Office of the Clerk

Session Dates of Congress

Scope of Congress

40th to 59th Congresses (March 4, 1867 to March 3, 1907)

Congress	Session	Beginning Date	Adjournment Date	Total Days¹	House Recesses
40th*	1	Mar. 4, 1867	Dec. 1, 1867	273	Mar. 30-July 3, 1867 July 20-Nov. 21, 1867
	2	Dec. 2, 1867	Nov. 10, 1868	345	Dec. 20, 1867-Jan. 6, 1868 July 27-Sep. 21, 1868 Sep. 21-Oct. 16, 1868 Oct. 16-Nov. 10, 1868
	3	Dec. 7, 1868	Mar. 3, 1869	87	Dec. 21, 1868-Jan. 5, 1869
41st*	1	Mar. 4, 1869	Apr. 10, 1869	38
	2	Dec. 6, 1869	July 15, 1870	222	Dec. 22, 1869-Jan. 10, 1870
	3	Dec. 5, 1870	Mar. 3, 1871	89	Dec. 22, 1870-Jan. 4, 1871
42nd*	1	Mar. 4, 1871	Apr. 20, 1871	48
	2	Dec. 4, 1871	June 10, 1872	190	Dec. 21, 1871-Jan. 8, 1872
	3	Dec. 2, 1872	Mar. 3, 1873	92	Dec. 20, 1872-Jan. 6, 1873
43rd*	1	Dec. 1, 1873	June 23, 1874	204	Dec. 19, 1873-Jan. 5, 1874
	2	Dec. 7, 1874	Mar. 3, 1875	87	Dec. 23, 1874-Jan. 5, 1875
44th*	1	Dec. 6, 1875	Aug. 15, 1876	254	Dec. 21, 1875-Jan. 5, 1876
	2	Dec. 4, 1876	Mar. 3, 1877	90
45th*	1	Oct. 15, 1877	Dec. 3, 1877	50
	2	Dec. 3, 1877	June 20, 1878	200	Dec. 15, 1877-Jan. 10, 1878
	3	Dec. 2, 1878	Mar. 3, 1879	92	Dec. 20, 1878-Jan. 7, 1879
46th	1	Mar. 18, 1879	July 1, 1879	106
	2	Dec. 1, 1879	June 16, 1880	199	Dec. 19, 1879-Jan. 6, 1880
	3	Dec. 6, 1880	Mar. 3, 1881	88	Dec. 23, 1880-Jan. 5, 1881
47th*	1	Dec. 5, 1881	Aug. 8, 1882	247	Dec. 22, 1881-Jan. 5, 1882
	2	Dec. 4, 1882	Mar. 3, 1883	90
48th	1	Dec. 3, 1883	July 7, 1884	218	Dec. 24, 1883-Jan. 7, 1884
	2	Dec. 1, 1884	Mar. 3, 1885	93	Dec. 24, 1887-Jan. 5, 1885
49th*	1	Dec. 7, 1885	Aug. 5, 1886	242	Dec. 21, 1885-Jan. 5, 1886
	2	Dec. 6, 1886	Mar. 3, 1887	88	Dec. 22, 1886-Jan. 4, 1887
50th	1	Dec. 5, 1887	Oct. 20, 1888	321	Dec. 22, 1887-Jan. 4, 1888
	2	Dec. 3, 1888	Mar. 3, 1889	91	Dec. 21, 1888-Jan. 2, 1889
51st*	1	Dec. 2, 1889	Oct. 1, 1890	304	Dec. 21, 1889-Jan. 6, 1890
	2	Dec. 1, 1890	Mar. 3, 1891	93
52nd	1	Dec. 7, 1891	Aug. 5, 1892	251
	2	Dec. 5, 1892	Mar. 3, 1893	89	Dec. 22, 1892-Jan. 4, 1893
53rd*	1	Aug. 7, 1893	Nov. 3, 1893	89
	2	Dec. 4, 1893	Aug. 28, 1894	268	Dec. 21, 1893-Jan. 3, 1894
	3	Dec. 3, 1894	Mar. 3, 1895	97	Dec. 23, 1894-Jan. 3, 1895
54th	1	Dec. 2, 1895	June 11, 1896	193
	2	Dec. 7, 1896	Mar. 3, 1897	87	Dec. 22, 1896-Jan. 5, 1897
55th*	1	Mar. 15, 1897	July 24, 1897	131
	2	Dec. 6, 1897	July 8, 1898	215	Dec. 18, 1897-Jan. 5, 1898
	3	Dec. 5, 1898	Mar. 3, 1899	89	Dec. 21, 1898-Jan. 4, 1899
56th	1	Dec. 4, 1899	June 7, 1900	186	Dec. 20, 1899-Jan. 3, 1900
	2	Dec. 3, 1900	Mar. 3, 1901	91	Dec. 21, 1900-Jan. 3, 1901
57th*	1	Dec. 2, 1901	July 1, 1902	212	Dec. 19, 1901-Jan. 6, 1902
	2	Dec. 1, 1902	Mar. 3, 1903	93	Dec. 20, 1902-Jan. 5, 1903
58th*	1	Nov. 9, 1903	Dec. 7, 1903	29
	2	Dec. 7, 1903	Apr. 28, 1904	144	Dec. 19, 1903-Jan. 4, 1904
	3	Dec. 5, 1904	Mar. 3, 1905	89	Dec. 21, 1904-Jan. 4, 1905
59th*	1	Dec. 4, 1905	June 30, 1906	209	Dec. 21, 1905-Jan. 4, 1906
	2	Dec. 3, 1906	Mar. 3, 1907	91	Dec. 21, 1906-Jan. 3, 1907

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