54th United States Congress
53rd ←
→ 55th
United States Capitol (1906)
March 4, 1895 – March 4, 1897
Members90 senators
357 representatives
4 non-voting delegates
Senate majorityRepublican
Senate PresidentAdlai E. Stevenson (D)
House majorityRepublican
House SpeakerThomas B. Reed (R)
Sessions
1st: December 2, 1895 – June 11, 1896
2nd: December 7, 1896 – March 3, 1897

The 54th 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, 1895, to March 4, 1897, during the last two years of Grover Cleveland's second presidency. The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the 1890 United States census. The House had a Republican majority, and the Republicans were the largest party in the Senate.

Major events

Main articles: 1895 in the United States, 1896 in the United States, and 1897 in the United States

Major legislation

Main article: List of United States federal legislation § 54th United States Congress

States admitted

Party summary

This count 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) 		Total Vacant
Democratic
(D) 		Populist
(P)		Republican
(R)		Silver
Republican
(SR)		Silver
(S)
End of previous congress 43 3 41 0 1 88 0
Begin 39 4 42 0 2 87 1
End 40 44 900
Final voting share 44.4% 4.4% 48.9% 0.0% 2.2%
Beginning of next congress 33 5 43 5 2 88 2

House of Representatives

Party
(shading shows control) 		Total Vacant
Democratic
(D) 		Populist
(P)		Republican
(R)		Silver
(S)		Other
(O)
End of previous congress 214 11 123 1 1 350 6
Begin 104 7 240 1 0 352 4
End 94 9 252 3561
Final voting share 26.4% 2.5% 70.8% 0.3% 0.0%
Beginning of next congress 126 22 202 1 4[a] 355 2

Leadership

President of the Senate
Adlai E. Stevenson
Speaker of the House
Thomas B. Reed

Senate

Majority (Republican) leadership

Minority (Democratic) leadership

House of Representatives

Majority (Republican) leadership

Minority (Democratic) leadership

Members

This list is arranged by chamber, then by state. Senators are listed by class, 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 1898; Class 2 meant their term began in this Congress, requiring re-election in 1900; and Class 3 meant their term ended in this Congress, requiring re-election in 1896.

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

Two seats were added when Utah was admitted and one seat was filled late.

See also: List of special elections to the United States Senate
Senate changes
State
(class) 		Vacated by Reason for change Successor Date of successor's
formal installation[b]
Utah
(1) 		New seat State was admitted to the Union Frank J. Cannon (R) January 22, 1896 New seat Utah
(1) 		State was admitted to the Union Arthur Brown (R) January 22, 1896
Delaware
(2) 		Vacant Legislature had failed to elect.
A successor was eventually elected 		Richard R. Kenney
(D) 		January 19, 1897

House of Representatives

There were 4 deaths, 2 resignations, 13 election challenges, 1 new seat, and 4 seats vacant from the previous Congress. Democrats had a 10-seat net loss; Republicans had a 12-seat net gain; and Populists had a 2-seat net gain.

See also: List of special elections to the United States House of Representatives
House changes
District Vacated by Reason for change Successor Date of successor's
formal installation[b]
New York 10 Vacant Representative-elect Andrew J. Campbell died before the start of Congress.
New member elected November 5, 1895. 		Amos J. Cummings (D) November 5, 1895
Illinois 10 Vacant Philip S. Post (R) was re-elected, but died before this Congress.
New member elected December 2, 1895. 		George W. Prince (R) December 2, 1895
Michigan 3 Vacant Julius C. Burrows (R) was re-elected, but resigned in the previous Congress to serve in the Senate.
New member elected December 2, 1895. 		Alfred Milnes (R) December 2, 1895
Pennsylvania 15 Vacant Rep-elect Myron B. Wright died in office. New member elected November 5, 1895. James H. Codding (R) November 5, 1895
Utah Territory at-large Frank J. Cannon (R) Seat eliminated January 4, 1896, upon statehood. Seat eliminated
Utah at-large New seat State was admitted to the Union.
New member elected November 5, 1895. 		Clarence E. Allen (R) January 4, 1896
Georgia 10 James C. C. Black (D) Resigned March 4, 1895.
Incumbent was subsequently re-elected October 2, 1895. 		James C. C. Black (D) October 2, 1895
Massachusetts 6 William Cogswell (R) Died May 22, 1895.
New member elected November 5, 1895. 		William H. Moody (R) November 5, 1895
Illinois 18 Frederick Remann (R) Died July 14, 1895.
New member elected December 2, 1895. 		William F. L. Hadley (R) December 2, 1895
Illinois 3 Lawrence E. McGann (D) Election was successfully challenged December 27, 1895. Hugh R. Belknap (R) December 27, 1895
Texas 11 William H. Crain (D) Died February 10, 1896.
New member elected April 7, 1896. 		Rudolph Kleberg (D) April 7, 1896
Missouri 5 John C. Tarsney (D) Election was successfully challenged February 27, 1896. Robert T. Van Horn (R) February 27, 1896
Alabama 4 Gaston A. Robbins (D) Election was successfully challenged March 13, 1896. William F. Aldrich (R) March 13, 1896
Virginia 4 William R. McKenney (D) Election was successfully challenged May 2, 1896. Robert T. Thorp (R) May 2, 1896
Louisiana 5 Charles J. Boatner (D) Election was challenged and declared vacant March 20, 1896.
Incumbent was subsequently elected June 10, 1896. 		Charles J. Boatner (D) June 10, 1896
Alabama 5 James E. Cobb (D) Election was successfully challenged April 21, 1896. Albert T. Goodwyn (P) April 22, 1896
South Carolina 7 J. William Stokes (D) Seat declared vacant June 1, 1896.
Incumbent was subsequently elected November 3, 1896. 		J. William Stokes (D) November 3, 1896
New York 8 James J. Walsh (D) Election was successfully challenged June 2, 1896. John M. Mitchell (R) June 2, 1896
South Carolina 1 William Elliott (D) Election was successfully challenged June 4, 1896. George W. Murray (R) June 4, 1896
Illinois 16 Finis E. Downing (D) Election was successfully challenged June 5, 1896. John I. Rinaker (R) June 5, 1896
North Carolina 6 James A. Lockhart (D) Election was successfully challenged June 5, 1896. Charles H. Martin (P) June 5, 1896
Alabama 9 Oscar W. Underwood (D) Election was successfully challenged June 9, 1896. Truman H. Aldrich (R) June 9, 1896
Georgia 3 Charles F. Crisp (D) Died October 23, 1896.
New member elected December 19, 1896. 		Charles R. Crisp (D) December 19, 1896
New York 19 Frank S. Black (R) Resigned January 7, 1897. Vacant until next Congress
Kentucky 10 Joseph M. Kendall (D) Election was successfully challenged February 18, 1897. Nathan T. Hopkins (R) February 18, 1897

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.

Joint committees

Caucuses

Employees

Legislative branch agency directors

Senate

House of Representatives

See also

References

  1. ^ Silver Republican & Independent
  2. ^ a b When seated or oath administered, not necessarily when service began.

External links

United States congresses (and year convened)
Category