Office of the Clerk

Session Dates of Congress

Scope Of Congress

1st to 19th Congresses (March 4, 1789 to March 3, 1827)

Congress	Session	Beginning Date	Adjournment Date	Total Days¹	House Recesses
1st	1	Mar. 4, 1789	Sep. 29, 1789	210
	2	Jan. 4, 1790	Aug. 12, 1790	221
	3	Dec. 6, 1790	Mar. 3, 1791	88
2nd*	1	Oct. 24, 1791	May 8, 1792	197
	2	Nov. 5, 1792	Mar. 2, 1793	119
3rd*	1	Dec. 2, 1793	June 9, 1794	190
	2	Nov. 3, 1794	Mar. 3, 1795	121
4th*	1	Dec. 7, 1795	June 1, 1796	177
	2	Dec. 5, 1796	Mar. 3, 1797	89
5th*	1	May 15, 1797	July 10, 1797	57
	2	Nov. 13, 1797	July 16, 1798	246
	3	Dec. 3, 1798	Mar. 3, 1799	91
6th	1	Dec. 2, 1799	May 14, 1800	164
	2	Nov.17, 1800	Mar. 3, 1801	107	Dec. 23-30, 1800
7th*	1	Dec. 7, 1801	May 3, 1802	148
	2	Dec. 6, 1802	Mar. 3, 1803	88
8th	1	Oct. 17, 1803	Mar. 27, 1804	163
	2	Nov. 5, 1804	Mar. 3, 1805	119
9th	1	Dec. 2, 1805	April 21, 1806	141
	2	Dec. 1, 1806	Mar. 3, 1807	93
l0th	1	Oct. 26, 1807	April 25, 1808	182
	2	Nov. 7, 1808	Mar. 3, 1809	117
11th*	1	May 22, 1809	June 28, 1809	38
	2	Nov. 27, 1809	May 1, 1810	156
	3	Dec. 3, 1810	Mar. 3, 1811	91
12th	1	Nov. 4, 1811	July 6, 1812	245
	2	Nov. 2, 1812	Mar. 3, 1813	122
13th	1	May 24, 1813	Aug. 2, 1813	71
	2	Dec. 6, 1813	Apr. 18, 1814	134
	3	Sep. 19, 1814	Mar. 3, 1815	166
14th	1	Dec. 4, 1815	Apr. 30, 1816	148
	2	Dec. 2, 1816	Mar. 3, 1817	92
15th*	1	Dec. 1, 1817	Apr. 20, 1818	141	Dec. 24-29, 1817
	2	Nov. 16, 1818	Mar. 3, 1819	108
16th	1	Dec. 6, 1819	May 15, 1820	162
	2	Nov. 3, 1820	Mar. 3, 1821	111
17th	1	Dec. 3, 1821	May 8, 1822	157
	2	Dec. 2, 1822	Mar. 3, 1823	92
18th	1	Dec. 1, 1823	May 27, 1824	178
	2	Dec. 6, 1824	Mar. 3, 1825	88
19th*	1	Dec. 5, 1825	May 22, 1826	169
	2	Dec. 4, 1826	Mar. 3, 1827	90

1 For the purpose of this table, a session's "total days" is defined as the total number of calendar days from the convening date to adjournment date, inclusive. It does not mean the actual number of days that Congress met during that session.

* Indicates that a special session of the Senate was convened during a Congress. Article II, Section 3 of the constitution provides that the President "may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them." This procedure occurs only if the Congress is convened by presidential proclamation. Extraordinary sessions have been called by the Chief Executive to urge the Congress to focus on important national issues. These are separate sessions of Congress, unless otherwise noted. Source: Congressional Directory