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| 27th United States Congress | |
|---|---|
26th ← → 28th | |
 United States Capitol (1846) | |
March 4, 1841 – March 4, 1843 | |
| Members | 52 senators 242 representatives 3 non-voting delegates |
| Senate majority | Whig |
| Senate President | John Tyler (W)[a] (until April 4, 1841) Vacant (from April 4, 1841) |
| House majority | Whig |
| House Speaker | John White (W) |
| Sessions | |
| Special[b]: March 4, 1841 – March 15, 1841 1st: May 31, 1841 – September 13, 1841 2nd: December 6, 1841 – August 31, 1842 3rd: December 5, 1842 – March 3, 1843 (lame duck) | |
The27th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of theUnited States Senate and theUnited States House of Representatives. It met inWashington, D.C., between March 4, 1841, and March 4, 1843, during the one-monthpresidency ofWilliam Henry Harrison and the first two years of thepresidency of his successor,John Tyler. The apportionment of seats in theHouse of Representatives was based on the1830 United States census. Both chambers had aWhig majority, making the 27th Congress the only Whig-controlled Congress of theSecond Party System.
| Party (shading shows control) | Total | Vacant | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic (D) | Whig (W) | |||
| End ofprevious congress | 29 | 23 | 52 | 0 |
| Begin | 22 | 29 | 51 | 1 |
| End | 20 | 49 | 3 | |
| Final voting share | 40.8% | 59.2% | ||
| Beginning ofnext congress | 22 | 26 | 48 | 4 |
| Party (shading shows control) | Total | Vacant | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic (D) | Independent Democratic (ID) | Whig (W) | Other | |||
| End ofprevious congress | 124 | 0 | 111 | 2[c] | 237 | 0 |
| Begin | 98 | 1 | 142 | 0 | 241 | 1 |
| End | 101 | 139 | ||||
| Final voting share | 41.9% | 0.4% | 57.7% | 0.0% | ||
| Beginning ofnext congress | 147 | 1 | 72 | 3[d] | 223 | 0 |
This list is arranged by chamber, then by state. Senators are listed in order of seniority, and representatives are listed by district.
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 areSenate 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 1844; Class 2 meant their term began with this Congress, requiring re-election in 1846; and Class 3 meant their term ended with this Congress, requiring re-election in 1842.
|
|  2 Democrats 1 Democrat and 1 Whig 2 Whigs |  William R. King  Samuel L. Southard  Willie Person Mangum
|
The count below reflects changes from the beginning of the first session of this Congress.
| State (class) | Vacated by | Reason for change | Successor | Date of successor's formal installation[f] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama (3) | Clement C. Clay (D) | Resigned November 15, 1841 | Arthur P. Bagby (D) | Elected November 24, 1841 |
| Rhode Island (1) | Nathan F. Dixon (W) | Died January 29, 1842 | William Sprague (W) | Elected February 18, 1842 |
| Tennessee (1) | Alfred O. P. Nicholson (D) | Resigned February 7, 1842 | Vacant | Not filled this term |
| New Hampshire (3) | Franklin Pierce (D) | Resigned February 28, 1842 | Leonard Wilcox (D) | Appointed March 1, 1842, and subsequently elected |
| Louisiana (3) | Alexandre Mouton (D) | Resigned March 1, 1842, after being electedGovernor of Louisiana | Charles M. Conrad (W) | Appointed April 14, 1842 |
| Kentucky (3) | Henry Clay (W) | Resigned March 31, 1842 | John J. Crittenden (W) | Appointed March 31, 1842, and subsequently elected |
| Vermont (3) | Samuel Prentiss (W) | Resigned April 11, 1842, to become judge of theU.S. District Court of Vermont | Samuel C. Crafts (W) | Appointed April 23, 1842, and subsequently elected |
| New Jersey (1) | Samuel L. Southard (W) | Died June 26, 1842 | William L. Dayton (W) | Appointed July 2, 1842 |
| South Carolina (3) | William C. Preston (W) | Resigned November 29, 1842 | George McDuffie (D) | Elected December 23, 1842 |
| Maine (1) | Reuel Williams (D) | Resigned February 15, 1843 | Vacant | Not filled this term |
| District | Vacated by | Reason for change | Successor | Date of successor's formal installation[f] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maine 4th | Vacant | Rep.George Evans resigned in previous congress | David Bronson (W) | Seated May 31, 1841 |
| New York 26th | Francis Granger (W) | Resigned March 5, 1841, after being appointedUnited States Postmaster General | John Greig (W) | Seated May 21, 1841 |
| Massachusetts 5th | Levi Lincoln Jr. (W) | Resigned March 16, 1841, after being appointed Collector of the port of Boston | Charles Hudson (W) | Seated May 3, 1841 |
| Pennsylvania 20th | Enos Hook (D) | Resigned April 18, 1841 | Henry W. Beeson (D) | Seated May 31, 1841 |
| Pennsylvania 18th | Charles Ogle (W) | Died May 10, 1841 | Henry Black (W) | Seated June 28, 1841 |
| Pennsylvania 2nd | John Sergeant (W) | Resigned September 15, 1841 | Joseph R. Ingersoll (W) | Seated October 12, 1841 |
| New York 26th | John Greig (W) | Resigned September 25, 1841 | Francis Granger (W) | Seated November 27, 1841 |
| Georgia at-large | Julius C. Alford (W) | Resigned October 1, 1841 | Edward J. Black (D) | Seated January 3, 1842 |
| Georgia at-large | Eugenius A. Nisbet (W) | Resigned October 12, 1841 | Mark A. Cooper (D) | Seated January 3, 1842 |
| Georgia at-large | William C. Dawson (W) | Resigned November 13, 1841 | Walter T. Colquitt (D) | Seated January 3, 1842 |
| Pennsylvania 18th | Henry Black (W) | Died November 28, 1841 | James M. Russell (W) | Seated December 21, 1841 |
| Virginia 13th | Linn Banks (D) | Lost contested election December 6, 1841 | William Smith (D) | Seated December 6, 1841 |
| Pennsylvania 17th | Davis Dimock Jr. (D) | Died January 13, 1842 | Almon H. Read (D) | Seated March 18, 1842 |
| North Carolina 13th | Lewis Williams (W) | Died February 23, 1842 | Anderson Mitchell (W) | Seated April 27, 1842 |
| Ohio 16th | Joshua R. Giddings (W) | Resigned March 22, 1842, after vote of his censure and re-elected to same seat | Joshua R. Giddings (W) | Seated December 5, 1842 |
| Pennsylvania 21st | Joseph Lawrence (W) | Died April 17, 1842 | Thomas M. T. McKennan (W) | Seated May 30, 1842 |
| Massachusetts 1st | Robert C. Winthrop (W) | Resigned May 25, 1842 | Nathan Appleton (W) | Seated June 9, 1842 |
| Massachusetts 9th | William S. Hastings (W) | Died June 17, 1842 | Vacant | Not filled this Congress |
| South Carolina 4th | Sampson H. Butler (D) | Resigned September 27, 1842 | Samuel W. Trotti (D) | Seated December 17, 1842 |
| Massachusetts 1st | Nathan Appleton (W) | Resigned September 28, 1842 | Robert C. Winthrop (W) | Seated November 29, 1842 |
| Georgia at-large | Richard W. Habersham (W) | Died December 2, 1842 | George W. Crawford (W) | Seated January 7, 1843 |
| Maryland 3rd | James W. Williams (D) | Died December 2, 1842 | Charles S. Sewall (D) | Seated January 2, 1843 |
Lists of committees and their party leaders.
