38th New York State Legislature

38th New York State Legislature
← 37th 39th →
The Old State Capitol (1879)
Overview
Legislative body	New York State Legislature
Jurisdiction	New York, United States
Term	July 1, 1814 – June 30, 1815
Senate
Members	32
President	Lt. Gov. John Tayler (Dem.-Rep.)
Party control	Democratic-Republican (26-6)
Assembly
Members	112
Speaker	Samuel Young (Dem.-Rep.)
Party control	Democratic-Republican (62-35)
Sessions
1st September 26 – October 24, 1814 2nd January 31 – April 18, 1815

The 38th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from September 26, 1814, to April 18, 1815, during the eighth year of Daniel D. Tompkins's governorship, 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 John Tayler had been elected Lieutenant Governor of New York in 1813, 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 26 to 28, 1814. Senator Philetus Swift (Western D.) was re-elected. Darius Crosby (Southern D.), Moses I. Cantine (Middle D.), George Tibbits (Eastern D.), Bennett Bicknell, Chauncey Loomis, John J. Prendergast (all three Western D.); and Assemblyman William Ross (Middle D.) were also elected to full terms in the Senate. Guert Van Schoonhoven (Eastern D.) was elected to fill the vacancy. Tibbits was a Federalist, the other eight were Democratic-Republicans.

Sessions

The Legislature met at the Old State Capitol in Albany on September 26, 1814, to enact legislation concerning the War against Great Britain; and adjourned on October 24.

Samuel Young (Dem.-Rep.) was elected Speaker with 61 votes against 35 for James Emott (Fed.). Aaron Clark (Dem.-Rep.) was elected Clerk of the Assembly with 60 votes against 37 for James Van Ingen (Fed.). At the end of this session, Jesse Buel was appointed by the Legislature to succeed Solomon Southwick as State Printer.

The Legislature met for the regular session on January 31, 1815; and adjourned on April 18.

On January 31, the Dem.-Rep. Assembly majority elected a new Council of Appointment which removed almost all Federalist officeholders.

On February 7, the Legislature elected State Senator Nathan Sanford (Dem.-Rep.) to succeed Obadiah German (Dem.-Rep.) as U.S. Senator from New York.

On April 8, 1815, the Legislature re-apportioned the Assembly districts, increasing the total number of assemblymen from 112 to 126.

On April 17, 1815, the Legislature re-apportioned the Senate districts: Dutchess, Putnam and Rockland Co. (and 1 seat) were transferred from the Middle to the Southern District; Albany Co. from the Eastern, and Chenango, Otsego and Schoharie Co. from the Western (and 3 seats) were transferred to the Middle District; Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence Co. (and 3 seats) were transferred from the Western to the Eastern District. It was however too late to use this new apportionment at the State election held later this month.

State Senate

Districts

• The Southern District (5 seats) consisted of Kings, New York, Queens, Richmond, Suffolk and Westchester counties.
• The Middle District (7 seats) consisted of Dutchess, Orange, Ulster, Columbia, Delaware, Rockland, Greene, Sullivan and Putnam counties.
• The Eastern District (8 seats) consisted of Washington, Clinton, Rensselaer, Albany, Saratoga, Essex, Montgomery, Franklin, Schenectady and Warren counties.
• The Western District (12 seats) consisted of Herkimer, Ontario, Otsego, Tioga, Onondaga, Schoharie, Steuben, Chenango, Oneida, Cayuga, Genesee, Seneca, Jefferson, Lewis, St. Lawrence, Allegany, Broome, Madison, Niagara, Cortland, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua 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. William Ross changed from the Assembly to the Senate.

District	Senators	Term left	Party	Notes
Southern	Nathan Sanford*	1 year	Dem.-Rep.	until March 21, 1815, also United States Attorney for the District of New York; on February 7, 1815, elected to the U.S. Senate
	Elbert H. Jones*	2 years	Federalist	resigned on March 6, 1815
	Peter W. Radcliff*	2 years	Federalist
	Jonathan Dayton*	3 years	Dem.-Rep.	elected to the Council of Appointment
	Darius Crosby	4 years	Dem.-Rep.
Middle	Erastus Root*	1 year	Dem.-Rep.
	William Taber*	1 year	Dem.-Rep.
	Martin Van Buren*	2 years	Dem.-Rep.	from February 17, 1815, also New York Attorney General
	Lucas Elmendorf*	3 years	Dem.-Rep.	elected to the Council of Appointment
	Samuel G. Verbryck*	3 years	Dem.-Rep.
	Moses I. Cantine	4 years	Dem.-Rep.
	William Ross*	4 years	Dem.-Rep.
Eastern	Elisha Arnold*	1 year	Dem.-Rep.
	Kitchel Bishop*	1 year	Dem.-Rep.
	Ruggles Hubbard*	1 year	Dem.-Rep.	elected to the Council of Appointment; from April 20, 1815, also Sheriff of New York County
	Guert Van Schoonhoven	1 year	Dem.-Rep. [2]	elected to fill vacancy, in place of John Tayler
	Gerrit Wendell*	2 years	Federalist
	James Cochran*	3 years	Federalist
	Samuel Stewart*	3 years	Federalist
	George Tibbits	4 years	Federalist
Western	Casper M. Rouse*	1 year	Dem.-Rep.
	Russell Attwater*	2 years	Dem.-Rep.
	Francis A. Bloodgood*	2 years	Dem.-Rep.
	Archibald S. Clarke*	2 years	Dem.-Rep.
	Henry Hager*	2 years	Dem.-Rep.
	Henry Bloom*	3 years	Dem.-Rep.
	Perley Keyes*	3 years	Dem.-Rep.	from December 9, 1814, also Collector of Customs at Sackett's Harbor
	Farrand Stranahan*	3 years	Dem.-Rep.	elected to the Council of Appointment
	Bennett Bicknell	4 years	Dem.-Rep.
	Chauncey Loomis	4 years	Dem.-Rep.
	Philetus Swift*	4 years	Dem.-Rep.
	John J. Prendergast	4 years	Dem.-Rep.

Employees

• Clerk: John F. Bacon

State Assembly

Districts

• Albany County (4 seats)
• Allegany and Steuben counties (1 seat)
• Broome County (1 seat)
• Cattaraugus, Chautauqua and Niagara counties (1 seat)
• Cayuga County (3 seats)
• Chenango County (3 seats)
• Clinton and Franklin counties (1 seat)
• Cortland County (1 seat)
• Columbia County (4 seats)
• Delaware County (2 seats)
• Dutchess County (5 seats)
• Essex County (1 seat)
• Genesee County (1 seat)
• Greene County (2 seats)
• Herkimer County (3 seats)
• Jefferson County (2 seats)
• Kings County (1 seat)
• Lewis County (1 seat)
• Madison County (3 seats)
• Montgomery County (5 seats)
• The City and County of New York (11 seats)
• Oneida County (5 seats)
• Onondaga County (2 seats)
• Ontario County (5 seats)
• Orange County (4 seats)
• Otsego County (4 seats)
• Putnam County (1 seat)
• Queens County (3 seats)
• Rensselaer County (4 seats)
• Richmond County (1 seat)
• Rockland County (1 seat)
• St. Lawrence County (1 seat)
• Saratoga County (4 seats)
• Schenectady County (2 seats)
• Schoharie County (2 seats)
• Seneca County (1 seat)
• Suffolk County (3 seats)
• Sullivan and Ulster counties (4 seats)
• Tioga County (1 seat)
• Warren and Washington counties (5 seats)
• Westchester County (3 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	Harmanus Bleecker*	Federalist
	Sylvester Ford
	Jesse Tyler	Federalist
	John D. Winne		or John L. Winne*?
Allegany and Steuben	Daniel Cruger*	Dem.-Rep.
Broome	Asa Leonard
Cattaraugus, Chautauqua and Niagara	Joseph McClure
Cayuga	John H. Beach	Dem.-Rep.
	Silas Bowker*
	Barnabas Smith	Dem.-Rep.
Chenango	John Guthrie
	Thompson Mead
	Robert Monell	Dem.-Rep.
Clinton and Franklin	Robert Platt	Federalist
Columbia	Henry Livingston	Federalist
	Augustus Tremain
	Jacob R. Van Rensselaer*	Federalist	until February 16, 1815, also Secretary of State of New York
	Elisha Williams*	Federalist
Cortland	Samuel G. Hathaway	Dem.-Rep.
Delaware	Robert Clark	Dem.-Rep.
	Asahel E. Paine
Dutchess	John Beadle	Federalist
	Joel Benton	Federalist
	William A. Duer*	Federalist
	James Emott*	Federalist
	James Grant	Federalist
Essex	Reuben Sanford	Dem.-Rep.
Genesee	Isaac Sutherland
Greene	James Gale	Federalist
	Martin G. Van Bergen
Herkimer	Jonas Cleland*	Dem.-Rep.
	Aaron Hackley, Jr.*	Dem.-Rep.
	John McCombs	Dem.-Rep.
Jefferson	Ethel Bronson*	Federalist
	(Mark Hopkins) [3]	Federalist	or vacant?
Kings	Teunis Schenck	Dem.-Rep.
Lewis	Ela Collins	Dem.-Rep.	from March 15, 1815, also District Attorney of the 8th District
Madison	David Beecher
	Windsor Coman
	John Mattison
Montgomery	Solomon Diefendorf
	John Eisenlord
	Alexander St. John
	John Shuler
	Alvah Southworth
New York	Charles Baldwin
	Francis Cooper	Dem.-Rep.
	Jacob Drake	Dem.-Rep.
	Ogden Edwards	Dem.-Rep.
	Isaac Pierson	Dem.-Rep.
	Peter Sharpe	Dem.-Rep.
	Joseph Smith
	Peter Stagg
	Samuel Torbett
	George Warner	Dem.-Rep.
	Augustus Wright	Dem.-Rep.
Oneida	Theodore Hill
	John Lay
	James Lynch*	Federalist
	Rufus Pettibone
	John Storrs	Federalist
Onondaga	Hezekiah L. Granger	Dem.-Rep.
	James Porter	Dem.-Rep.
Ontario	Peter Allen	Dem.-Rep.
	John Price
	James Roseburgh
	Ira Selby
	David Sutherland*
Orange	Hezekiah Belknap
	Edward Ely
	James Finch Jr.	Dem.-Rep.
	Benjamin Woodward
Otsego	Nathaniel Fenton	Dem.-Rep.
	Lemuel Fitch	Dem.-Rep.
	Arunah Metcalf	Dem.-Rep.
	Robert Roseboom	Dem.-Rep.
Putnam	David Knapp
Queens	Stephen Carman*	Federalist
	Daniel Kissam*	Federalist
	Solomon Wooden
Rensselaer	David Allen	Federalist
	Henry A. Lake	Federalist
	Jacob A. Ten Eyck	Federalist
	Zebulon Scriven	Federalist
Richmond	Jesse Oakley	Federalist
Rockland	Peter S. Van Orden*	Dem.-Rep.
St. Lawrence	David A. Ogden	Federalist
Saratoga	Benjamin Cowles
	Howel Gardner
	Richard Ketchum
	Samuel Young*	Dem.-Rep.	elected Speaker
Schenectady	Ezekiel Sexton	Dem.-Rep.
	John Victory	Dem.-Rep.
Schoharie	William C. Bouck*	Dem.-Rep.
	William Dietz*
Seneca	David Woodcock	Dem.-Rep.
Suffolk	John P. Osborn	Dem.-Rep.
	Tredwell Scudder	Dem.-Rep.
	John Wells	Dem.-Rep.
Sullivan and Ulster	Wessel Broadhead
	Darius Martin
	David Staples
	Thomas Van Gaasbeck
Tioga	Caleb Baker*	Dem.-Rep.
Warren and Washington	John Gale	Dem.-Rep.
	Henry Mattison	Dem.-Rep.
	Nathaniel Pitcher	Dem.-Rep.
	John Richards	Dem.-Rep.
	Isaac Sargent	Dem.-Rep.
Westchester	Benjamin Isaacs	Federalist
	Peter J. Munro	Federalist
	William Requa	Federalist

Employees

• Clerk: Aaron Clark
• Sergeant-at-Arms: Thomas Donnelly
• 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. Van Schoonhoven was an old Federalist, but was nominated by the Anti-Clintonians to oppose Solomon Southwick who had himself nominated as a Clintonian and Federalist. Apparently, most Federalists voted for Van Schoonhoven who defeated Southwick.
3. The Civil List mentions only Bronson, but the election result shows Hopkins as second most voted.

Sources

• The New York Civil List compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858) [see pg. 108f for Senate districts; pg. 122 for senators; pg. 148f for Assembly districts; pg. 189f 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 375-400)
• Partial election result Assembly, Clinton and Franklin Co. at project "A New Nation Votes", compiled by Phil Lampi, hosted by Tufts University Digital Library [gives only votes from Clinton Co.]
• Election result Assembly, Cortland 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, Kings Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Assembly, Lewis Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Assembly, Onondaga 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, Rockland Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Assembly, Schenectady Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Assembly, Schoharie Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Assembly, Suffolk Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Partial election result Senate, Southern D. at project "A New Nation Votes" [gives only votes of Kings and Suffolk Co.]
• Partial election result Senate, Middle D. at project "A New Nation Votes" [gives only votes of Dutchess, Greene and Rockland Co.)
• Partial election result Senate, Eastern D. at project "A New Nation Votes" [gives only votes of Albany, Clinton, Rensselaer and Schenectady Co.]
• Partial election result Senate, Western D. at project "A New Nation Votes" [gives only votes of Cortland, Herkimer, Jefferson, Onondaga, Otsego and Schoharie Co.]
• Election result, Speaker at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result, Assembly Clerk at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result, Council of Appointment at project "A New Nation Votes"