyler Colfax (R)

Senate members

The following senators represented their respective states in the 39th Congress:

Alabama 2. Vacant 3. Vacant Arkansas 2. Vacant 3. Vacant California 1. John Conness (R) 3. James A. McDougall (D) Connecticut 1. James Dixon (R) 3. Lafayette S. Foster (R) Delaware 1. George R. Riddle (D) 2. Willard Saulsbury (D) Florida 1. Vacant 3. Vacant Georgia 2. Vacant 3. Vacant Illinois 2. Richard Yates (R) 3. Lyman Trumbull (R) Indiana 1. Thomas A. Hendricks (D) 3. Henry Smith Lane (R) Iowa 2. James W. Grimes (R) 3. James Harlan (R) until May 15, 1865 Samuel Jordan Kirkwood (R) from January 13, 1866 Kansas 2. James Henry Lane (R) until June 11, 1866 Edmund Gibson Ross (R) from July 19, 1866 3. Samuel C. Pomeroy (R) Kentucky 2. James Guthrie (D) 3. Garrett Davis (D) Louisiana 2. Vacant 3. Vacant Maine 1. Lot M. Morrill (R) 2. William P. Fessenden (R) Maryland 1. Reverdy Johnson (D) 3. John Creswell (U) Massachusetts 1. Charles Sumner (R) 2. Henry Wilson (R) Michigan 1. Zachariah Chandler (R) 2. Jacob M. Howard (R) Minnesota 1. Alexander Ramsey (R) 2. Daniel Sheldon Norton (R) Mississippi 1. Vacant 2. Vacant

Missouri 1. John B. Henderson (R) 3. B. Gratz Brown (R) Nebraska 1. Thomas Tipton (R) from March 1, 1867 2. John M. Thayer from March 1, 1867 Nevada 1. William M. Stewart (R) 3. James W. Nye (R) New Hampshire 2. Aaron H. Cragin (R) 3. Daniel Clark (R) until July 27, 1866 George G. Fogg (R) from August 31, 1866 New Jersey 1. William Wright (D) until November 1, 1866 Frederick T. Frelinghuysen (R) from November 12, 1866 2. John P. Stockton (D) from March 15, 1865 to March 27, 1866 Alexander G. Cattell (R) from September 19, 1866 new York 1. Edwin D. Morgan (R) 3. Ira Harris (R) North Carolina 2. Vacant 3. Vacant Ohio 1. Benjamin Wade (R) 3. John Sherman (R) Oregon 2. George H. Williams (R) 3. James W. Nesmith (D) Pennsylvania 1. Charles R. Buckalew (D) 3. Edgar Cowan (R) Rhode Island 1. William Sprague (R) 2. Henry B. Anthony (R) South carolina 2. Vacant 3. Vacant Tennessee 1. David T. Patterson (U) from July 28, 1866 2. Joseph S. Fowler (U) from July 24, 1866 Texas 1. Vacant 2. Vacant Vermont 1. Solomon Foot (R) through March 28, 1866 George F. Edmunds (R) from April 3, 1866 3. Jacob Collamer (R) until November 9, 1865 Luke P. Poland (R) from November 21, 1865 Virginia 1. Vacant 2. Vacant West Virginia 1. Peter G. Van Winkle (U) 2. Waitman T. Willey (R) Wisconsin 1. James Rood Doolittle (R) 3. Timothy Otis Howe (R)

Members of the House of Representatives

The following congressmen represented the interests of their respective states in the 39th Congress:

Alabama 6 constituencies 1. Vacant 2. Vacant 3. Vacant 4. Vacant 5. Vacant 6. Vacant Arkansas 3 constituencies 1. Vacant 2. Vacant 3. Vacant California 3 constituencies 1. Donald C. McRuer (R) 2. William Higby (R) 3. John Bidwell (R) Connecticut 4 constituencies 1. Henry C. Deming (R) 2. Samuel L. Warner (R) 3rd Augustus Brandegee (R) 4. John Henry Hubbard (R) Delaware state-wide choice John A. Nicholson (D) Florida State Vacant Georgia 7 constituencies 1. Vacant 2. Vacant 3. Vacant 4. Vacant 5. Vacant 6. Vacant 7. Vacant Illinois 13 constituencies plus one state-elected MP 1. John Wentworth (R) 2. John F. Farnsworth (R) 3. Elihu Benjamin Washburne (R) 4. Abner C. Harding (R) 5. Ebon C. Ingersoll (R) 6. Burton C. Cook (R) 7. Henry PH Bromwell (R) 8. Shelby Moore Cullom (R) 9. Lewis W. Ross (D) 10. Anthony Thornton (D) 11. Samuel S. Marshall (D) 12. Jehu Baker (R) 13. Andrew J. Kuykendall (R) 14. Samuel W. Moulton (R) Elected to the state Indiana 11 constituencies 1. William E. Niblack (D) 2. Michael C. Kerr (D) 3. Ralph Hill (R) 4. John Hanson Farquhar (R) 5. George Washington Julian (R) 6. Ebenezer Dumont (R) 7. Daniel W. Voorhees (D) until February 23, 1866 Henry Dana Washburn (R) from February 23, 1866 8. Godlove Stein Orth (R) 9. Schuyler Colfax (R) 10. Joseph H. Defrees (R) 11. Thomas N. Stilwell (R) Iowa 6 constituencies 1. James F. Wilson (R) 2. Hiram Price (R) 3. William B. Allison (R) 4. Josiah Bushnell Grinnell (R) 5. John A. Kasson (R) 6. Asahel W. Hubbard (R) Kansas state election Sidney Clarke (R) Kentucky 9 constituencies 1. Lawrence S. Trimble (D) 2. Burwell C. Ritter (D) 3. Henry Grider (D) until September 7, 1866 Elijah Hise (D) from December 3, 1866 4. Aaron Harding (D) 5. Lovell Harrison Rousseau (U) With one interruption between July and December 1866 6. Green Clay Smith (U) by July 1866 Andrew H. Ward (D) from December 3, 1866 7. George S. Shanklin (D) 8. William H. Randall (U) 9. Samuel McKee (U) Louisiana 5 constituencies 1. Vacant 2. Vacant 3. Vacant 4. Vacant 5. Vacant Maine 5 constituencies 1. John Lynch (R) 2. Sidney Perham (R) 3. James G. Blaine (R) 4. John H. Rice (R) 5. Frederick A. Pike (R) Maryland 5 constituencies. 1. Hiram McCullough (D) 2. Edwin Hanson Webster (U) through July 1865 John Lewis Thomas (U) from December 4, 1865 3. Charles E. Phelps (U) 4. Francis Thomas (U) 5. Benjamin Gwinn Harris (D) Massachusetts 10 constituencies 1. Thomas D. Eliot (R) 2. Oakes Ames (R) 3. Alexander H. Rice (R) 4. Samuel Hooper (R) 5. John B. Alley (R) 6. Daniel W. Gooch (R) until September 1, 1865 Nathaniel Prentiss Banks (R) from December 4, 1865 7. George S. Boutwell (R) 8. John Denison Baldwin (R) 9. William B. Washburn (R) 10. Henry L. Dawes (R) Michigan 6 constituencies 1. Fernando C. Beaman (R) 2. Charles Upson (R) 3. John W. Longyear (R) 4. Thomas W. Ferry (R) 5. Rowland E. Trowbridge (R) 6. John F. Driggs (R) Minnesota 2nd constituency 1. William Windom (R) 2. Ignatius Donnelly (R) Mississippi 5 constituencies 1. Vacant 2. Vacant 3. Vacant 4. Vacant 5. Vacant Missouri 9 constituencies 1. John Hogan (D) 2. Henry Taylor Blow (R) 3. Thomas Estes Noell (R) 4. John R. Kelso (Independent Republican) 5. Joseph W. McClurg (R) 6. Robert T. Van Horn (R) 7. Benjamin F. Loan (R) 8. John F. Benjamin (R) 9. George Washington Anderson (R) Nebraska State Choice Turner M. Marquette (R) from March 2, 1867 Nevada state-wide election Delos R. Ashley (R) New Hampshire 3 electoral divisions 1. Gilman Marston (R) 2. Edward H. Rollins (R) 3. James W. Patterson (R) New Jersey 5 constituencies 1. John F. Starr (R) 2. William A. Newell (R) 3. Charles Sitgreaves (D) 4. Andrew J. Rogers (D) 5. Edwin RV Wright (D)

New York 31 constituencies. 1. Stephen Taber (D) 2. Teunis G. Bergen (D) 3. James Humphrey (R) until June 16, 1866 John W. Hunter (D) from December 4, 1866 4. Morgan Jones (D) 5. Nelson Taylor (D) 6. Henry J. Raymond (R) 7. John Winthrop Chanler (D) 8. James Brooks (D) until April 7, 1866 William E. Dodge (R) from April 7, 1866 9. William Augustus Darling (R) 10. William Radford (D) 11. Charles H. Winfield (D) 12. John H. Ketcham (R) 13. Edwin N. Hubbell (D) 14. Charles Goodyear (D) 15. John Augustus Griswold (R) 16. Orlando Kellogg (R) until August 24, 1865 Robert S. Hale (R) from December 3, 1866 17. Calvin T. Hulburd (R) 18. James M. Marvin (R) 19. Demas Hubbard (R) 20. Addison H. Laflin (R) 21. Roscoe Conkling (R) 22. Sidney T. Holmes (R) 23. Thomas Treadwell Davis (R) 24. Theodore Medad Pomeroy (R) 25. Daniel Morris (R) 26. Giles W. Hotchkiss (R) 27. Hamilton Ward (R) 28. Roswell Hart (R) 29. Burt Van Horn (R) 30. James M. Humphrey (D) 31. Henry Van Aernam (R) North Carolina 7 constituencies 1. Vacant 2. Vacant 3. Vacant 4. Vacant 5. Vacant 6. Vacant 7. Vacant Ohio 19 constituencies 1. Benjamin Eggleston (R) 2. Rutherford B. Hayes (R) 3. Robert Cumming Schenck (R) 4. William Lawrence (R) 5. Francis Celeste Le Blond (D) 6. Reader W. Clarke (R) 7. Samuel Shellabarger (R) 8. James Randolph Hubbell (R) 9. Ralph Pomeroy Buckland (R) 10. James Mitchell Ashley (R) 11. Hezekiah S. Bundy (R) 12. William E. Finck (D) 13. Columbus Delano (R) 14. Martin Welker (R) 15. Tobias A. Plants (R) 16. John Bingham (R) 17. Ephraim R. Eckley (R) 18. Rufus P. Spalding (R) 19. James A. Garfield (R) Oregon state-wide election James Henderson (R) Pennsylvania 24 constituencies 1. Samuel J. Randall (D) 2. Charles O'Neill (R) 3. Leonard Myers (R) 4. William D. Kelley (R) 5. Martin Russell Thayer (R) 6. Benjamin Markley Boyer (D) 7. John Martin Broomall (R) 8. Sydenham Elnathan Ancona (D) 9. Thaddeus Stevens (R) 10. Myer Strouse (R) 11. Philip Johnson (D) until January 29, 1867 12. Charles Denison (D) 13. Ulysses Mercur (R) 14. George Funston Miller (R) 15. Adam John Glossbrenner (D) 16. Alexander Hamilton Coffroth (D) until February 19, 1866 William Henry Koontz (R) from July 18, 1866 17. Abraham Andrews Barker (R) 18. Stephen Fowler Wilson (R) 19. Glenni William Scofield (R) 20. Charles Vernon Culver (R) 21. John Littleton Dawson (D) 22. James K. Moorhead (R) 23. Thomas Williams (R) 24. George Van Eman Lawrence (R) Rhode Island 2 electoral districts 1. Thomas Jenckes (R) 2. Nathan Dixon (R) South Carolina 4 electoral divisions 1. Vacant 2. Vacant 3. Vacant 4. Vacant Tennessee 8 constituencies 1. Nathaniel Green Taylor (U) from July 24, 1866 2. Horace Maynard (U) from July 24, 1866 3. William Brickly Stokes (U) from July 24, 1866 4. Edmund Cooper (U) from July 24, 1866 5. William B. Campbell (U) from July 24, 1866 6. Samuel Mayes Arnell (U) from July 24, 1866 7. Isaac Roberts Hawkins (U) from July 24, 1866 8. John W. Leftwich (U) from July 24, 1866 Texas 4 constituencies 1. Vacant 2. Vacant 3. Vacant 4. Vacant Vermont 3 constituencies 1. Frederick E. Woodbridge (R) 2. Justin Smith Morrill (R) 3. Portus Baxter (R) Virginia 8 constituencies 1. Vacant 2. Vacant 3. Vacant 4. Vacant 5. Vacant 6. Vacant 7. Vacant 8. Vacant West Virginia 3 constituencies 1. Chester D. Hubbard (U) 2. George R. Latham (U) 3. Kellian Whaley (U) Wisconsin 6 constituencies 1. Halbert E. Paine (R) 2. Ithamar Sloan (R) 3. Amasa Cobb (R) 4. Charles A. Eldredge (D) 5. Philetus Sawyer (R) 6. Walter D. McIndoe (R)

Members of the House of Representatives who are not entitled to vote:

• Arizona Territory : John Noble Goodwin (R)
• Colorado Territory : Allen Alexander Bradford (R)
• Dakota Territory : Walter A. Burleigh (R)
• Idaho Territory : Edward Dexter Holbrook (D)
• Montana Territory : Samuel McLean (D)
• Nebraska Territory : Phineas Warren Hitchcock (R) through March 1, 1867
• New Mexico Territory : José Francisco Chaves (R)
• Utah Territory : William Henry Hooper (D)
• Washington Territory : Arthur A. Denny (R)

Web links

Commons : 39th United States Congress  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

• bioguide.congress.gov (by entering 39 under Year OR Congress: you get a list of the members of the 39th Congress with a link to the official biographies; English)