Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives Art & History

Session Dates of Congress

Scope of Congress

20th to 39th Congresses (December 3, 1827 to March 3, 1867)

Congress	Session	Beginning Date	Adjournment Date²	Calendar Days¹	Legislative Days	House Recesses
20th	1	Dec. 3, 1827	May 26, 1828	140	140
	2	Dec. 1, 1828	Mar. 3, 1829	71	71	Dec. 25-28, 1828
21st*	1	Dec. 7, 1829	May 31, 1830	132	132
	2	Dec. 6, 1830	Mar. 3, 1831	70	70
22nd	1	Dec. 5, 1831	July 16, 1832	225
	2	Dec. 3, 1832	Mar. 2, 1833	91
23rd	1	Dec. 2, 1833	June 30, 1834	211
	2	Dec. 1, 1834	Mar. 3, 1835	93
24th	1	Dec. 7, 1835	July 4, 1836	163	162
	2	Dec. 5, 1836	Mar. 3, 1837	72	72
25th*	1	Sep. 4, 1837	Oct. 16, 1837	35	35
	2	Dec. 4, 1837	July 9, 1838	171	171
	3	Dec. 3, 1838	Mar. 3, 1839	73	73
26th	1	Dec. 2, 1839	July 21, 1840	233
	2	Dec. 7, 1840	Mar. 3, 1841	87
27th*	1	May 31, 1841	Sep. 13, 1841	106
	2	Dec. 6, 1841	Aug. 31, 1842	269
	3	Dec. 5, 1842	Mar. 3, 1843	89
28th	1	Dec. 4, 1843	June 17, 1844	159	159
	2	Dec. 4, 1844	Mar. 3, 1845	72	72
29th*	1	Dec. 1, 1845	Aug. 10, 1846	253
	2	Dec. 7, 1846	Mar. 3, 1847	87
30th	1	Dec. 6, 1847	Aug. 14, 1848	195	195
	2	Dec. 4, 1848	Mar. 3, 1849	70	69
31st*	1	Dec. 3, 1849	Sep. 30, 1850	302
	2	Dec. 2, 1850	Mar. 3, 1851	92
32nd*	1	Dec. 1, 1851	Aug. 31, 1852	275
	2	Dec. 6, 1852	Mar. 3, 1853	88
33rd*	1	Dec. 5, 1853	Aug. 7, 1854	246
	2	Dec. 4, 1854	Mar. 3, 1855	90
34th	1	Dec. 3, 1855	Aug. 18, 1856	260
	2	Aug. 21, 1856	Aug. 30, 1856	10
		Dec. 1, 1856	Mar. 3, 1857	93
35th*	1	Dec. 7, 1857	June 14, 1858	136	136	Dec. 24, 1867-Jan. 3, 1858
	2	Dec. 6, 1858	Mar. 3, 1859	66	64	Dec. 24, 1858-Jan. 3, 1859
36th*	1	Dec. 5, 1859	June 26, 1860	154	154
	2	Dec. 3, 1860	Mar. 3, 1861	63	63
37th*	1	July 4, 1861	Aug. 6, 1861	34
	2	Dec. 2, 1861	July 17, 1862	228
	3	Dec. 1, 1862	Mar. 3, 1863	93		Dec. 23, 1862-Jan. 5, 1863
38th*	1	Dec. 7, 1863	July 4, 1864	209		Dec. 23, 1863-Jan. 5, 1864
	2	Dec. 5, 1864	Mar. 3, 1865	89		Dec. 22, 1864-Jan. 5, 1865
39th*	1	Dec. 4, 1865	July 28, 1866	237		Dec. 6-11, 1865 Dec. 21, 1865-Jan. 5, 1866
	2	Dec. 3, 1866	Mar. 3, 1867	91		Dec. 20, 1866-Jan. 3, 1867

1 “Calendar days" is defined as the total number of calendar days from the convening date to adjournment date that Congress met during that session. “Legislative days” indicates the total days Congress recorded as a working parliamentary day.

2 The adjournment date is consistently referred to as the last legislative day of the session, regardless of the calendar date.

* 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; House Journal.