The size of the House increased to 293 seats with the addition of the new state of Colorado.

However, the Democrats retained a majority and were able to use the disinterest of the people in Republican Reconstruction led projects to help keep crucial seats.

Republican congressional leadership had a difficult time distancing itself from the corruption of the Ulysses S. Grant administration or the legislature's impact on the economy downturn.

In 1845, Congress passed a law providing for a uniform nationwide date for choosing Presidential electors.

Connecticut had been electing is members late in the cycle, even after the terms had begun.