Council of Appointment

The Council of Appointment (sometimes also Council of Appointments) was a body of the Government of New York that existed from 1777 to 1822.

History

Under the New York Constitution of 1777, the Council of Appointment consisted of the Governor of New York, who was ex officio president of this council but had only a casting vote, and four members of the New York State Senate, one each from the state's senatorial electoral districts. These state senators were elected for a one-year term by the New York State Assembly and could not be re-elected for the following term.

The Council had the power to appoint all state, county and municipal officials within the state of New York for which no other means of appointment or election was provided for in the State Constitution. The offices filled by the Council included the State Comptroller, the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the Surveyor General, the Chancellor, the justices of the New York Supreme Court, sheriffs, district attorneys, judges, surrogates, city and county clerks, mayors (including the Mayor of New York City), all military officers and many others.

The Council of Appointment had its origins in the fear of too much popular influence in the government. The first New York Constitution was aristocratic and elitist in spirit. As long as the governor alone nominated appointees, he had as much power over the state's patronage as a medieval king. On the other side, during the long tenure of Governor George Clinton, very rarely an office holder was removed, and the Council only filled vacancies as they occurred by resignation, death, declination of re-appointment, or term limit.

Troubles, however, arose after the Federalist Party and the Democratic-Republican Party appeared, and began to alternate as majority in the Assembly. Because of the lack of clarity in the 1777 New York Constitution, the parties struggled over who, exactly, held the power to make nominations and appointments. The constitution stated that the governor would have the "casting voice, but no other vote; and with the advice and consent of the said council..." The custom arose that the governor made the nominations, and the Council approved, or rejected, them. But when the legislature had a majority of the opposition, they would elect three or four senators and outvote the governor. Governor John Jay, who had drafted the Constitution, asserted that the Council could not propose appointees, only vote for or against the governor's nominees. So when the Council voted down all of his nominees, in his opinion, nobody could be appointed. The question was settled at the New York State Constitutional Convention of 1801, which amended the Constitution, giving the right of nomination to the governor and each one of the Council members concurrently. This led to an annual scramble for office, especially if the majority in the Assembly changed.

Alexander Hamilton criticized the Council in his Federalist No. 77.

The council was abolished by the New York State Constitutional Convention of 1821 and ceased to exist at the end of the year 1822, at which time more than 15,000 offices had been under its control. Under the Constitution of 1821, the State cabinet officers and Supreme Court justices were elected by the State Legislature, and most of the county and local officers were elected in local popular or legislative elections. The governor continued to appoint only a very small number of officers and had the right to make recess appointments.

List of members

Southern D.	Middle D.	Eastern D.	Western D.	Elected on
John Morin Scott	Jesse Woodhull	Alexander Webster	Abraham Yates Jr.	September 16, 1777
Jonathan Lawrence	Zephaniah Platt	Ebenezer Russell	Dirck Wessel Ten Broeck	October 17, 1778
Isaac Roosevelt	Levi Pawling	Alexander Webster	Rinier Mynderse	September 11, 1779
Stephen Ward	Ephraim Paine [1]	Ebenezer Russell	Abraham Ten Broeck	September 11, 1780
	Arthur Parks [2]			March 23, 1781
Isaac Stoutenburgh	Zephaniah Platt	Alexander Webster	Henry Oothoudt	October 25, 1781
Jonathan Lawrence	John Haring	Elkanah Day	William B. Whiting	July 22, 1782
Ezra L'Hommedieu	Jacobus Swartwout	Alexander Webster	Abraham Yates Jr.	January 21, 1784
Isaac Roosevelt	Joseph Gasherie	Ebenezer Russell	William B. Whiting	October 19, 1784
Lewis Morris	Jacobus Swartwout	David Hopkins	Philip Schuyler	January 19, 1786
William Floyd	John Hathorn	Ebenezer Russell	Peter Schuyler	January 18, 1787
John Vanderbilt	Anthony Hoffman	David Hopkins	Philip Schuyler	January 18, 1788
Samuel Townsend	John Hathorn	John Williams	Peter Van Ness	January 2, 1789
Philip Livingston	John Cantine	Edward Savage [3]	Philip Schuyler [4]	January 15, 1790
Isaac Roosevelt	Thomas Tillotson	Alexander Webster	Peter Schuyler	January 14, 1791
Philip Van Cortlandt	David Pye	William Powers	Stephen Van Rensselaer	January 14, 1792
David Gelston	Joseph Hasbrouck	Robert Woodworth	John Frey	January 14, 1793
Selah Strong	Reuben Hopkins	Zina Hitchcock	Philip Schuyler	January 7, 1794
Richard Hatfield	Joseph Hasbrouck	William Powers	Jacobus Van Schoonhoven [5]	January 6, 1795
Joshua Sands	Abraham Schenck	Ebenezer Russell	Michael Myers	January 7, 1796
Andrew Onderdonk	Ambrose Spencer	Leonard Gansevoort	Thomas Morris	January 9, 1797
Ezra L'Hommedieu	William Thompson	Moses Vail	Joseph White	January 8, 1798
William Denning	Ebenezer Foote [6]	Ebenezer Clark	John Frey	January 4, 1799
Samuel Haight	Robert Sands	James Gordon	Thomas R. Gold	January 28, 1800
DeWitt Clinton	Ambrose Spencer [7]	John Sanders	Robert Roseboom	November 7, 1800 [8]
Benjamin Huntting	James W. Wilkin	Edward Savage	Lemuel Chipman	January 30, 1802
Ebenezer Purdy [9]	John C. Hogeboom	Jacobus Van Schoonhoven [10]	Jacob Snell	February 8, 1803
John Broome	Abraham Adriance	Thomas Tredwell	Caleb Hyde	February 7, 1804
John Schenck	Joshua H. Brett	Stephen Thorn	Jedediah Peck	January 29, 1805
DeWitt Clinton	Robert Johnson	Adam Comstock	Henry Huntington	January 31, 1806 [11]
Thomas Thomas	James Burt	Edward Savage	John Nicholas	January 29, 1807 [12]
Benjamin Coe	Peter C. Adams	John Veeder	Nathan Smith	January 29, 1808 [13]
Jonathan Ward	James G. Graham	Isaac Kellogg	Alexander Rea	January 27, 1809
Israel Carll	Robert Williams [14]	Daniel Paris	Amos Hall	January 31, 1810
Benjamin Coe	James W. Wilkin	John McLean	Philetus Swift	January 30, 1811
William W. Gilbert	Johannes Bruyn	Henry Yates Jr. [15]	Francis A. Bloodgood	February 1, 1812
Peter W. Radcliff [16]	James W. Wilkin	John Stearns	Jonas Platt	January 12, 1813
Elbert H. Jones	Morgan Lewis	Samuel Stewart	Henry A. Townsend	January 25, 1814
Jonathan Dayton	Lucas Elmendorf	Ruggles Hubbard	Farrand Stranahan	February 1, 1815
Darius Crosby	William Ross	Perley Keyes	Archibald S. Clarke	February 5, 1816
Walter Bowne	John Noyes	John J. Prendergast	Henry Bloom	February 2, 1817
Peter R. Livingston	Jabez D. Hammond	Henry Yates Jr.	Henry Seymour	January 31, 1818
Stephen Barnum	William Ross	George Rosecrantz	Stephen Bates	February 3, 1819
John D. Ditmis	John Lounsbery	Levi Adams	Ephraim Hart	January 11, 1820
Walter Bowne	John T. More	Roger Skinner	David E. Evans	November 8, 1820
John Townsend	Charles E. Dudley	Benjamin Mooers	Perry G. Childs	January 10, 1822

Notes

1. Paine was expelled from the State Senate in March 1781
2. Parks was elected in place of Paine. When he took his seat on March 29, all members of the Council, including Parks, protested against his "by-election" for which there seems to have been no legal basis. Nevertheless, the amended Council, with Parks, made the appointments for the remainder of the term.
3. Edward Savage, father of John Savage
4. Schuyler was at this time a U.S. Senator from New York, and lost his seat in the State Senate on January 27 when the State Legislature declared the incompatibility of holding both seats concurrently. Nevertheless, Schuyler retained his seat in the Council of Appointment, claiming that it was not required to hold the seat in the State Senate once elected to the Council. Any mention of the Paine/Parks precedent of 1781 was carefully avoided, but Schuyler was quite right, considering that every time a state senator was elected to the Council during the last year of his term, and was not re-elected, the senatorial term expired on June 30, but the ex-senator continued a member of the Council until January next. See also United States Senate election in New York, 1789#Election and aftermath
5. Jacobus Van Schoonhoven (1744–1814), merchant, of Half Moon, state senator 1794–1805
6. Ebenezer Foote, County Clerk of Delaware Co. 1797–1801
7. Spencer changed sides in 1798
8. These members were elected during the special session of the Legislature, but they did not take their seats before the full year of tenure of the previous members had expired. They met for the first time on February 11, 1801, and rejected most of Governor John Jay's nominations, among them eight different Federalist nominees for Sheriff of Dutchess County. They met again on February 18, and appointed a Democratic-Republican as Sheriff of Dutchess Co. The Council met again on February 24. At this meeting, Gov. Jay refused to put the question on the Council members' nominees, and the members refused to vote on the Governor's nominees. Thus deadlocked, the Council adjourned and were not convened again by Gov. Jay. who instead submitted the question of the right of nomination to the State Legislature which called a constitutional convention to clear up the point. The Council met again on August 8, called by Governor George Clinton, and for the remainder of their term, proceeded to make a clean sweep, removing almost all Federalists from office. The constitutional convention met in October, and gave the right to nominate appointees to the Governor and the members of the Council concurrently.
9. Ebenezer Purdy, of Salem, state senator 1801–06, resigned March 16, 1806, before his expulsion because of bribery was voted upon
10. In 1796, Saratoga Co. was re-apportioned from the Western to the Eastern District.
11. At this time the Democratic-Republican Party was split in two factions, the Lewisites (supporters of Gov. Morgan Lewis) and Clintonians (led by of DeWitt Clinton). This Council had a Clintonian majority, and removed most of the Lewisite incumbents.
12. This Council had a Lewisite majority and removed most of the Clintonian incumbents.
13. This Council had a Clintonian majority, and removed again the Lewisite incumbents.
14. Williams had been elected as a Democratic-Republican, but changed sides right after his election to the Council of Appointment. At this time, there was a Federalist majority in the Assembly, but all State senators from the Southern and the Middle Districts were Democratic-Republicans. Thus the Federalist assemblymen had to choose two of their opponents and, because of the casting vote of Gov. Daniel D. Tompkins, could not have had a majority in the Council but, aided by Williams, the Council removed most of the Democratic-Republican incumbents. Among others, the Surrogate of Dutchess Co., James Tallmadge Jr., was removed, and Williams's son-in-law Thomas J. Oakley appointed instead.
15. Henry Yates Jr., brother of Joseph C. Yates
16. Peter W. Radcliff, brother of Jacob Radcliff

Sources

• The New York Civil List compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (pages 99f; Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858)
• 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)

See also

• Council of Revision