39th United States Congress


The 39th 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, 1865, to March 4, 1867, during the first month of Abraham Lincoln's fifth year as president, and the first two years of the administration of his successor, U.S. President Andrew Johnson.
The apportionment of seats in this House of Representatives was based on the Eighth Census of the United States in 1860. Both chambers had a Republican majority.

Major events

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

During this Congress, two seats were added for the new state of Nebraska.

House of Representatives

During this Congress, one seat was added for the new state of Nebraska.

Leadership

Senate

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 1868; Class 2 meant their term began in this Congress, requiring reelection in 1870; and Class 3 meant their term ended in this Congress, requiring reelection in 1866.

Alabama">List of United States Senators from Alabama">Alabama

, until March 2, 1867
, from March 2, 1867

House of Representatives

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

[List of [United States Representatives from Alabama|Alabama]]

Changes in membership

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

Senate

Lists of committees and their party leaders, for members of the committees and their assignments, go into the Official Congressional Directory at the bottom of the article and click on the link, in the directory after the pages of terms of service, you will see the committees of the Senate, House and Joint and after the committee pages, you will see the House/Senate committee assignments in the directory, 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

Legislative branch agency">List of federal agencies in the United States#Legislative branch">Legislative branch agency directors

The Congressional Globe contains the official transcripts and proceedings of the Thirty-Ninth Congress, although newspapers often provided their own transcripts that sometimes differed from the official ones. Following are external links to the pertinent volumes of the Globe, which are downloadable and/or searchable via Google Books and HathiTrust:

SessionPartStart dateEnd datePagesGoogleHathi
FirstOneDecember 4, 1865February 21, 18661 to 960
FirstTwoFebruary 21, 1866April 12, 1866961 to 1920
FirstThreeApril 12, 1866May 29, 18661921 to 2880
FirstFourMay 29, 1866July 16, 18662881 to 3840
FirstFiveJuly 16, 1866July 28, 18663841 to 4310, plus Appendix
SecondOneDecember 3, 1866January 25, 18671 to 752
SecondTwoJanuary 25, 1867February 18, 1867753 to 1504
SecondThreeFebruary 18, 1867March 2, 18671505 to 2005, plus Appendix