25th New York State Legislature

25th New York State Legislature
← 24th 26th →
The Old Albany City Hall (undated)
Overview
Legislative body	New York State Legislature
Jurisdiction	New York, United States
Term	July 1, 1801 – June 30, 1802
Senate
Members	43
President	Lt. Gov. Jeremiah Van Rensselaer (Dem.-Rep.)
Party control	Federalist (22-19)
Assembly
Members	108
Speaker	Thomas Storm (Dem.-Rep.)
Party control	Democratic-Republican
Sessions
1st January 26 – April 5, 1802

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.

Background

Under the provisions of the New York Constitution of 1777, amended by the re-apportionment of March 4, 1796, Senators were elected on general tickets in the senatorial districts for four-year terms. They were divided into four classes, and every year about one fourth of the Senate seats came up for election. Assemblymen were elected countywide on general tickets to a one-year term, the whole assembly being renewed annually.

In 1797, Albany was declared the State capital, and all subsequent legislatures have been meeting there ever since. In 1799, the legislature enacted that future legislatures meet on the last Tuesday of January of each year unless called earlier by the governor.

On November 11, 1801, State Senator Moses Vail was appointed Sheriff of Rensselaer County, 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, 1801. Ex-Governor George Clinton (in office 1777-1795) was elected to a seventh term, and Jeremiah Van Rensselaer was elected Lieutenant Governor of New York, both were Democratic-Republicans

Senators Ezra L'Hommedieu (Southern D.), Jacobus S. Bruyn, James G. Graham (both Middle D.), Ebenezer Clark, Jacobus Van Schoonhoven and Abraham Van Vechten (all three Eastern D.) were re-elected. Peter A. Van Bergen (Middle D.), Christopher Hutton (Eastern D.), John Meyer, Isaac Foote (both Western D.) and Assemblyman Lemuel Chipman (Western D.) were also elected to the Senate. Assemblyman Edward Savage (Eastern D.) was elected to fill the vacancy. L'Hommedieu, Bruyn, Graham, Van Bergen and Savage were Democratic-Republicans, Hutton ran on both tickets, the others were Federalists.

Constitutional Convention

On April 6, 1801, the legislature had passed an "Act Recommending a Convention" which called for the election of delegates to a convention to amend the State Constitution concerning the right to nominate appointees in the Council of Appointment, and the apportionment of the state legislature. The delegates were elected from August 25 to 27, mirroring the apportionment of the Assembly. The convention met from October 13 to 27, and had a large Democratic-Republican majority. U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr presided.

The Constitutional Convention gave the governor and all four councillors concurrently the right to nominate appointees. The convention also changed the composition of the state legislature: the number of state senators was fixed permanently at 32; the number of assemblymen was set at 100, but could increase at a rate of two per year until reaching 150.

Sessions

The legislature met at the Old City Hall in Albany on January 26, 1802; and adjourned on April 5.

Dem.-Rep. Thomas Storm was elected Speaker unanimously.

On February 5, 1802, U.S. Senator John Armstrong (Dem.-Rep.) resigned, and on February 9, 1802, the Legislature elected State Senator DeWitt Clinton (Dem.-Rep.) to fill the vacancy.

On March 31, 1802, the Legislature re-apportioned the Assembly seats, according to the provisions of the Constitutional Convention.

State Senate

Districts

• The Southern District (9 seats) consisted of Kings, New York, Queens, Richmond, Suffolk and Westchester counties.
• The Middle District (12 seats) consisted of Dutchess, Orange, Ulster, Columbia, Delaware, Rockland and Greene counties.
• The Eastern District (12 seats) consisted of Washington, Clinton, Rensselaer, Albany, Saratoga and Essex counties.
• The Western District (11 seats) consisted of Montgomery, Herkimer, Ontario, Otsego, Tioga, Onondaga, Schoharie, Steuben, Chenango, Oneida and Cayuga 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. Edward Savage and Lemuel Chipman changed from the Assembly to the Senate.

To reduce the number of senators from 43 to 32, as enacted by the Constitutional Convention, 19 members left the Senate at the end of this session: the eleven members who finished their term this year (marked "term left 1 year"); and eight senators who had their term cut short (marked "legislated out of office"). Eight new senators were elected to arrive at 32. ^[2]

District	Senators	Term left	Party	Notes
Southern	DeWitt Clinton*	1 year	Dem.-Rep.	elected on February 9, 1802, to the U.S. Senate, and took his seat on February 27, thus vacating his seat in the State Senate
	(David Gelston*)	1 year	Dem.-Rep.	vacated his seat upon appointment as Collector of the Port of New York on July 9, 1801
	John Schenck*	1 year	Dem.-Rep.
	John B. Coles*	2 years	Federalist	legislated out of office
	Richard Hatfield*	2 years	Federalist
	William Denning*	3 years	Dem.-Rep.
	Benjamin Huntting*	3 years	Dem.-Rep.	elected to the Council of Appointment
	Ebenezer Purdy*	3 years	Dem.-Rep.
	Ezra L'Hommedieu*	4 years	Dem.-Rep.
Middle	Ebenezer Foote*	1 year	Federalist
	Ambrose Spencer*	1 year	Dem.-Rep.	from February 3, 1802, also New York Attorney General
	Isaac Bloom*	2 years	Dem.-Rep.	elected in April 1802 to the 8th United States Congress; legislated out of office
	John Hathorn*	2 years	Dem.-Rep.
	John Suffern*	2 years	Dem.-Rep.
	John C. Hogeboom*	3 years	Dem.-Rep.
	Solomon Sutherland*	3 years	Dem.-Rep.	legislated out of office
	David Van Ness*	3 years	Dem.-Rep.	legislated out of office
	James W. Wilkin*	3 years	Dem.-Rep.	elected to the Council of Appointment
	Jacobus S. Bruyn*	4 years	Dem.-Rep.
	Peter A. Van Bergen	4 years	Dem.-Rep.
	James G. Graham*	4 years	Dem.-Rep.	legislated out of office
Eastern	Leonard Gansevoort*	1 year	Federalist
	John Sanders*	1 year	Federalist
	Zina Hitchcock*	2 years	Federalist
	Ebenezer Russell*	2 years	Federalist
	Edward Savage*	2 years	Dem.-Rep.	elected to fill vacancy, in place of Moses Vail; elected to the Council of Appointment
	James Gordon*	3 years	Federalist
	Stephen Lush	3 years	Federalist	legislated out of office
	Ebenezer Clark*	4 years	Federalist	legislated out of office
	Christopher Hutton	4 years	Dem.-Rep./Fed.	Hutton ran on both tickets
	Jacobus Van Schoonhoven*	4 years	Federalist
	Abraham Van Vechten*	4 years	Federalist	also Recorder of the City of Albany
Western	William Beekman*	1 year	Federalist
	John Frey*	1 year	Federalist
	Frederick Gettman*	1 year	Federalist
	Thomas R. Gold*	1 year	Federalist
	Vincent Mathews*	2 years	Federalist
	Moss Kent*	2 years	Federalist
	Robert Roseboom*	3 years	Dem.-Rep.
	Jedediah Sanger*	3 years	Federalist	also First Judge of the Oneida County Court
	Lemuel Chipman*	4 years	Federalist	elected to the Council of Appointment
	John Meyer	4 years	Federalist	also First Judge of the Herkimer County Court; legislated out of office
	Isaac Foote	4 years	Federalist

Employees

• Clerk: Abraham B. Bancker
  • Henry I. Bleecker from April 5, 1802

State Assembly

Districts

• Albany County (8 seats)
• Cayuga County (1 seat)
• Chenango County (2 seats)
• Clinton and Essex counties (1 seat)
• Columbia County (6 seats)
• Delaware County (2 seats)
• Dutchess County (10 seats)
• Greene County (2 seats)
• Herkimer County (3 seats)
• Kings County (1 seat)
• Montgomery County (6 seats)
• The City and County of New York (13 seats)
• Oneida County (3 seats)
• Onondaga County (1 seat)
• Ontario and Steuben counties (2 seats)
• Orange County (5 seats)
• Otsego County (4 seats)
• Queens County (4 seats)
• Rensselaer County (6 seats)
• Richmond County (1 seat)
• Rockland County (1 seat)
• Saratoga County (5 seats)
• Schoharie County (1 seat)
• Suffolk County (4 seats)
• Tioga County (1 seat)
• Ulster County (4 seats)
• Washington County (6 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.

District	Assemblymen	Party	Notes
Albany	Johann Jost Dietz*	Federalist
	Prince Doty*	Federalist
	John Vernon Henry*	Federalist
	Peter S. Schuyler	Federalist
	Joseph Shurtleff*	Federalist
	Dirck Ten Broeck*	Federalist
	Jacob Ten Eyck*	Federalist
	Peter West*	Federalist
Cayuga	Salmon Buell
Chenango	Nathaniel King
	Joshua Mersereau Jr.
Clinton and Essex	William Bailey
Columbia	Thomas Brodhead	Federalist
	Josiah Holley	Dem.-Rep.
	Henry W. Livingston	Federalist	elected in April 1802 to the 8th United States Congress
	Samuel Ten Broeck	Dem.-Rep.
	Peter Van Alstyne	Dem.-Rep.
	Moses Younglove	Dem.-Rep.
Delaware	Gabriel North*	Dem.-Rep.
	Erastus Root*	Dem.-Rep.	elected in April 1802 to the 8th United States Congress
Dutchess	Abraham Adriance*	Dem.-Rep.
	Benjamin Akins*	Dem.-Rep.
	Theodorus Bailey	Dem.-Rep.
	Elisha Barlow*	Dem.-Rep.
	Nicholas H. Emigh*	Dem.-Rep.
	Harry Garrison	Dem.-Rep.
	Alexander Spencer	Dem.-Rep.
	John Thompson	Dem.-Rep.
	John M. Thurston*	Dem.-Rep.
	vacant [3]
Greene	William Beach
	Philip Conine Jr.		previously a member from Albany Co.
Herkimer	Nathan Smith*	Dem.-Rep.
	Samuel Merry Jr.	Dem.-Rep.
	George Widrig*	Dem.-Rep.
Kings	John C. Vanderveer
Montgomery	Archibald McIntyre*	Dem.-Rep.
	Frederick Sammons	Dem.-Rep.
	Alexander Sheldon*	Dem.-Rep.
	Jacob Snell*	Dem.-Rep.
	Charles Ward	Dem.-Rep.
	Christopher P. Yates*	Dem.-Rep.
New York	Philip I. Arcularius*	Dem.-Rep.
	John Broome*	Dem.-Rep.
	Peter Elting	Dem.-Rep.
	Thomas Farmar	Dem.-Rep.
	William Few	Dem.-Rep.
	James Hunt*	Dem.-Rep.
	(Henry Brockholst Livingston*)	Dem.-Rep.	vacated his seat upon appointment to the New York Supreme Court on January 8, 1802
	Elias Nexsen*	Dem.-Rep.
	Samuel Osgood*	Dem.-Rep.
	Ezekiel Robins*	Dem.-Rep.
	Henry Rutgers*	Dem.-Rep.
	Thomas Storm*	Dem.-Rep.	elected Speaker
	George Warner*	Dem.-Rep.
Oneida	Joel Bristol
	Abel French*	Federalist
	David Ostrom*	Federalist
Onondaga	Asa Danforth*	Dem.-Rep.
Ontario and Steuben	Daniel Chapin
	Peter B. Porter	Dem.-Rep.
Orange	Joshua Brown
	James Burt	Dem.-Rep.
	Charles Clinton
	Andrew McCord*	Dem.-Rep.	elected in April 1802 to the 8th United States Congress
	Selah Strong	Dem.-Rep.
Otsego	Samuel Campbell
	Solomon Martin*
	Jedediah Peck*	Dem.-Rep.
	Jacob Ten Broeck*
Queens	John D. Ditmis	Dem.-Rep.
	Abraham Monfoort*	Dem.-Rep.
	Joseph Pettit*	Dem.-Rep.
	William Mott	Dem.-Rep.
Rensselaer	John Carpenter	Federalist
	Jacob A. Fort	Federalist
	John Green	Fed./Dem.-Rep.	Green ran on both tickets
	Burton Hammond	Federalist
	John Knickerbacker Jr.	Federalist
	John Stevens	Federalist
Richmond	Paul I. Micheau*	Federalist
Rockland	Peter Denoyelles	Dem.-Rep.
Saratoga	Samuel Clark
	Adam Comstock*	Dem.-Rep.
	Henry Corl Jr.*
	James Warren*
	Edward A. Watrous
Schoharie	Lawrence Lawyer Jr.	Dem.-Rep.
Suffolk	Israel Carll	Dem.-Rep.
	Jared Landon*	Dem.-Rep.
	Abraham Miller*	Dem.-Rep.
	Tredwell Scudder	Dem.-Rep.
Tioga	Caleb Hyde
Ulster	Benjamin Bevier*	Dem.-Rep.
	Josiah Hasbrouck	Dem.-Rep.
	Elnathan Sears	Dem.-Rep.
	Benjamin Snyder	Dem.-Rep.
Washington	Kitchel Bishop	Dem.-Rep.
	Alexander Cowan	Dem.-Rep.
	Jason Kellogg	Dem.-Rep.
	John McLean	Dem.-Rep.
	Micajah Pettit
	Isaac Sargent	Dem.-Rep.
Westchester	Abijah Gilbert*	Dem.-Rep.
	Abraham Odell*	Dem.-Rep.
	Abel Smith*	Dem.-Rep.
	Thomas Thomas*	Dem.-Rep.
	Joseph Travis	Dem.-Rep.

Employees

• Clerk: James Van Ingen
• Sergeant-at-Arms: Ephraim Hunt
• Doorkeeper: Benjamin Whipple

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. For the exact instructions how to reduce the number of senators, see the Amendment at Reports of the Proceedings and Debates of the Convention of 1821. This shows that there was no additional senator in the Legislature, the number of seats being 43.
3. The election result lists "John Paterson" as elected, but the Civil List omits his name

Sources

• The New York Civil List compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858) [see pg. 108f for Senate districts; pg. 118 for senators [lists incorrectly a total of 44 senators, Tayler was not elected]; pg. 148f for Assembly districts; pg. 175 for assemblymen; pg. 55f for constitutional convention]
• 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 156ff)
• Election result Assembly, Albany Co. at project "A New Nation Votes", compiled by Phil Lampi, hosted by Tufts University Digital Library
• Election result Assembly, Columbia Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Assembly, Dutchess Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Assembly, Herkimer Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Assembly, Montgomery Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Assembly, Queens Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Assembly, Rensselaer Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Assembly, Tioga Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Assembly, Ulster Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Assembly, Suffolk Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Assembly, Westchester Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Senate, Southern D. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Senate, Middle D. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Senate, Eastern D. at project "A New Nation Votes" [This statement gives more votes for John Tayler than for Edward Savage, but the official result diverged, since Savage was elected to the Council of Appointment.]
• Election result Senate, Western D. at project "A New Nation Votes"