1855 Massachusetts legislature

The 76th Massachusetts General Court, consisting of the Massachusetts Senate and the Massachusetts House of Representatives, met in 1855 during the governorship of Henry Gardner. Henry Wetherby Benchley served as president of the Senate and Daniel C. Eddy served as speaker of the House.[4]

76th
Massachusetts General Court
←75th 77th→
Overview
Legislative bodyGeneral Court
Senate
Members40
PresidentHenry Wetherby Benchley
Party controlKnow-Nothing[1]
House
Members380 [2]
SpeakerDaniel C. Eddy
Party controlKnow-Nothing [1]
Sessions
1stJanuary 3, 1855 (1855-01-03) – May 21, 1855 (1855-05-21) [3]
Henry Wetherby Benchley
Henry Benchley, Senate president.
Daniel C. Eddy
Daniel Eddy, House speaker.
Leaders of the Massachusetts General Court, 1855.

"Know-Nothings won all 40 state Senate seats and all but three of the 379 state House seats in 1854, in addition to the governorship.... Once in power, the Know-Nothings passed legislation to deport poor or mentally ill Irish residents; to 'inspect' Catholic schools and convents; and to order daily readings from the Protestant Bible in public schools."[1]

On May 9, 1855, Joseph Hiss became the first Massachusetts state representative to be expelled from the House.[5]

Notable legislation

This legislature passed the nation's first statute racially integrating public education.[6]

Senators
  • O. W. Albee [7]
  • Erastus Andrews
  • Elihu C. Baker
  • Lemuel M. Barker
  • John Batchelder
  • Sylvester Baxter
  • Henry W. Benchley
  • James D. Black
  • John A. Buttrick
  • James E. Carpenter
  • Albert A. Cook
  • Joseph E. Dawley
  • Edward Denny
  • Francis DeWitt
  • Streeter Evans
  • Jabez Fisher
  • William Fletcher
  • Robert B. Hall
  • Charles K. Hawks
  • A. E. Hildreth
  • David K. Hitchcock
  • Stephen Huse
  • Richard Libby
  • Ivory H. Lucas
  • Sebeus C. Maine
  • Billings Palmer
  • Bradford K. Peirce
  • Gilbert Pillsbury
  • Z. L. Raymond
  • Andrew A. Richmond
  • Simon W. Robinson
  • Lewis L. Sellew
  • Charles H. Stedman
  • Moses Tenny, Jr.
  • Alvan G. Underwood
  • Ambrose Vincent
  • James W. Ward
  • Daniel Warren
  • Benj. F. White
  • Albert J. Wright

Representatives

See also

References
  1. Robert David Sullivan (2005). "A Toast to the General Court". CommonWealth Magazine. 10 (4).
  2. "Composition of the State of Massachusetts House of Representatives", Resources on Massachusetts Political Figures in the State Library, Mass.gov, archived from the original on June 6, 2020
  3. "Length of Legislative Sessions". Manual for the Use of the General Court. Boston: Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 2009. p. 348+.
  4. "Organization of the Legislature Since 1780". Manual for the Use of the General Court. Boston: Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 2009. p. 340+.
  5. Lucas, Peter (February 11, 2014). "Legislative expulsion? It started with a wayward Hiss". Lowell Sun.
  6. "In Pursuit of Equality – Separate Is Not Equal". americanhistory.si.edu.
  7. "Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Civil Government, 1855". Massachusetts Register, 1855 – via Archive.org.

Further reading
  • "The Legislature", Boston Daily Advertiser, January 9, 1855
  • Dale Baum (1978). "Know-Nothingism and the Republican Majority in Massachusetts: The Political Realignment of the 1850s". Journal of American History. 64 (4): 959–986. doi:10.2307/1890732. JSTOR 1890732.
  • Massachusetts General Court, Bills (Legislative Documents) and Journals: 1855, hdl:2452/725162
  • Massachusetts Acts and Resolves: 1855, hdl:2452/92937
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