19th New York State Legislature

19th New York State Legislature
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The Old New York City Hall, where the Legislature first met in 1784. From January 1785 to August 1790, the Congress of the Confederation and the 1st United States Congress met here, and the building was renamed Federal Hall. From 1791 to 1793, and from 1795 to 1796, the State Legislature met again here. The building was demolished in 1812. (1798)
Overview
Legislative body	New York State Legislature
Jurisdiction	New York, United States
Term	July 1, 1795 – June 30, 1796
Senate
Members	24
President	Lt. Gov. Stephen Van Rensselaer (Fed.)
Party control	Federalist (14-9)
Assembly
Members	70
Speaker	William North (Fed.)
Party control	Federalist
Sessions
1st January 6, 1796 – April 11, 1796

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.

Background

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.

On February 7, 1791, the legislature had re-apportioned the Senate and Assembly districts, according to the figures of the 1790 United States Census.

Matthew Clarkson resigned, leaving a vacancy in the Southern District; and John Williams was elected to Congress, leaving a vacancy in the Eastern District.

At this time the politicians were divided into two opposing political parties: the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans. ^[1]

Elections

The State election was held from April 28 to 30, 1795. U.S. Chief Justice John Jay was elected Governor; and State Senator Stephen Van Rensselaer was elected Lieutenant Governor; both were Federalists.

Senators Samuel Jones, Joshua Sands (both Southern D.), Thomas Tillotson (Middle D.) and Philip Schuyler (Western D.) were re-elected. Abraham Schenck (Middle D.) and Ebenezer Russell (Eastern D.) were also elected to full terms in the Senate. Philip Livingston (Southern D.) and Ambrose Spencer (Eastern D.) were elected to fill the vacancies.

Sessions

The legislature was to meet at Federal Hall in New York City on January 5, 1796, but assembled a quorum only the next day. Both houses adjourned on April 11.

William North was re-elected Speaker with a vote of 29 against 18 for James Watson; both were Federalists. ^[2]

On February 12, 1796, the legislature divided the State into seven districts, in each of which an Assistant Attorney General ^[3] was to be the principal prosecuting officer, instead of the Attorney General and his deputy who had prosecuted statewide. The Attorney General continued to prosecute personally in New York City; the original Assistant Attorneys General appointed were: Nathaniel Lawrence, Jacob Radcliff, Ambrose Spencer, Anthony I. Blanchard, Abraham Van Vechten, William Stuart and Thomas R. Gold.

On March 4, 1796, the Legislature re-apportioned the Senate and Assembly districts, based on the figures of the New York State Census of 1795. The number of state senators was increased from 24 to 43; the number of assemblymen was increased from 70 to 108; the two-county Assembly districts were dismembered, and several new counties were created.

State Senate

Districts

• The Southern District (8 seats) consisted of Kings, New York, Queens, Richmond, Suffolk and Westchester counties.
• The Middle District (6 seats) consisted of Dutchess, Orange and Ulster counties.
• The Eastern District (5 seats) consisted of Washington, Clinton, Columbia and Rensselaer counties.
• The Western District (5 seats) consisted of Albany, Montgomery, Herkimer, Ontario, Otsego, Saratoga, Tioga, Onondaga and Schoharie counties.

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.

Members

The asterisk (*) denotes members of the previous Legislature who continued in office as members of this Legislature.

District	Senators	Term left	Party	Notes
Southern	Henry Cruger*	1 year	Federalist
	John Schenck*	1 year	Dem.-Rep.
	Selah Strong*	1 year	Federalist
	Ezra L'Hommedieu*	2 years	Federalist
	Philip Livingston [4]	3 years	Federalist	elected to fill vacancy, in place of Matthew Clarkson
	Richard Hatfield*	3 years	Federalist
	Samuel Jones*	4 years	Federalist	also Recorder of New York City
	Joshua Sands*	4 years	Federalist	elected to the Council of Appointment
Middle	Joseph Hasbrouck*	1 year	Dem.-Rep.
	John Cantine*	2 years	Dem.-Rep.
	Reuben Hopkins*	2 years	Dem.-Rep.
	John D. Coe*	3 years	Dem.-Rep.
	Abraham Schenck	4 years	Dem.-Rep.	elected to the Council of Appointment
	Thomas Tillotson*	4 years	Dem.-Rep.
Eastern	John Livingston* [5]	1 year	Dem.-Rep.
	Robert Woodworth*	1 year	Dem.-Rep.
	Zina Hitchcock*	2 years	Federalist
	Ambrose Spencer	3 years	Federalist	elected to fill vacancy, in place of John Williams; from February 23, 1796, also Assistant Attorney General (3rd D.)
	Ebenezer Russell	4 years	Federalist	elected to the Council of Appointment
Western	Michael Myers*	2 years	Federalist	elected to the Council of Appointment
	Jacobus Van Schoonhoven*	2 years	Federalist
	John Frey*	3 years	Federalist
	vacant	3 years		Stephen Van Rensselaer was elected Lt. Gov.
	Philip Schuyler*	4 years	Federalist

Employees

• Clerk: Abraham B. Bancker

State Assembly

Districts

• Albany and Schoharie counties (7 seats)
• Columbia County (6 seats)
• Dutchess County (7 seats)
• Herkimer and Onondaga counties (1 seat)
• Kings County (1 seat)
• Montgomery County) (4 seats)
• The City and County of New York (7 seats)
• Ontario County (1 seat)
• Orange County (3 seats)
• Otsego County (1 seat)
• Queens County (3 seats)
• Rensselaer County (5 seats)
• Richmond County (1 seat)
• Saratoga County (4 seats)
• Suffolk County (4 seats)
• Tioga County (1 seat)
• Ulster County (5 seats)
• Washington and Clinton counties (4 seats)
• Westchester County (5 seats)

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.

Assemblymen

The asterisk (*) denotes members of the previous Legislature who continued as members of this Legislature.

County	Assemblymen	Party	Notes
Albany and Schoharie	Gerrit Abeel
	Leonard Bronck	Federalist
	Johannes Dietz*	Federalist
	Jacob Hochstrasser*
	Francis Nicoll	Federalist
	William North*	Federalist	re-elected Speaker
	Dirck Ten Broeck	Federalist
Columbia	Benjamin Birdsall
	James Brebner*
	Patrick Hamilton
	Stephen Hogeboom
	Philip L. Hoffman	Dem.-Rep.
	Samuel Ten Broeck
Dutchess	David Brooks*	Federalist
	Richard Davis
	Jesse Oakley*	Federalist
	Jacob Smith*
	Solomon Sutherland
	Jesse Thompson	Federalist
	Isaac Van Wyck*
Herkimer and Onondaga	Jonas Platt	Federalist
Kings	Peter Vandervoort*	Federalist
Montgomery	David Cady
	Lewis Dubois
	Frederick Gettman*	Federalist
	Daniel Mills
New York	Gabriel Furman	Federalist
	Richard Furman*	Federalist
	Alexander Lamb	Dem.-Rep.
	Jacob Morton	Federalist
	Jotham Post Jr.*	Federalist
	William P. Smith	Federalist
	James Watson*	Federalist
Ontario	Thomas Morris*	Federalist
Orange	Seth Marvin
	David Pye*	Dem.-Rep.
	James W. Wilkin	Dem.-Rep.
Otsego	Jacob Morris*	Federalist
Queens	Stephen Carman*	Federalist
	Samuel Clowes*
	Nathaniel Lawrence*	Dem.-Rep.	from February 16, 1796, also Assistant Attorney General (1st D.)
Rensselaer	John Bird	Federalist
	Daniel Gray*	Federalist
	Rowland Hall	Federalist
	Benjamin Hicks*	Federalist
	John Knickerbacker Jr.	Federalist
Richmond	Lewis Ryerss*
Saratoga	John Bleecker
	Adam Comstock*	Dem.-Rep.
	John McClelland
	Elias Palmer
Suffolk	Jared Landon
	Abraham Miller
	Joshua Smith Jr.*
	Silas Wood	Federalist
Tioga	Emanuel Coryell	Federalist
Ulster	John Addison	Dem.-Rep.
	Philip D. Bevier	Dem.-Rep.
	Ebenezer Foote	Federalist
	Andrew McCord	Dem.-Rep.
	James Oliver	Federalist
Washington and Clinton	David Hopkins*	Dem.-Rep.
	Timothy Leonard
	Edward Savage*	Dem.-Rep.
	Thomas Smith
Westchester	Joseph Carpenter	Federalist
	Mordecai Hale	Federalist
	Elias Newman
	Abel Smith*
	Charles Teed	Federalist

Employees

• Clerk: Oliver L. Ker
• Sergeant-at-Arms: Robert Hunter
• Doorkeeper: Richard Ten Eyck

Notes

1. The Anti-Federalists called themselves "Republicans." However, at the same time, the Federalists called them "Democrats" which was meant to be pejorative. After some time both terms got more and more confused, and sometimes used together as "Democratic Republicans" which later historians have adopted (with a hyphen) to describe the party from the beginning, to avoid confusion with both the later established and still existing Democratic and Republican parties.
2. The History of Political Parties in the State of New-York, from the Ratification of the Federal Constitution to 1840 by Jabez D. Hammond (4th ed., Vol. 1, H. & E. Phinney, Cooperstown, 1846; pages 95)
3. The office was renamed in 1801 "District Attorney" when these districts still comprised multiple counties. The name of the office was not changed after 1818 when each county became its own D.A.
4. Philip Livingston, son of Peter Van Brugh Livingston
5. John Livingston, fifth son of Robert Livingston (1708–1790), 3rd Lord of the Manor

Sources

• The New York Civil List compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858) [see pg. 108 for Senate districts; pg. 115f for senators; pg. 148f for Assembly districts; pg. 169f for assemblymen]
• Election result Assembly, Dutchess Co. at project "A New Nation Votes", compiled by Phil Lampi, hosted by Tufts University Digital Library
• Election result Assembly, New York Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Assembly, Otsego Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Assembly, Rensselaer Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Assembly, Ulster Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"