Speaker Robert M.T. Hunter gaveled the 87 day "lame-duck" second session of the House of Representatives to a close, ending the term of the Twenty-sixth Congress of the United States. (By John Osborne)

The third session of the Twenty-seventh Congress of the United States opened in Washington, D.C. with Speaker John White presiding. This "lame duck" session sat for 89 days and adjourned on March 3, 1843. (By John Osborne)

In Washington, Speaker John White brought down the gavel on the second House session of the Twenty-seventh Congress of the United States. The chamber had been in session for 269 days. It adjourned until the opening of its third session on December 5, 1842. (By John Osborne)

Following its special session of the summer, the second session of the Twenty-seventh Congress of the United States opened in Washington, D.C. with Speaker John White presiding. This session sat for 269 days and adjourned on August 31, 1842. (By John Osborne)

In Washington, Speaker John White brought down the gavel on the first House session of the Twenty-seventh Congress of the United States. This was an early special session that had sat for 106 days. Congress recessed until the opening of its second session on December 6, 1841. (By John Osborne)

The Twenty-seventh Congress of the United States was in session in Washington, DC. President Harrison called this early special session in March and it sat until September 13, 1841. Whig representative John White of Kentucky was in the Speaker's chair. (By John Osborne)

President William Henry Harrison, by an executive order of March 17, 1841, called an early special session of the Twenty-seventh Congress of the United States. By the time that the session opened in Washington, D.C, Harrison was dead and Vice-President John Tyler had succeeded him. Of the 242 representatives, there were 142 Whigs and 98 were Democrats. Two members were Independents. John White, a Whig member for Kentucky was elected Speaker of the House on this first day. (By John Osborne)

President William Henry Harrison calls an early special session of the 27th Congress, by executive order. The Congress will assemble on May 31, 1841 but by that time President Harrison will have died and his successor, Vice-President John Tyler, sworn in. (By John Osborne)