27th New York State Legislature

27th New York State Legislature
← 26th 28th →
The Old Albany City Hall (undated)
Overview
Legislative body	New York State Legislature
Jurisdiction	New York, United States
Term	July 1, 1803 – June 30, 1804
Senate
Members	32
President	Lt. Gov. Jeremiah Van Rensselaer (Dem.-Rep.)
Party control	Democratic-Republican (26-6)
Assembly
Members	100
Speaker	Alexander Sheldon (Dem.-Rep.)
Party control	Democratic-Republican (83-17)
Sessions
1st January 31 – April 11, 1804

The 27th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 31 to April 11, 1804, during the third 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 Constitutional Convention of 1801, 32 Senators were elected on general tickets in the four senatorial districts for four-year terms. They were divided into four classes, and every year eight 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.

State Senator Solomon Sutherland died on September 10, 1802, leaving a vacancy in the Middle District.

In 1803, Montgomery County, and two seats were transferred from the Western to the Eastern District.

U.S. Senator DeWitt Clinton resigned on November 4, 1803, after his appointment as Mayor of New York City, and Governor George Clinton appointed John Armstrong to fill the vacancy temporarily.

U.S. Senator Theodorus Bailey resigned on January 16, 1804, after his appointment as Postmaster of New York City.

At this time the politicians were divided into two opposing political parties: the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans. ^[1] The Democratic-Republican Party split into two opposing factions at the gubernatorial election of 1804: the "Regulars" who supported Morgan Lewis, and the "Burrites" who supported Vice President Aaron Burr. Lewis had been nominated for Governor by his party, but Burr, after being dropped from the presidential ticket in favor of Gov. George Clinton, ran against Lewis. Burr also received the support of the majority of the Federalists although his enemy Alexander Hamilton, the leader of the Federalists, advocated against it and supported Lewis.

Elections

The State election was held from April 26 to 28, 1803. Senator Edward Savage (Eastern D.) was re-elected. John Broome (Southern D.), Joshua H. Brett, Robert Johnston (both Middle D.), John Tayler and Thomas Tredwell (both Eastern D.); and Assemblymen John Woodworth (Eastern D.) and Caleb Hyde (Western D.) were also elected to full terms in the Senate. Simon Veeder (Eastern D.) and Assemblyman James Burt were elected to fill the vacancies. All ten were Democratic-Republicans.

Sessions

The Legislature met at the Old City Hall in Albany on January 31, 1804; and the Assembly adjourned on April 10, the Senate on April 11.

Dem.-Rep. Alexander Sheldon was elected Speaker.

On February 3, 1804, the Legislature elected two U.S. senators (both Dem.-Rep.): John Armstrong to succeed himself, and John Smith to succeed Theodorus Bailey.

State Senate

Districts

• The Southern District (6 seats) consisted of Kings, New York, Queens, Richmond, Suffolk and Westchester counties.
• The Middle District (8 seats) consisted of Dutchess, Orange, Ulster, Columbia, Delaware, Rockland and Greene counties.
• The Eastern District (9 seats) consisted of Washington, Clinton, Rensselaer, Albany, Saratoga, Essex and Montgomery counties.
• The Western District (9 seats) consisted of Herkimer, Ontario, Otsego, Tioga, Onondaga, Schoharie, Steuben, Chenango, Oneida, Cayuga and Genesee 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. James Burt, John Woodworth and Caleb Hyde changed from the Assembly to the Senate.

District	Senators	Term left	Party	Notes
Southern	William Denning*	1 year	Dem.-Rep.
	Benjamin Huntting*	1 year	Dem.-Rep.
	Ebenezer Purdy*	1 year	Dem.-Rep.
	Ezra L'Hommedieu*	2 years	Dem.-Rep.
	John Schenck*	3 years	Dem.-Rep.
	John Broome	4 years	Dem.-Rep.	elected to the Council of Appointment; in April 1804 elected Lieutenant Governor of New York
Middle	John C. Hogeboom*	1 year	Dem.-Rep.
	James W. Wilkin*	1 year	Dem.-Rep.
	Jacobus S. Bruyn*	2 years	Dem.-Rep.
	Peter A. Van Bergen*	2 years	Dem.-Rep.
	James Burt*	3 years	Dem.-Rep./Burrite	elected to fill the vacancy, in place of Solomon Sutherland
	Abraham Adriance*	3 years	Dem.-Rep.	elected to the Council of Appointment
	Joshua H. Brett	4 years	Dem.-Rep.
	Robert Johnston	4 years	Dem.-Rep.
Eastern	James Gordon*	1 year	Federalist
	Jacobus Van Schoonhoven*	2 years	Federalist
	Abraham Van Vechten*	2 years	Federalist	also Recorder of the City of Albany
	Simon Veeder	2 years	Dem.-Rep.	elected to fill the vacancy, in place of Christopher Hutton
	Jacob Snell*	3 years	Dem.-Rep.	Snell lived in Montgomery Co. and had been elected in the Western District in 1802
	Edward Savage*	4 years	Dem.-Rep.
	John Tayler	4 years	Dem.-Rep.
	Thomas Tredwell	4 years	Dem.-Rep.	elected to the Council of Appointment
	John Woodworth*	4 years	Dem.-Rep.	from February 3, 1804, also New York Attorney General
Western	Robert Roseboom*	1 year	Dem.-Rep.
	Jedediah Sanger*	1 year	Federalist	also the First Judge of the Oneida County Court
	Lemuel Chipman*	2 years	Federalist
	Isaac Foote*	2 years	Federalist
	Joseph Annin*	3 years	Dem.-Rep./Burrite
	Asa Danforth*	3 years	Dem.-Rep.
	Matthias B. Tallmadge*	3 years	Dem.-Rep.
	George Tiffany*	3 years	Dem.-Rep.
	Caleb Hyde*	4 years	Dem.-Rep.	elected to the Council of Appointment

Employees

• Clerk: Henry I. Bleecker

State Assembly

Districts

• Albany County (6 seats)
• Cayuga County (3 seats)
• Chenango County (4 seats)
• Clinton County (1 seat)
• Columbia County (4 seats)
• Delaware County (2 seats)
• Dutchess County (7 seats)
• Essex County (1 seat)
• Genesee and Ontario counties (3 seats)
• Greene County (2 seats)
• Herkimer County (3 seats)
• Kings County (1 seat)
• Montgomery County (5 seats)
• The City and County of New York (9 seats)
• Oneida County (4 seats)
• Onondaga County (2 seats)
• Orange County (4 seats)
• Otsego County (4 seats)
• Queens County (3 seats)
• Rensselaer County (5 seats)
• Richmond County (1 seat)
• Rockland County (1 seat)
• Saratoga County (4 seats)
• Schoharie County (2 seats)
• Steuben County (1 seat)
• Suffolk County (3 seats)
• Tioga County (1 seat)
• Ulster County (4 seats)
• Washington County (6 seats)
• Westchester County (4 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	John Beekman Jr.
	Johann Jost Dietz*	Federalist
	James Emott	Federalist
	Peter S. Schuyler*	Federalist
	Moses Smith
	vacant
Cayuga	Silas Halsey	Dem.-Rep.	in April 1804, elected to the 9th United States Congress
	Thomas Hewitt*
	Amos Rathbun	Dem.-Rep.
Chenango	Obadiah German	Dem.-Rep.
	Stephen Hoxie*
	James Moore
	Joel Thompson*	Federalist
Clinton	Benjamin Mooers	Dem.-Rep.
Columbia	Benjamin Birdsall	Dem.-Rep.
	Stephen Miller	Dem.-Rep.
	Samuel Ten Broeck	Dem.-Rep.
	James I. Van Alen	Dem.-Rep.
Delaware	Gabriel North	Dem.-Rep.
	Elias Osborn*	Dem.-Rep.
Dutchess	Joseph E. Haff	Dem.-Rep.
	John Martin*	Dem.-Rep.
	Thomas Mitchell*	Dem.-Rep.
	Zalmon Sanford	Dem.-Rep.
	William Taber	Dem.-Rep./Burrite
	Benajah Thompson	Dem.-Rep.
	Theodorus R. Van Wyck*	Dem.-Rep.
Essex	Theodorus Ross	Dem.-Rep.
Genesee and Ontario	Amos Hall
	Nathaniel W. Howell	Federalist
	Polydore B. Wisner*
Greene	Stephen Simmons	Federalist
	Stoddard Smith	Federalist
Herkimer	Evans Wharry	Dem.-Rep.
	George Widrig*	Dem.-Rep.
	Samuel Wright*	Dem.-Rep.
Kings	John Hicks*	Dem.-Rep.
Montgomery	John Herkimer	Dem.-Rep.
	Henry Kennedy*
	Archibald McIntyre	Dem.-Rep.	also Deputy Secretary of State of New York
	Alexander Sheldon*	Dem.-Rep.	elected Speaker
	David J. Zeilly
New York	Samuel Bradhurst
	George Clinton, Jr.	Dem.-Rep.
	Peter Curtenius
	William Few*	Dem.-Rep.
	Henry Rutgers	Dem.-Rep.
	Peter A. Schenck
	Solomon Townsend
	James Warner	Dem.-Rep.
	Peter H. Wendover	Dem.-Rep.
Oneida	David Coffeen
	Joseph Kirkland	Federalist
	David Ostrom	Federalist
	Abraham Van Eps	Federalist
Onondaga	James Geddes	Federalist
	John McWhorter*	Dem.-Rep.
Orange	Joshua Brown
	Robert R. Burnet
	Samuel S. Seward	Federalist
	Henry Tucker
Otsego	Peter P. Dumont
	Jedediah Peck*	Dem.-Rep.
	Solomon Pier
	Henry Scott	Dem.-Rep.
Queens	Stephen Carman*	Federalist
	John D. Ditmis	Dem.-Rep.
	William Mott	Dem.-Rep.
Rensselaer	Asa Mann	Dem.-Rep.
	Jonathan Rouse*	Dem.-Rep.
	Charles Selden	Dem.-Rep.
	William Steward	Dem.-Rep.
	Samuel Vary Jr.	Dem.-Rep.
Richmond	John Houseman	Dem.-Rep.
Rockland	Samuel G. Verbryck	Dem.-Rep.
Saratoga	Adam Comstock*	Dem.-Rep.
	John Hunter	Dem.-Rep.
	Samuel Lewis	Dem.-Rep.
	Othniel Looker*	Dem.-Rep.
Schoharie	Henry Becker*	Dem.-Rep.
	Freegift Patchin	Dem.-Rep.
Steuben	James Faulkner*	Dem.-Rep.
Suffolk	Israel Carll*	Dem.-Rep.
	Sylvester Dering	Dem.-Rep.
	David Hedges	Dem.-Rep.
Tioga	Ashbel Wells
Ulster	Benjamin Bevier	Dem.-Rep.
	Lucas Elmendorf	Dem.-Rep.
	Joseph Hasbrouck Jr.	Dem.-Rep.
	James Ross	Dem.-Rep.
Washington	David Austin*	Dem.-Rep.
	Kitchel Bishop*	Dem.-Rep.
	William Livingston
	John McKinney
	John McLean*	Dem.-Rep.
	Stephen Thorn
Westchester	Abijah Gilbert*	Dem.-Rep.
	Abraham Odell*	Dem.-Rep.
	Thomas Thomas*	Dem.-Rep.
	Joseph Travis*	Dem.-Rep.

Employees

• Clerk: Solomon Southwick
• Sergeant-at-Arms: Benjamin Haight
• 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.

Sources

• The New York Civil List compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858) [see pg. 108f for Senate districts; pg. 118f for senators; pg. 148f for Assembly districts; pg. 177 for assemblymen]
• 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 202ff)
• Election result Assembly, Cayuga 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" [gives wrong party affiliations]
• Election result Assembly, Delaware Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Assembly, Dutchess Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Assembly, Greene 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, Onondaga 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, Richmond Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Assembly, Rockland Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Assembly, Schoharie Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Assembly, Saratoga Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Assembly, Suffolk 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, 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"
• Election result Senate, Western D. at project "A New Nation Votes"