Schuyler Colfax of Indiana gaveled the second "lame duck" House session of the Thirty-ninth Congress of the United States to a close on this day, bringing its two-year term to an end. The House had sat for a total of 328 days during these two years. Historically, the Fortieth Congress gathered for the first time in an "extra" early session on the following day in accordance with legislation of January 22, 1867 that sought to keep a unpopular president from dictating when a Congress may sit. There were early sessions in the following three congresses. Not until the Twentieth Amendment was ratified in January, 1933, would the schedule be set constitutionally. (By John Osborne)
Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, "House History." http://clerk.house.gov/art_history/house_history/index.html
