List of United States senators in the 4th Congress by seniority

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This is a complete list of members of the United States Senate during the 4th United States Congress listed by seniority, from March 4, 1795, to March 3, 1797.

Contents

The United States Senate has an official chronological list of senators, accessible from its website, which provides information about the seniority of senators serving in the relevant Congress.

Seniority rules

A Chronological List of United States Senators includes the following explanation of how it assigns seniority.

From 1789 to 1958, senators whose terms began on the same day are listed alphabetically. Beginning in 1959, senators are listed according to commencement of first Senate term by order of service, determined by former service in order as senator, vice president, House member, cabinet secretary, governor, and then by state population. This latter system for calculating order of service has been used by the modern Senate for many years for the purposes of office assignment. It is unclear just when the Senate first began applying such criteria.

[1]

Rank column: This consecutively numbers senators, serving in the relevant Congress, according to seniority in that Congress. Seniority is based upon the method used by the chronological list. If the senator is not the first person to hold the seat, in the Congress, then he is given the number of the preceding senator followed by a lower case letter. In addition, if the senator would have had different seniority (if the method used from 1959 was followed) a further number is given in brackets and italicised

A senator with broken service is placed before other senators starting service on the same day, but after senators with unbroken service starting before that date.

Senate No. column: The chronological guide gives an official number to each senator. This is the number set out in this column. That number is retained even if the senator has broken service.

As an historical article, the states and party affiliations listed reflect those during the Congress. Seats and party affiliations on similar lists for other Congresses will be different for certain members. During this Congress, there were two parties represented. Senators are classified as Democratic-Republican (DR) or Federalist (F).

Terms of service

ClassTerms of service of senators that will expire in years
Class 1Terms of service of senators that will expire in 1797 [2]
Class 2Terms of service of senators that will expire in 1799 [3]
Class 3Terms of service of senators that will expire in 1801 [4]

U.S. Senate seniority list

RankHistorical rankSenator (party-state)Seniority dateAlternative rank
21 Pierce Butler [5] (DR-SC)March 4, 1789None of the factors apply to members first elected to the 1st and 2nd Congresses, so alphabetical order is used. The results of the 1790 census were not available until after the 2nd Congress convened in 1791.
52 Oliver Ellsworth [6] (F-CT)
93 James Gunn (F-GA)
104 John Henry (F-MD)
135 John Langdon (DR-NH)
206 Caleb Strong [7] (F-MA)
227 Rufus King [8] (F-NY)July 16, 1789
268 Theodore Foster (F-RI)June 7, 1790
319 Aaron Burr (DR-NY)March 4, 1791
3210 George Cabot [9] (F-MA)
3311 John Rutherfurd (F-NJ)
3512 Moses Robinson [10] (DR-VT)October 17, 1791
3613 John Brown (DR-KY)June 18, 1792
3914 Richard Potts [11] (F-MD)January 10, 1793
4015 (19) William Bradford (F-RI)March 4, 1793Livermore, House 4 years;
Jackson, House 2 years;
Martin, governor (including a period after ratification of the constitution by NC);
Frelinghuysen, NJ 9th in population (1790 census);
Bradford, RI 14th in population (1790 census);
Vining, DE 15th in population (1790 census).
4116 (18) Frederick Frelinghuysen [12] (F-NJ)
4217 (16) James Jackson [13] (DR-GA)
4318 (15) Samuel Livermore (F-NH)
4419 (17) Alexander Martin (DR-NC)
4520 John Vining (F-DE)
4721 James Ross (F-PA)April 24, 1794
4822 Stevens Thomson Mason (DR-VA)November 18, 1794Two senators from Virginia. No factor applies except state population, which is equal, so alphabetical order is used.
4923 Henry Tazewell (DR-VA)
5024 Henry Latimer (F-DE)February 7, 1795
5125 (27) William Bingham (F-PA)March 4, 1795Trumbull, House 6 years;
Bloodworth, House 11 months;
Bingham, PA 3rd in population (1790 census);
Read, SC 8th in population (1790 census);
Paine, VT 11th in population (1790 census);
Marshall, KY 13th in population (1790 census).
5226 Timothy Bloodworth (DR-NC)
5327 (30) Humphrey Marshall (F-KY)
5428 (29) Elijah Paine (F-VT)
5529 (28) Jacob Read (F-SC)
5630 (25) Jonathan Trumbull, Jr. [14] (F-CT)
5730a George Walton [15] (F-GA)November 16, 1795
5830b Josiah Tattnall (DR-GA)February 20, 1796
6030d Benjamin Goodhue (F-MA)June 11, 1796Two senators from Massachusetts. No factors apply except House service and state population, which are equal, so alphabetical order is used.
6130e Theodore Sedgwick (F-MA)
6231 William Blount (DR-TN)August 2, 1796Two senators from Tennessee. No factor applies except state population, which is equal, so alphabetical order is used.
6332 William Cocke (DR-TN)
6432a Uriah Tracy (F-CT)October 13, 1796
6532b Isaac Tichenor (F-VT)October 18, 1796
6632c John Laurance (F-NY)November 9, 1796
6732d Richard Stockton (F-NJ)November 12, 1796
6832e John Eager Howard (F-MD)November 30, 1796
6930c James Hillhouse (F-CT)December 6, 1796
7032f John Hunter (DR-SC)December 8, 1796

References

  1. A Chronological List of United States Senators 1789-Present, via www.Senate.gov
  2. Terms of service of senators that will expire in 1797.
  3. Terms of service of senators that will expire in 1799.
  4. Terms of service of senators that will expire in 1801.
  5. Pierce Butler resigned October 25, 1796
  6. Oliver Ellsworth resigned March 8, 1796 to become Chief Justice of the United States
  7. Caleb Strong resigned on June 1, 1796
  8. Rufus King resigned in May 1796, to become Minister to Great Britain
  9. George Cabot resigned June 9, 1796
  10. Moses Robinson resigned October 15, 1796
  11. Richard Potts resigned October 24, 1796 to become Chief Judge of the 5th Circuit
  12. Frederick Frelinghuysen resigned November 12, 1796
  13. James Jackson resigned in 1795
  14. Jonathan Trumbull resigned June 10, 1796 to become Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut
  15. George Walton served an interim appointment until February 20, 1796

See also