31st Wisconsin Legislature

The Thirty-First Wisconsin Legislature convened from January 9, 1878, to March 21, 1878, in regular session, and later re-convened from June 4 to June 7, 1878, in special session, to complete the revision of the statutes. This was the first extra session of the Wisconsin Legislature since 1862.

This was the first and only session of the Legislature to have an Assembly speaker from the Greenback Party—Augustus Barrows. Despite the Greenbackers holding only 13% of the Assembly seats, neither major party had enough seats to form a majority without Greenback support. The Democrats thus formed a coalition with the Greenbacks for the 31st Legislature with Barrows acting as speaker.

Senators representing even-numbered districts were newly elected for this session and were serving the first year of a two-year term. Assembly members were elected to a one-year term. Assembly members and even-numbered senators were elected in the general election of November 6, 1877. Senators representing odd-numbered districts were serving the second year of their two-year term, having been elected in the general election held on November 7, 1876.