This is a list of members of the U.S. House of Representatives in the 4th United States Congress by seniority. For the most part, representatives are ranked by the beginning of their terms in office.
As an historical article, the districts and party affiliations listed reflect those during the 4th Congress (March 4, 1795 – March 3, 1797). Seats and party affiliations on similar lists for other Congresses will be different for certain members.
This article describes the criteria for seniority in the House of Representatives and sets out the list of members by seniority. It is prepared on the basis of the interpretation of seniority applied to the House of Representatives in the 112th Congress. In the absence of information to the contrary, it is presumed that the twenty-first century practice is identical to the seniority customs used during the 4th Congress.[1]
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Seniority in the House, for Congressmen with unbroken service, depends on the date on which the members first term began. That date is either the start of the Congress (4th March in odd numbered years, for the era up to and including the 73rd Congress starting in 1933) or the date of a special election during the Congress. Since many members start serving on the same day as others, ranking between them is based on alphabetical order by the last name of the congressman.
Congressmen, in early Congresses, were often elected after the legal start of the Congress. Representatives are attributed with unbroken seniority, from the legal start of the congressional term, if they were the first person elected to a seat in a Congress. The date of the election is indicated in a note.
The seniority date is normally taken from the members entry in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, except where the date given is the legal start of the Congress and the actual election (for someone who was not the first person elected to the seat in that Congress) was later. The date of election is taken from United States Congressional Elections 1788-1997. In a few instances the latter work provides dates, for the start and end of terms, which correct those in the Biographical Directory.
The Biographical Directory normally uses the date of a special election, as the seniority date. However, mostly in early Congresses, the date of the member taking his seat can be the one given. The date of the special election is mentioned in a note to the list below, when that date is not used as the seniority date by the Biographical Directory.
Representatives who returned to the House, after having previously served, are credited with service equal to one less than the total number of terms they served. When a representative has served a prior term of less than two terms (i.e., prior term minus one equals less than one), he is ranked above all others whose service begins on the same day.
In this Congress the only formal leader was the Speaker of the House. A Speakership ballot was held on December 7, 1795 and Jonathan Dayton (F-NJ) was elected. [2]
The House created its first standing committee, on April 13, 1789. There were four standing committees in the 4th Congress. In addition there was a Ways and Means Committee. Although the Ways and Means Committee was not formally added to the main list of standing committees until 1802, the 2011 committee considers it to be a forerunner.
Committees, in this period, were appointed for a session at a time and not necessarily for every one in a Congress. The Speaker appointed the members.
This list refers to the standing committees of the House in the 4th Congress, the year of establishment as a standing committee, the number of members assigned to the committee and the dates of appointment in each session, the end of the session and its chairman. Chairmen, who were re-appointed after serving in the previous Congress, are indicated by an *. [3]
| No. | Committee | From | Mbrs | Appointed | Chairman |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Claims | 1794 | 7 | December 10, 1795-June 1, 1796 | *Uriah Tracy (F-CT) |
| December 8, 1796-March 3, 1797 | Dwight Foster (F-MA) | ||||
| 02 | Commerce and Manufactures | 1795 | 7 | December 14, 1795-June 1, 1796 | Benjamin Goodhue (F-MA) |
| December 9, 1796-March 3, 1797 | John Swanwick (DR-PA) | ||||
| 03 | Elections | 1789 | 7 | December 7, 1795-June 1, 1796 | Abraham B. Venable (DR-VA) |
| December 6, 1796-March 3, 1797 | |||||
| 04 | Revisal and Unfinished Business | 1795 | 3 | December 9, 1795-June 1, 1796 | Nicholas Gilman (F-NH) |
| December 6, 1796-March 3, 1797 | |||||
| 05 | Ways and Means | [1794] | 14 | December 21, 1795-June 1, 1796 | *William L. Smith (F-SC) |
| 16 | December 16, 1796-March 3, 1797 |
A numerical rank is assigned to each of the 105 members initially elected to the 4th Congress. Other members, who were not the first person elected to a seat but who joined the House during the Congress, are not assigned a number (apart from the member from a new state numbered 106).
Two Representatives-elect were not sworn in, as they respectively declined to serve and resigned (probably before the start of this Congress). The list below includes the Representatives-elect (with name in italics), with the seniority they would have held if they had been sworn in.
Party designations used in this article are D-R for Democratic-Republican members and F for Federalist representatives. Designations used for service in the first three congresses are A for Anti-Administration members and P for Pro-Administration representatives.
| Rank | Representative | Party | District | Seniority date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Four consecutive terms | |||||
| 001 | Fisher Ames | F | MA-8 | March 4, 1789 | (P) 1789-95. Last term. |
| 002 | Abraham Baldwin | DR | GA-al | (A) 1789-95 | |
| 003 | Nicholas Gilman | F | NH-al | (P) 1789-95. Chairman: Revisal and Unfinished Business. Last term. | |
| 004 | Benjamin Goodhue | F | MA-10 | (P) 1789-95. Chairman: Commerce and Manufactures. Resigned, to become US Senator: June 1796. |
|
| 005 | Thomas Hartley | F | PA-8 | (P) 1789-95 | |
| 006 | Daniel Hiester | DR | PA-5 | (A) 1789-95. Resigned July 1, 1796. | |
| 007 | James Madison | DR | VA-15 | (A) 1789-95. Elected to this Congress: March 16, 1795. Last term. | |
| 008 | Andrew Moore | DR | VA-2 | (A) 1789-95. Elected to this Congress: March 16, 1795. Last term until 8th Congress. |
|
| 009 | Frederick Muhlenberg | DR | PA-2 | (P) 1789-91; (A) 1791-95. Last term. | |
| 010 | John Page | DR | VA-12 | (A) 1789-95. Elected to this Congress: March 16, 1795. Last term. | |
| 011 | Josiah Parker | F | VA-11 | (A) 1789-93; (P) 1793-95. Elected to this Congress: March 16, 1795. | |
| 012 | Theodore Sedgwick | F | MA-1 | (P) 1789-95. Resigned, to become US Senator: June 1796. Last term until 6th Congress. |
|
| 013 | William L. Smith | F | SC-1 | (P) 1789-95. Chairman: Ways and Means. | |
| 014 | George Thatcher | F | MA-14 | (P) 1789-95 | |
| 015 | Jonathan Trumbull, Jr. | F | CT-al | (P) 1789-95. Resigned, as Representative-elect: c. February 1795. [4] | |
| 016 | William B. Giles | DR | VA-9 | December 7, 1790 | (A) December 7, 1790-95. Elected to this Congress: March 16, 1795. |
| 017 | Benjamin Bourne | F | RI-al | December 17, 1790 | (P) December 17, 1790-95. Resigned 1796. |
| Three consecutive terms | |||||
| 018 | Jonathan Dayton | F | NJ-al | March 4, 1791 | (P) 1791-95. Speaker of the House. |
| 019 | William Findley | DR | PA-11 | (A) 1791-95 | |
| 020 | Andrew Gregg | DR | PA-9 | ||
| 021 | William B. Grove | F | NC-7 | (P) 1791-95 | |
| 022 | James Hillhouse | F | CT-al | (P) 1791-95. Resigned, to become US Senator: July 1, 1796. | |
| 023 | John W. Kittera | F | PA-7 | (P) 1791-95 | |
| 024 | Nathaniel Macon | DR | NC-5 | (A) 1791-95 | |
| 025 | William V. Murray | F | MD-8 | (P) 1791-95. Last term. | |
| 026 | Jeremiah Smith | F | NH-al | (P) 1791-95 | |
| 027 | Abraham B. Venable | DR | VA-7 | (A) 1791-95. Elected to this Congress: March 16, 1795. Chairman: Elections. |
|
| 028 | Israel Smith | DR | VT-1 | October 17, 1791 | (A) October 17, 1791-95. Last term until 7th Congress. |
| 029 | Alexander D. Orr | DR | KY-2 | November 8, 1792 | (A) November 8, 1792-95. Elected to this Congress: September 5, 1795. Last term. |
| 030 | Christopher Greenup | DR | KY-1 | November 9, 1792 | (A) November 9, 1792-95. Elected to this Congress: September 5, 1795. Last term. |
| 031 | William Hindman | F | MD-7 | January 30, 1793 | (P) January 30, 1793-95 |
| Three non-consecutive terms | |||||
| 032 | Isaac Coles | DR | VA-6 | March 4, 1793 | Previously served (A) 1789-91. (A) 1793-95. Elected to this Congress: March 16, 1795. Last term. |
| 033 | George Leonard | F | MA-7 | March 4, 1795 | Previously served (P) 1789-93. Elected to this Congress: June 1, 1795. Last term. |
| Two consecutive terms | |||||
| 034 | Theodorus Bailey | DR | NY-5 | March 4, 1793 | (A) 1793-95. Last term until 6th Congress. |
| 035 | Lemuel Benton | DR | SC-3 | (A) 1793-95 | |
| 036 | Thomas Blount | DR | NC-9 | ||
| 037 | Gabriel Christie | DR | MD-6 | (A) 1793-95. Last term until 6th Congress. | |
| 038 | Thomas Claiborne | DR | VA-8 | (A) 1793-95. Elected to this Congress: March 16, 1795. | |
| 039 | Henry Dearborn | DR | MA-12 | (A) 1793-95. Last term. | |
| 040 | George Dent | F | MD-1 | (P) 1793-95 | |
| 041 | Dwight Foster | F | MA-4 | (P) 1793-95. Chairman: Claims (1796). | |
| 042 | Ezekiel Gilbert | F | NY-6 | (P) 1793-95. Last term. | |
| 043 | James Gillespie | DR | NC-6 | (A) 1793-95 | |
| 044 | Henry Glen | F | NY-8 | (P) 1793-95 | |
| 045 | George Hancock | F | VA-5 | (P) 1793-95. Elected to this Congress: March 16, 1795. Last term. | |
| 046 | Carter B. Harrison | DR | VA-10 | (A) 1793-95. Elected to this Congress: March 16, 1795. | |
| 047 | John Heath | DR | VA-19 | (A) 1793-95. Elected to this Congress: March 16, 1795. Last term. | |
| 048 | Matthew Locke | DR | NC-2 | (A) 1793-95 | |
| 049 | William Lyman | DR | MA-2 | (A) 1793-95. Last term. | |
| 050 | Francis Malbone | F | RI-al | (P) 1793-95. Last term. | |
| 051 | Anthony New | DR | VA-16 | (A) 1793-95. Elected to this Congress: March 16, 1795. | |
| 052 | John Nicholas | DR | VA-18 | ||
| 053 | Francis Preston | DR | VA-4 | (A) 1793-95. Elected to this Congress: March 16, 1795. Last term. | |
| 054 | Robert Rutherford | DR | VA-1 | ||
| 055 | John S. Sherburne | DR | NH-al | (A) 1793-95. Last term. | |
| 056 | Samuel Smith | DR | MD-5 | (A) 1793-95 | |
| 057 | Thomas Sprigg | DR | MD-4 | (A) 1793-95. Last term. | |
| 058 | John E. Van Alen | F | NY-7 | (P) 1793-95 | |
| 059 | Philip Van Cortlandt | DR | NY-3 | (A) 1793-95 | |
| 060 | Peleg Wadsworth | F | MA-13 | (P) 1793-95 | |
| 061 | Richard Winn | DR | SC-4 | (A) 1793-95. Last term until 7th Congress. | |
| 062 | Uriah Tracy | F | CT-al | April 8, 1793 | (P) April 8, 1793-95. Chairman: Claims. Resigned October 13, 1796. |
| 063 | Joshua Coit | F | CT-al | November 11, 1793 | (P) November 11, 1793-95 |
| 064 | Zephaniah Swift | F | CT-al | (P) November 11, 1793-95. Last term. | |
| 065 | John Patten | DR | DE-al | March 4, 1795 | Previously served (A) 1793-February 14, 1794. Last term. |
| 066 | Gabriel Duvall | DR | MD-2 | May 5, 1794 | (A) May 5, 1794-95. Resigned March 28, 1796. [5] |
| 067 | Aaron Kitchell | F | NJ-al | January 29, 1795 | Previously served (P) 1791-93. (P) January 29-March 3, 1795. Last term until 6th Congress. |
| 068 | Robert G. Harper | F | SC-5 | February 9, 1795 | Special election to 3rd Congress: October 13-14, 1794. (P) February 9-March 3, 1795. [6] |
| Two non-consecutive terms | |||||
| 069 | Robert Barnwell | F | SC-2 | March 4, 1795 | Previously served (P) 1791-93. Declined to serve, as Representative-elect, before the Congress started. [7] |
| 070 | John Hathorn | D-R | NY-4 | Previously served (A) 1789-91. Last term. | |
| 071 | Abiel Foster | F | NH-al | Previously served (P) June 22, 1789-91 | |
| 072 | John Milledge | D-R | GA-al | Previously served (A) November 22, 1792-93 | |
| One term | |||||
| 073 | David Bard | DR | PA-10 | March 4, 1795 | |
| 074 | Theophilus Bradbury | F | MA-11 | Elected to this Congress: March 23, 1795 | |
| 075 | Richard Brent | DR | VA-11 | Elected to this Congress: March 16, 1795 | |
| 076 | Nathan Bryan | DR | NC-10 | ||
| 077 | Daniel Buck | F | VT-2 | Only term (elected to 5th Congress but did not serve) | |
| 078 | Dempsey Burges | DR | NC-8 | ||
| 079 | Samuel J. Cabell | DR | VA-14 | Elected to this Congress: March 16, 1795 | |
| 080 | John Clopton | DR | VA-13 | ||
| 081 | William Cooper | F | NY-10 | Only term until 6th Congress | |
| 082 | Jeremiah Crabb | F | MD-3 | Only term. Resigned 1796. | |
| 083 | Samuel Earle | DR | SC-6 | Only term | |
| 084 | Jesse Franklin | DR | NC-3 | ||
| 085 | Nathaniel Freeman, Jr. | F | MA-5 | ||
| 086 | Albert Gallatin | DR | PA-12 | ||
| 087 | Chauncey Goodrich | F | CT-al | ||
| 088 | Roger Griswold | F | CT-al | ||
| ... | Wade Hampton | DR | SC-2 | Special election before start of term. Only term until 8th Congress. | |
| 089 | Jonathan N. Havens | DR | NY-1 | ||
| 090 | Thomas Henderson | F | NJ-al | Only term | |
| 091 | James Holland | DR | NC-1 | Only term until 7th Congress | |
| 092 | George Jackson | DR | VA-3 | Elected to this Congress: March 16, 1795. Only term until 6th Congress | |
| 093 | Edward Livingston | DR | NY-2 | ||
| 094 | Samuel Lyman | F | MA-3 | ||
| 095 | Samuel Maclay | DR | PA-6 | Only term | |
| 096 | John Reed, Sr. | F | MA-6 | ||
| 097 | John Richards | DR | PA-6 | Seated, after an election dispute: January 18, 1796. Only term | |
| 098 | Samuel Sitgreaves | F | PA-4 | ||
| 099 | Isaac Smith | F | NJ-al | Only term | |
| 100 | John Swanwick | DR | PA-1 | Chairman: Commerce and Manufactures (1796) | |
| 101 | Absalom Tatom | DR | NC-4 | Resigned June 1, 1796 | |
| 102 | Richard Thomas | F | PA-3 | ||
| 103 | Mark Thomson | F | NJ-al | ||
| 104 | Joseph B. Varnum | DR | MA-9 | Elected to this Congress March 28, 1795 | |
| 105 | John Williams | F | NY-9 | ||
| Members joining the House, after the start of the Congress | |||||
| ... | Nathaniel Smith | F | CT-al | April 13, 1795 | Special election [8] |
| ... | Richard Sprigg, Jr. | DR | MD-2 | May 5, 1796 | Special election |
| ... | Elisha R. Potter | F | RI-al | November 15, 1796 | |
| ... | William F. Strudwick | F | NC-4 | November 28, 1796 | Special election. Only term. |
| ... | William Craik | F | MD-3 | December 5, 1796 | Special election |
| ... | James Davenport | F | CT-al | ||
| 106 | Andrew Jackson | D-R | TN-al | Representative from a new state | |
| ... | Samuel Sewall | F | MA-10 | December 7, 1796 | Special election |
| ... | George Ege | F | PA-5 | December 8, 1796 | |
| ... | Samuel W. Dana | F | CT-al | January 3, 1797 | |
| ... | Thomson J. Skinner | DR | MA-1 | January 27, 1797 | |
| Non voting Member | |||||
| a | James White | - | TN-al | September 4, 1794 | Delegate from the Southwest Territory (later TN). Term ended June 1, 1796 when TN admitted. |
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