Notes
- ↑ nysarchives.org History of the office, at NY State Archives
- ↑ Google Books The New York Civil List compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (page 37; Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858)
Officers in the State of New York | ||
|---|---|---|
| Current offices |  | |
| Defunct offices | ||
The New York State Engineer and Surveyor was a state cabinet officer in the State of New York between 1848 and 1926. During the re-organization of the state government under Governor Al Smith, the office was abolished and its responsibilities transferred to the New York State Department of Public Works, which in turn was absorbed by the New York State Department of Transportation in 1967. [1]
The office was established as Surveyor General in 1781. [2]
Until 1822, the Surveyor General was appointed by the Council of Appointment for an indefinite term. The second holder of the office, Simeon De Witt, was considered the most qualified person for the office, and was re-appointed without regard to party politics. Even the Bucktails did not oust him when they were struggling with his first cousin DeWitt Clinton. The office was at first mostly occupied with surveying the uncharted area of the State and issuing official maps. In 1817, the Surveyor General became a member of the Erie Canal Commission.
From 1823 to 1845, the Surveyor General was elected by joint ballot of the New York State Legislature for a term of three years. Simeon De Witt was re-elected in 1823, 1826, 1829 and 1832, and died in office in 1834.
The Constitution of 1846 renamed the office as State Engineer and Surveyor, and the office's major concern was to be the supervision of the maintenance and enlargement of the Canal network. The candidates were required to be practical engineers.
From 1847 on, the State Engineer and the other state cabinet officers were elected by the voters at the state elections in November in odd years to a two-year term, so that, until 1877, they served in the second half of the term of the governor in office and the first half of the term of the succeeding governor, since the governors at the time were elected to a two-year term in even years. From 1877 on, the Governor served a three-year term, while the State Engineer continued to be elected for two years. The State Engineer elected in 1895 received an additional year and served a three-year term, and from 1898 on, the State Engineer and other state officers were elected in even years to a two-year term at the same time as the Governor, and they served concurrently.
| Name | Took office | Left office | Party | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Philip Schuyler | March 30, 1781 | May 13, 1784 | ||
| Simeon De Witt | May 13, 1784 | December 3, 1834 | Democratic-Republican/Clintonian | died in office after 50 years of service, re-appointed and re-elected several times |
| William Campbell | January 20, 1835 | February 5, 1838 | Democratic | |
| Orville L. Holley | February 5, 1838 | February 7, 1842 | Whig | re-elected to a second term in 1841, but in 1842 all state officers were removed by Dem. legislature |
| Nathaniel Jones | February 7, 1842 | February 3, 1845 | Democratic | |
| Hugh Halsey | February 3, 1845 | December 31, 1847 | Democratic | office abolished by Constitution of 1846, and replaced with State Engineer and Surveyor |
| Name | Took office | Left office | Party | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charles B. Stuart | January 1, 1848 | December 31, 1849 | Whig | |
| Hezekiah C. Seymour | January 1, 1850 | December 31, 1851 | Whig | |
| William J. McAlpine | January 1, 1852 | August 1, 1853 | Democratic | resigned |
| Wheeler H. Bristol | September 21, 1853 | 1853 | Democratic | appointed to fill unexpired term, ran for the office at the State election in November, was defeated, and resigned |
| Henry Ramsay | December 10, 1853 | December 31, 1853 | appointed to fill unexpired term | |
| John T. Clark | January 1, 1854 | December 31, 1855 | Whig | |
| Silas Seymour | January 1, 1856 | December 31, 1857 | American | |
| Van Rensselaer Richmond | January 1, 1858 | December 31, 1861 | Democratic | two terms |
| William B. Taylor | January 1, 1862 | December 31, 1865 | Union | two terms |
| J. Platt Goodsell | January 1, 1866 | December 31, 1867 | Republican | |
| Van Rensselaer Richmond | January 1, 1868 | December 31, 1871 | Democratic | two terms |
| William B. Taylor | January 1, 1872 | December 31, 1873 | Republican | |
| Sylvanus H. Sweet | January 1, 1874 | December 31, 1875 | Democratic | |
| John D. Van Buren, Jr. | January 1, 1876 | December 31, 1877 | Democratic | |
| Horatio Seymour, Jr. | January 1, 1878 | December 31, 1881 | Democratic | two terms |
| Silas Seymour | January 1, 1882 | December 31, 1883 | Republican | |
| Elnathan Sweet | January 1, 1884 | December 31, 1887 | Democratic | two terms |
| John Bogart | January 1, 1888 | December 31, 1891 | Democratic | two terms |
| Martin Schenck | January 1, 1892 | December 31, 1893 | Democratic | |
| Campbell W. Adams | January 1, 1894 | December 31, 1898 | Republican | two terms (1894-95, 1896-98) |
| Edward A. Bond | January 1, 1899 | May 1, 1904 | Republican | resigned during his third term |
| Henry A. Van Alstyne | May 10, 1904 | December 31, 1906 | Republican | appointed to fill unexpired term, then re-elected |
| Frederick Skene | January 1, 1907 | December 31, 1908 | Dem./Ind. League | |
| Frank M. Williams | January 1, 1909 | December 31, 1910 | Republican | |
| John A. Bensel | January 1, 1911 | December 31, 1914 | Democratic | two terms |
| Frank M. Williams | January 1, 1915 | December 31, 1922 | Republican | four terms |
| Dwight B. LaDu | January 1, 1923 | December 31, 1924 | Democratic | |
| Roy G. Finch | January 1, 1925 | December 31, 1926 | Republican | last State Engineer and Surveyor, office merged into Department of Public Works |
Officers in the State of New York | ||
|---|---|---|
| Current offices | | |
| Defunct offices | ||
DeWitt Clinton, whose name was almost always spelled De Witt during his lifetime and until the late 20th century, was an American politician and naturalist. He served as a United States senator, as the mayor of New York City, and as the seventh governor of New York. In this last capacity, he was largely responsible for the construction of the Erie Canal. Clinton was a major candidate for the American presidency in the election of 1812, challenging incumbent James Madison.
George Clinton was an American soldier and statesman, considered one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A prominent Democratic-Republican, Clinton served as the fourth vice president of the United States from 1805 until his death in 1812. He also served as governor of New York from 1777 to 1795 and from 1801 to 1804. Along with John C. Calhoun, he is the first of two vice presidents to hold office under two consecutive presidents.
There have been 90 gubernatorial elections in the state of New York since 1777. The next one will be held on November 3, 2022.
The following table indicates the party of elected officials in the U.S. state of New York:
Simeon De Witt was Geographer and Surveyor General of the Continental Army during the American Revolution and Surveyor General of the State of New York for the fifty years from 1784 until his death.
The Commission to Explore a Route for a Canal to Lake Erie and Report, known as the Erie Canal Commission, was a body created by the New York State Legislature in 1810 to plan the Erie Canal. In 1817 a Canal Fund led by Commissioners of the Canal Fund was established to oversee the funding of construction of the canal. In 1826 a Canal Board, of which both the planning commissioners and the Canal Fund commissioners were members, was created to take control of the operational canal. The term "Canal Commission" was at times applied to any of these bodies. Afterwards the canal commissioners were minor state cabinet officers responsible for the maintenance and improvements of the state's canals.
The Constitution of the State of New York establishes the structure of the government of the State of New York, and enumerates the basic rights of the citizens of New York. Like most state constitutions in the United States, New York's constitution's provisions tend to be more detailed and amended more often than its federal counterpart. Because the history of the state constitution differs from the federal constitution, the New York Court of Appeals has seen fit to interpret analogous provisions differently from United States Supreme Court's interpretation of federal provisions.
The Council of Appointment was a body of the Government of New York that existed from 1777 to 1822.
The New York State Comptroller is an elected constitutional officer of the U.S. state of New York and head of the New York state government's Department of Audit and Control. The New York State Comptroller is the highest-paid state auditor or treasurer in the country. Sixty-one individuals have held the office of State Comptroller since statehood. The incumbent is Thomas DiNapoli, a Democrat.
The secretary of state of New York is a cabinet officer in the government of the U.S. state of New York who leads the Department of State (NYSDOS).
The 1924 New York state election was held on November 4, 1924, to elect the governor, the lieutenant governor, the Secretary of State, the state comptroller, the attorney general, the state treasurer and the state engineer, as well as all members of the New York State Assembly and the New York State Senate.
The 1870 New York state election was held on November 8, 1870, to elect the governor, the lieutenant governor, the New York State Comptroller, two Canal Commissioners and an Inspector of State Prisons, as well as all members of the New York State Assembly.
The New York State Treasurer was a state cabinet officer in the State of New York between 1776 and 1926. During the re-organization of the state government under Governor Al Smith, the office was abolished and its responsibilities transferred to the new Department of Audit and Control headed to the New York State Comptroller.
Stephen Clark was an American politician who served as the 23rd Treasurer of New York State.
The 1847 New York state election was held on November 2, 1847, to elect the lieutenant governor, the secretary state, the state comptroller, the attorney general, the state treasurer, the state engineer, three Canal Commissioners and three Inspectors of State Prisons, as well as all members of the New York State Assembly and the New York State Senate.
The 1875 New York state election was held on November 2, 1875, to elect the Secretary of State, the State Comptroller, the Attorney General, the State Treasurer, the State Engineer, a Canal Commissioner and an Inspector of State Prisons, as well as all members of the New York State Assembly and the New York State Senate.
The 1895 New York state election was held on November 5, 1895, to elect the Secretary of State, the State Comptroller, the Attorney General, the State Treasurer, the State Engineer and a judge of the New York Court of Appeals, as well as all members of the New York State Assembly and the New York State Senate. Besides, the voters were asked if they approved of the State's issuing bonds for $9,000,000.00 to spend on canal improvements, which the electorate answered in the affirmative.
The 46th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 7 to April 24, 1823, during the first year of Joseph C. Yates's governorship, in Albany.
The 58th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 6 to May 11, 1835, during the third year of William L. Marcy's governorship, in Albany.
Johnson Niles was an American politician who served one term in the Michigan House of Representatives and two terms in the Michigan Senate in the early years of Michigan's statehood. He was an early settler of Oakland County, Michigan, and the founder of Troy, Michigan.