[1] President Hayes vetoed an Army appropriations bill from the House which would have ended Reconstruction and prohibited the use of federal troops to protect polling stations in the former Confederacy.

[1] Striking back, Congress overrode another of Hayes's vetoes and enacted the Bland-Allison Act that required the purchase and coining of silver.

[1] Congress also approved a generous increase in pension eligibility for Northern Civil War veterans.

[1] The count below identifies party affiliations at the beginning of the first session of this Congress, and includes members from vacancies and newly admitted states, when they were first seated.

Senators were elected by the state legislatures every two years, with one-third beginning new six-year terms with each Congress.