List of Members of the United States House of Representatives in the 6th Congress by seniority

This is a list of members of the U.S. House of Representatives in the 6th 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 6th Congress (March 4, 1799 – March 3, 1801). 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 6th Congress.^[1]

Contents 1 House seniority 2 Leadership 3 Standing Committees 4 List of Representatives by seniority 5 References 6 See also 7 External links

House seniority

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.

Leadership

In this Congress, the only formal leader was the Speaker of the House. Two Speakership ballots were held on December 2, 1799 and Theodore Sedgwick (F-MA) was elected. ^[2]

Candidate	1st Ballot	2nd Ballot
Theodore Sedgwick (F-MA)	42	44
Nathaniel Macon (DR-NC)	27	38
George Dent (F-MD)	13	3
John Rutledge, Jr. (F-SC)	2	1
Thomas Sumter (DR-SC)	1	0

Standing Committees

The House created its first standing committee, on April 13, 1789. There were four standing committees, listed in the rules of the 6th 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 6th 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 5, 1799-May 14, 1800	*Dwight Foster (F-MA)
				November 20, 1800-March 3, 1801	Nathaniel Macon (DR-NC)
02	Commerce and Manufactures	1795	7	December 5, 1799-May 14, 1800	*Samuel Smith (DR-MD)
				November 18, 1800-March 3, 1801
03	Elections	1789	7	December 5, 1799-May 14, 1800	Samuel W. Dana (F-CT)
				November 18, 1800-March 3, 1801	George Dent (F-MD)
04	Revisal and Unfinished Business	1795	3	December 5, 1799-May 14, 1800	Roger Griswold (F-CT)
				November 20, 1800-March 3, 1801	Jonas Platt (F-NY)
05	Ways and Means	[1794]	9	December 9, 1799-May 14, 1800	*Robert G. Harper (F-SC)
				November 20, 1800-March 3, 1801	Roger Griswold (F-CT)

List of Representatives by seniority

A numerical rank is assigned to each of the 106 members initially elected to the 6th 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.

Four Representatives-elect were not sworn in, as two died and two resigned. 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 DR 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
Six consecutive terms
001	Thomas Hartley	F	PA-8	01789-03-04 March 4, 1789	(P) 1789-95. Died December 21, 1800.
002	Josiah Parker	F	VA-11		(A) 1789-93; (P) 1793-95. Elected to this Congress: April 24, 1799. Last term.
003	George Thatcher	F	MA-14		(P) 1789-95. Last term (elected to 7th Congress but not sworn in).
Five consecutive terms
004	Andrew Gregg	DR	PA-9	01791-03-04 March 4, 1791	(A) 1791-95
005	William B. Grove	F	NC-7		(P) 1791-95
006	John W. Kittera	F	PA-7		(P) 1791-95. Last term.
007	Nathaniel Macon	DR	NC-5		(A) 1791-95. Chairman: Claims (1800–01).
Five non-consecutive terms
008	Theodore Sedgwick	F	MA-1	01799-03-04 March 4, 1799	Previously served (P) 1789-95 and (F) 1795-June 1796. Speaker of the House. Last term.
Four consecutive terms
009	George Dent	F	MD-1	01793-03-04 March 4, 1793	(P) 1793-95. Chairman: Elections (1800–01). Last term.
010	Dwight Foster	F	MA-4		(P) 1793-95. Chairman: Claims (1799–1800). Resigned June 6, 1800.
011	Henry Glen	F	NY-8		(P) 1793-95. Last term.
012	Anthony New	DR	VA-16		(A) 1793-95. Elected to this Congress: April 24, 1799.
013	John Nicholas	DR	VA-18		(A) 1793-95. Elected to this Congress: April 24, 1799. Last term.
014	Samuel Smith	DR	MD-5		(A) 1793-95. Chairman: Commerce and Manufactures.
015	Philip Van Cortlandt	DR	NY-3		(A) 1793-95
016	Peleg Wadsworth	F	MA-13		(P) 1793-95
017	Robert G. Harper	F	SC-5	01795-02-09 February 9, 1795	(P) February 9-March 3, 1795. [4] Chairman: Ways and Means (1799–1800). Last term.
Four non-consecutive terms
018	Thomas Sumter	DR	SC-4	01797-03-04 March 4, 1797	Previously served (A) 1789-93
019	Abiel Foster	F	NH-al	01795-03-04 March 4, 1795	Previously served (P) June 22, 1789-91
020	Aaron Kitchell	DR	NJ-2	01799-03-04 March 4, 1799	Previously served (P) 1791-93 and January 29-March 3, 1795; (F) 1795-97. Last term.
Three consecutive terms
021	Samuel J. Cabell	DR	VA-14	01795-03-04 March 4, 1795	Elected to this Congress: April 24, 1799
022	Albert Gallatin	DR	PA-12		Last term (elected to 7th Congress but not sworn in)
023	Chauncey Goodrich	F	CT-al		Last term
024	Roger Griswold	F	CT-al		Chairman: Revisal and Unfinished Business (1799–1800). Chairman: Ways and Means (1800–01).
025	Jonathan N. Havens	DR	NY-1		Died, as Representative-elect: October 25, 1799
026	Edward Livingston	DR	NY-2		Last term until 18th Congress
027	Samuel Lyman	F	MA-3		Resigned November 6, 1800
028	John Reed, Sr.	F	MA-6		Last term
029	Richard Thomas	F	PA-3
030	Joseph B. Varnum	DR	MA-9
031	William Craik	F	MD-3	01796-12-05 December 5, 1796	Last term
032	Samuel Sewall	F	MA-10	01796-12-07 December 7, 1796	Resigned January 10, 1800
033	Samuel W. Dana	F	CT-al	01797-01-03 January 3, 1797	Chairman: Elections (1799–1800)
Three non-consecutive terms
034	Theodorus Bailey	DR	NY-5	01799-03-04 March 4, 1799	Previouly served (A) 1793-95 and (DR) 1795-97. Last term until seated in the 7th Congress.
035	Gabriel Christie	DR	MD-6		Previously served (A) 1793-95 and (DR) 1795-97. Last term.
036	Peter Muhlenberg	DR	PA-4		Previously served (A) 1789-91 and 1793-95. Last term (elected to 7th Congress but not sworn in).
037	Joshua Seney	DR	MD-7		Previously served (A) 1789-92. Died, as Representative-elect: October 20, 1798. [5]
Two consecutive terms
038	George Baer, Jr.	F	MD-4	01797-03-04 March 4, 1797	Last term until 14th Congress
039	James A. Bayard	F	DE-al
040	Christopher G. Champlin	F	RI-al		Last term
041	Matthew Clay	DR	VA-6		Elected to this Congress: April 24, 1799
042	Thomas T. Davis	DR	KY-1		Elected to this Congress: May 7, 1799
043	John Dawson	DR	VA-15		Elected to this Congress: April 24, 1799
044	John Dennis	F	MD-8
045	Lucas C. Elmendorf	DR	NY-4
046	Thomas Evans	F	VA-12		Elected to this Congress: April 24, 1799. Last term.
047	John Fowler	DR	KY-2		Elected to this Congress: May 7, 1799
048	Jonathan Freeman	F	NH-al		Last term
049	William Gordon	F	NH-al		Resigned June 12, 1800
050	John A. Hanna	DR	PA-6
051	David Holmes	DR	VA-2		Elected to this Congress: April 24, 1799
052	James H. Imlay	F	NJ-4		Last term
053	Matthew Lyon	DR	VT-1		Last term until 8th Congress
054	Harrison G. Otis	F	MA-8		Last term
055	John Rutledge, Jr.	F	SC-2
056	William Shepard	F	MA-2
057	Richard Stanford	DR	NC-4
058	Abram Trigg	DR	VA-4		Elected to this Congress: April 24, 1799
059	John J. Trigg	DR	VA-5
060	Robert Williams	DR	NC-3
061	John Allen	F	CT-al	01797-04-10 April 10, 1797	Resigned, as Representative-elect: c. August 1799 [6]
062	Lewis R. Morris	F	VT-2	01797-05-22 May 22, 1797
063	William Edmond	F	CT-al	01797-11-13 November 13, 1797	Last term (elected to 7th Congress but not sworn in)
064	William Claiborne	DR	TN-al	01797-11-23 November 23, 1797	Elected to this Congress: August 1-2, 1799. Last term (elected to 7th Congress but not sworn in).
065	Thomas Pinckney	F	SC-1		Last term
066	Bailey Bartlett	F	MA-11	01797-11-27 November 27, 1797
067	Peleg Sprague	F	NH-al	01797-12-15 December 15, 1797	Resigned, as Representative-elect: c. October 1799 [7]
068	Joseph Hiester	DR	PA-5	01798-12-01 December 1, 1798
069	Jonathan Brace	F	CT-al	01798-12-03 December 3, 1798	Resigned 1800
070	Joseph Eggleston	DR	VA-9		Elected to this Congress: April 24, 1799. Last term.
071	Robert Waln	F	PA-1		Last term
072	Robert Brown	DR	PA-4	01798-12-04 December 4, 1798
073	Richard D. Spaight	DR	NC-10	01798-12-10 December 10, 1798	Last term
Two non-consecutive terms
074	William Cooper	F	NY-10	01799-03-04 March 4, 1799	Previously served (F) 1795-97. Last term.
075	George Jackson	DR	VA-3		Previously served (DR) 1795-97. Elected to this Congress: April 24, 1799.
076	John Smilie	DR	PA-11		Previously served (A) 1793-95
One term
077	Willis Alston	DR	NC-9	01799-03-04 March 4, 1799
078	John Bird	F	NY-6
079	Phanuel Bishop	DR	MA-7		Elected to this Congress: June 6, 1799
080	John Brown	F	RI-al		Only term
081	John Condit	DR	NJ-1
082	Franklin Davenport	F	NJ-5		Only term
083	John Davenport	F	CT-al
084	Joseph Dickson	F	NC-1		Only term
085	Samuel Goode	DR	VA-8		Elected to this Congress: April 24, 1799.
086	Edwin Gray	DR	VA-10
087	Archibald Henderson	F	NC-2
088	William H. Hill	F	NC-6
089	Benjamin Huger	F	SC-3
090	James Jones	F	GA-al		Died January 11, 1801
091	Henry Lee	F	VA-19		Elected to this Congress: April 24, 1799. Only term.
092	Silas Lee	F	MA-12
093	Michael Leib	DR	PA-2
094	James Linn	DR	NJ-3		Only term
095	John Marshall	F	VA-13		Elected to this Congress: April 24, 1799. Resigned, to become Secretary of State: June 7, 1800.
...	Joseph H. Nicholson	DR	MD-7		Special election before start of term
096	Abraham Nott	F	SC-6		Only term
097	Robert Page	F	VA-1		Elected to this Congress: April 24, 1799. Only term.
098	Jonas Platt	F	NY-9		Chairman: Revisal and Unfinished Business (1800–01). Only term.
099	Leven Powell	F	VA-17		Elected to this Congress: April 24, 1799. Only term.
100	John Randolph	DR	VA-7		Elected to this Congress: April 24, 1799
101	David Stone	DR	NC-8		Only term (elected to 7th Congress but not sworn in)
102	Benjamin Taliaferro	F	GA-al
103	John C. Thomas	F	MD-2		Only term
104	John Thompson	DR	NY-7		Only term until 10th Congress
105	Lemuel Williams	F	MA-5		Elected to this Congress: August 29, 1799
106	Henry Woods	F	PA-3
Members joining the House, after the start of the Congress
...	Elizur Goodrich	F	CT-al	01799-09-16 September 16, 1799	Special election. Only term (elected to 7th Congress but did not serve). [8]
...	James Sheafe	F	NH-al	01799-11-18 November 18, 1799	Special election. Only term.
...	John Smith	DR	NY-1	01800-02-06 February 6, 1800	Special election: December 27-29, 1799
...	John C. Smith	F	CT-al	01800-11-17 November 17, 1800	Special election: September 15, 1800
...	Samuel Tenney	F	NH-al	01800-11-18 November 18, 1800	Special election: October 27, 1800
...	Nathan Read	F	MA-10	01800-11-25 November 25, 1800	Special election: October 20, 1800
...	Littleton W. Tazewell	DR	VA-7	01800-11-26 November 26, 1800	Special election: July 31, 1800. Only term.
...	Levi Lincoln	DR	MA-4	01800-12-15 December 15, 1800	Special election
...	John Stewart	DR	PA-8	01801-01-15 January 15, 1801
...	Ebenezer Mattoon	F	MA-3	01801-02-02 February 2, 1801	Special election: December 15, 1800
Non voting members
a	William H. Harrison	-	OH-al	01799-03-04 March 4, 1799	Delegate for Northwest Territory (most population in future OH). Resigned to become Territorial Governor of IN: May 14, 1800.
b	William McMillan	-	OH-al	01800-11-24 November 24, 1800	Delegate for Northwest Territory (after July 4, 1800 only future OH). Special election.

References

• United States Congressional Elections 1788-1997, by Michael J. Dubin (McFarland and Company 1998) ISBN 0-7864-0283-0

See also

• 6th United States Congress
• List of United States Senators in the 6th Congress by seniority

External links

• House Journal, First Forty-three Sessions of Congress

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