12th New York State Legislature | |||||
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![]() The Old Albany City Hall, where the Legislature met from 1788 to 1789 (undated) | |||||
Overview | |||||
Legislative body | New York State Legislature | ||||
Jurisdiction | New York, United States | ||||
Term | July 1, 1788 – June 30, 1789 | ||||
Senate | |||||
Members | 24 | ||||
President | Lt. Gov. Pierre Van Cortlandt | ||||
Assembly | |||||
Members | 70 (de facto 65) | ||||
Speaker | John Lansing Jr. | ||||
Sessions | |||||
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The 12th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from December 11, 1788, to March 3, 1789, during the twelfth year of George Clinton's governorship, in Albany.
Under the provisions of the New York Constitution of 1777, the State Senators were elected on general tickets in the senatorial districts, and were then divided into four classes. Six senators each drew lots for a term of 1, 2, 3 or 4 years and, beginning at the election in April 1778, every year six Senate seats came up for election to a four-year term. Assemblymen were elected countywide on general tickets to a one-year term, the whole assembly being renewed annually.
In March 1786, the Legislature enacted that future Legislatures meet on the first Tuesday of January of each year unless called earlier by the governor. No general meeting place was determined, leaving it to each Legislature to name the place where to reconvene, and if no place could be agreed upon, the Legislature should meet again where it adjourned.
The State election was held from April 29 to May 1, 1788. Senators Ezra L'Hommedieu (Southern D.) and Peter Van Ness (Western D.) were re-elected; and Paul Micheau, Isaac Roosevelt (both Southern D.), and Assemblyman James Clinton (Middle D.) were also elected to the Senate. Assemblyman Edward Savage (Eastern D.) may have been elected at the same time to the State Senate (Eastern D.) and to the Assembly (Washington Co.) but was seated in the Assembly; the Senate seat vacated by the expiration of Ebenezer Russell's term remained vacant.
At the same time, delegates to a Convention to deliberate upon the adoption of the U.S. Constitution were elected. This was the first time that the politicians were divided into two opposing political parties: those who advocated the creation of a stronger federal government and the adoption of the US Constitution, as drafted, were henceforth known as Federalists, those who advocated stronger State governments and demanded many changes to the proposed Constitution as Anti-Federalists, or Democratic-Republicans. [1]
The Convention met from June 17 to July 26, 1788, at Poughkeepsie, and ratified the U.S. Constitution by a vote of 30 to 27.
The State Legislature met on December 11, 1788, at the Old City Hall in Albany; and adjourned on March 3, 1789.
On January 27, 1789, the Legislature divided the State of New York into six congressional districts, and the first congressional elections in New York were held on March 3 and 4, 1789.
In February and March 1789, the Legislature debated at length "An act for prescribing the times, places and manner of holding elections for Senators of the United States of America, to be chosen in this State" but the Anti-Federalist Assembly majority and the Federalist Senate majority could not agree, and they adjourned without having elected U.S. Senators. Both parties hoped to win the next State election, to be held in April 1789, and agreed to adjourn earlier than usual, leaving it to the new members to find a way out of the deadlock.
Note: There are now 62 counties in the State of New York. The counties which are not mentioned in this list had not yet been established, or sufficiently organized, the area being included in one or more of the abovementioned counties.
The asterisk (*) denotes members of the previous Legislature who continued in office as members of this Legislature. James Clinton changed from the Assembly to the Senate. The vote of the members of this Legislature who had been delegates to the US Constitution ratifying convention is marked either "For ratification" or "Against ratification".
District | Senators | Term left | Party | Notes |
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Southern | Thomas Tredwell* | 1 year | Anti-Fed. | Against ratification |
Lewis Morris* | 2 years | Federalist | For ratification | |
John Vanderbilt* | 2 years | Federalist | ||
James Duane* | 3 years | Federalist | For ratification | |
John Laurance* | 3 years | Federalist | elected on March 3–4, 1789, to the 1st United States Congress | |
Samuel Townsend* | 3 years | Anti-Fed. | elected to the Council of Appointment | |
Ezra L'Hommedieu* | 4 years | Fed./Anti-Fed. | L'Hommedieu ran on both tickets for re-election, but was at this time "clearly a Federalist" [3] | |
Paul Micheau | 4 years | Federalist | ||
Isaac Roosevelt | 4 years | Federalist | For ratification | |
Middle | John Haring* | 1 year | Anti-Fed. | Against ratification |
Cornelius Humfrey* | 1 year | |||
John Hathorn* | 2 years | Anti-Fed. | elected to the Council of Appointment; elected on March 3–4, 1789, to the 1st United States Congress | |
Anthony Hoffman* | 3 years | Federalist | ||
Jacobus Swartwout* | 3 years | Anti-Fed. | Against ratification | |
James Clinton* | 4 years | Anti-Fed. | Against ratification | |
Eastern | David Hopkins* | 1 year | Anti-Fed. | Against ratification |
John Williams* | 2 years | Anti-Fed. | Against ratification; elected to the Council of Appointment [4] | |
vacant | 4 years | Edward Savage is listed in the Civil List of 1858, but he was seated in the Assembly during this session. [5] | ||
Western | Volkert P. Douw* | 1 year | ||
Philip Schuyler* | 1 year | Federalist | ||
Peter Schuyler* [6] | 2 years | Federalist | ||
Abraham Yates Jr.* | 2 years | Anti-Fed. | ||
Jellis Fonda* | 3 years | |||
Peter Van Ness* | 4 years | Anti-Fed. | Against ratification; elected to the Council of Appointment | |
Note: There are now 62 counties in the State of New York. The counties which are not mentioned in this list had not yet been established, or sufficiently organized, the area being included in one or more of the abovementioned counties.
The asterisk (*) denotes members of the previous Legislature who continued as members of this Legislature. The vote of the members of this Legislature who had been delegates to the US Constitution ratifying convention is marked either "For ratification" or "Against ratification".
County | Assemblymen | Party | Notes |
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Albany | John Duncan | Anti-Fed. | |
John Lansing Jr. | Anti-Fed. | elected Speaker; also Mayor of Albany; Against ratification | |
John Thompson | Anti-Fed. | ||
Cornelius Van Dyck | Anti-Fed. | ||
Henry K. Van Rensselaer | Anti-Fed. | ||
Jeremiah Van Rensselaer | Anti-Fed. | ||
John Younglove* | Fed./Anti-Fed. | Younglove ran on both tickets [7] | |
Columbia | Matthew Adgate | Anti-Fed. | Against ratification |
John Bay | Anti-Fed. | Against ratification; previously a member from Albany Co. | |
John Kortz | Anti-Fed. | ||
Cumberland | none | No election returns from these counties [8] | |
Gloucester | |||
Dutchess County | Jonathan Akins | Anti-Fed. | Against ratification |
Samuel A. Barker | Fed./Anti-Fed. | Barker ran on both tickets [9] | |
Isaac Bloom* | Fed./Anti-Fed. | Bloom ran on both tickets [10] | |
John DeWitt Jr.* | Anti-Fed. | For ratification | |
Jacob Griffin | Anti-Fed. | ||
Gilbert Livingston | Federalist | For ratification | |
Matthew Patterson* | |||
Kings | Aquila Giles | ||
Peter Vandervoort | Federalist | For ratification | |
Montgomery | John Frey* | Anti-Fed. | Against ratification |
William Harper | Anti-Fed. | Against ratification | |
Henry Staring | Anti-Fed. | Against ratification | |
Volkert Veeder* | Anti-Fed. | Against ratification | |
John Winn* | Anti-Fed. | Against ratification | |
Christopher P. Yates | Anti-Fed. | ||
New York | William W. Gilbert | ||
Richard Harison* | Federalist | ||
Nicholas Hoffman | Federalist | ||
Henry Brockholst Livingston | |||
Nicholas Low* | Federalist | ||
Alexander Macomb | |||
Comfort Sands* | Federalist | ||
Gulian Verplanck* | Federalist | ||
John Watts Jr. | Federalist | ||
Orange | John Carpenter | Anti-Fed. | |
Jeremiah Clark* | Anti-Fed. | ||
Henry Wisner Jr.* | Anti-Fed. | ||
vacant | The election was tied in fourth place: the incumbent Peter Taulman (A.-F.) and James Post (Fed.) received 128 votes each, thus there was "no choice." | ||
Queens | Stephen Carman* | Anti-Fed. | For ratification |
Whitehead Cornwell* | Anti-Fed. | For ratification | |
Samuel Jones* | Anti-Fed. | For ratification | |
John Schenck | Anti-Fed. | For ratification | |
Richmond | Abraham Bancker [11] | Federalist | For ratification |
John C. Dongan* | Anti-Fed. | ||
Suffolk | Nathaniel Gardiner | Federalist | |
Jonathan N. Havens* | Anti-Fed. | For ratification | |
David Hedges* | Anti-Fed. | ||
Henry Scudder | Anti-Fed. | For ratification | |
John Smith* | Anti-Fed. | For ratification | |
Ulster | John Cantine* | Anti-Fed. | Against ratification |
Ebenezer Clark | Anti-Fed. | Against ratification | |
Johannes G. Hardenbergh | Anti-Fed. | ||
Cornelius C. Schoonmaker* | Anti-Fed. | Against ratification | |
Nathan Smith* | Anti-Fed. | ||
Christopher Tappen [12] | Anti-Fed. | ||
Washington | Joseph McCracken | Anti-Fed. | |
Edward Savage* | Anti-Fed. | ||
Peter B. Tearse* | Anti-Fed. | ||
Alexander Webster* | Anti-Fed. | ||
Westchester | Thaddeus Crane | Federalist | For ratification |
Jonathan Horton | Federalist | ||
Philip Livingston [13] | Federalist | For ratification | |
Nathan Rockwell | Federalist | ||
Walter Seaman | Federalist | ||
Philip Van Cortlandt | Federalist | For ratification | |
The 1789 United States Senate election in New York was held in July 1789 to elect two U.S. senators to represent the State of New York in the United States Senate. It was the first such election, and before the actual election the New York State Legislature had to establish the proceedings how to elect the senators.
The 11th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 9 to March 22, 1788, during the eleventh year of George Clinton's governorship, in Poughkeepsie.
The 13th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from July 6, 1789, to April 6, 1790, during the thirteenth year of George Clinton's governorship, first in Albany, then in New York City.
The 14th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 5 to March 24, 1791, during the fourteenth year of George Clinton's governorship, in New York City.
The 15th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 5 to April 12, 1792, during the fifteenth year of George Clinton's governorship, in New York City.
The 16th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from November 6, 1792, to March 12, 1793, during the sixteenth year of George Clinton's governorship, in New York City.
The 17th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 7 to March 27, 1794, during the seventeenth year of George Clinton's governorship, in Albany.
The 18th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 6 to April 9, 1795, during the eighteenth year of George Clinton's governorship, first in Poughkeepsie, then in New York City.
The 19th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 6 to April 11, 1796, during the first year of John Jay's governorship, in New York City.
The 20th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from November 1, 1796, to April 3, 1797, during the second year of John Jay's governorship, first in New York City, then in Albany.
The 21st New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 2 to April 6, 1798, during the third year of John Jay's governorship, in Albany.
The 22nd New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from August 9, 1798, to April 3, 1799, during the fourth year of John Jay's governorship, in Albany.
The 23rd New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 28 to April 8, 1800, during the fifth year of John Jay's governorship, in Albany.
The 24th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from November 4, 1800, to April 8, 1801, during the sixth year of John Jay's governorship, in Albany.
The 25th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 26 to April 5, 1802, during the first year of George Clinton's second tenure as Governor of New York, in Albany.
The 28th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from November 6, 1804, to April 10, 1805, during the first year of Morgan Lewis's governorship, in Albany.
The 40th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from November 5, 1816, to April 15, 1817, during the tenth year of Daniel D. Tompkins's governorship, and while John Tayler was Acting Governor, in Albany.
The 42nd New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 5 to April 13, 1819, during the second year of DeWitt Clinton's governorship, in Albany.
The 44th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from November 7, 1820, to April 3, 1821, during the fourth year of DeWitt Clinton's governorship, in Albany.
The 45th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 2 to April 17, 1822, during the fifth year of DeWitt Clinton's governorship, in Albany.