The 29th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1845, to March 4, 1847, during the first two years of James Polk's presidency. The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the 1840 United States census. Both chambers had a Democratic majority.
The 30th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1847, to March 4, 1849, during the last two years of the administration of President James K. Polk. The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the 1840 United States census. The Senate had a Democratic majority, and the House had a Whig majority. It was the only Congress in which Abraham Lincoln served.
John Parker Hale was an American politician and lawyer from New Hampshire. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1843 to 1845 and in the United States Senate from 1847 to 1853 and again from 1855 to 1865. He began his Congressional career as a Democrat, but helped establish the anti-slavery Free Soil Party and eventually joined the Republican Party.
John Young was an American politician. He served in the New York State Assembly, the United States House of Representatives and as Governor of New York (1847-1848).
Isaac Toucey was an American politician who served as a U.S. senator, U.S. Secretary of the Navy, U.S. Attorney General and the 33rd Governor of Connecticut.
The 1846–47 United States House of Representatives elections were held on various dates in various states between August 2, 1846 and November 2, 1847. Each state set its own date for its elections to the House of Representatives. 228 elected members representing 29 states took their seats when the first session of the 30th United States Congress convened December 6, 1847. The new states of Iowa and Texas elected their first representatives during this election cycle. These elections were held during President James K. Polk's term.
William Thompson, a lawyer, clerk, newspaperman, longtime Army officer, and, was the first person elected to Congress from Iowa's 1st congressional district. His race for re-election in 1848 was the only Iowa U.S. House election to be revoted. After Thompson's opponent, Whig candidate Daniel F. Miller, challenged Thompson's apparent victory, Congress ordered his seat vacated and a special election conducted, which Thompson lost. He was a cavalry officer in the Union Army during the Civil War, and in the regular army for ten years thereafter.
William Henry Brockenbrough was a U.S. Representative from Florida from 1846 to 1847, and a United States District attorney from 1841 to 1843. He served in the Legislative Council of the Territory of Florida representing Mosquito County in 1838, 1841, and in 1842 as its president.
George Gilman Fogg was an American politician and diplomat who served as a member of the United States Senate for New Hampshire from 1866 to 1867. From 1861 to 1865, Fogg served as the United States Ambassador to Switzerland. Fogg had previously served as a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives and New Hampshire Secretary of State.
James Wilson was a United States representative from Indiana. He and his wife, Emma (Ingersoll) Wilson (daughter of Stephen Ingersoll and Hannah Elizabeth Bullard, sister to Lurton Dunham Ingersoll, were the parents of John Lockwood Wilson, Howard Wilson and Henry Lane Wilson.
From December 28, 1846, to March 3, 1847, the new state of Iowa was represented in the United States House of Representatives by two representatives who had been elected on a statewide basis, rather than by districts.
The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War, was an invasion of Mexico by the United States Army from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1845 American annexation of Texas, which Mexico still considered its territory. Mexico refused to recognize the Treaties of Velasco, because they were signed by President Antonio López de Santa Anna while he was captured by the Texian Army during the 1836 Texas Revolution. The Republic of Texas was de facto an independent country, but most of its Anglo-American citizens who had moved from the United States to Texas after 1822 wanted to be annexed by the United States.
The 1847 New York state election was held on November 2, 1847, to elect the lieutenant governor, the secretary state, the state comptroller, the attorney general, the state treasurer, the state engineer, three Canal Commissioners and three Inspectors of State Prisons, as well as all members of the New York State Assembly and the New York State Senate.
At a special judicial election on June 7, 1847, four judges of the New York Court of Appeals, the Clerk of the Court of Appeals, 32 justices of the new New York Supreme Court district benches, county judges, surrogates, district attorneys and all other judicial officers in the state of New York were elected, to take office on July 5, 1847.
The 1846–47 United States Senate elections were held on various dates in various states. As these U.S. Senate elections were prior to the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, senators were chosen by state legislatures. Senators were elected over a wide range of time throughout 1846 and 1847, and a seat may have been filled months late or remained vacant due to legislative deadlock. In these elections, terms were up for the senators in Class 2.
The 1846 United States House of Representatives election in Florida was held on Monday, October 5, 1846 to elect the single United States Representative from the state of Florida, one from the state's single at-large congressional district, to represent Florida in the 30th Congress. The election coincided with the elections of other offices, including various state and local elections. The party primaries were held on June 20, 1846.
The interim government of California existed from soon after the outbreak of the Mexican–American War in mid-1846 until U.S. statehood in September, 1850. There were three distinct phases:
A special election to the United States House of Representatives for Iowa's 1st congressional district was held September 24, 1850.
A special election to the United States House of Representatives for Florida's at-large congressional district was held October 6, 1845.