Constitution of New York, 1777
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The New York constitution of 1777 was based on the colonial charter for the Province of New York. This constitution was framed by a convention that assembled at White Plains, New York on July 10, 1776, and after repeated adjournments and changes of location, terminated its labors at Kingston on Sunday evening, April 20, 1777, when the constitution was adopted with but one dissenting vote. It was not submitted to the people for ratification. It was drafted by John Jay. (Verified from "Journals of the Provincial Congress, Provincial Convention Committee of Safety and Council of Safety of the State of New York, 1775, 1776 1777, vol. I. Albany: Printed by Thurlow Weed, printer to the State 1842." pp. 892-898.)
This constitution was a combination document, containing its Declaration of Independence from Great Britain, and its Constitutional Law. It called for a weak bicameral legislature and a strong executive. It retained provisions from the colonial charter such as the substantial property qualification for voting, and the ability of the governor to disband the elected legislature. This imbalance of power between the branches of state government kept the elite firmly in control, and disenfranchised most New Yorkers who would fight the Revolutionary War. Slavery was legal in New York until 1827.
Under this constitution, the Assembly had a provision for a maximum of 70 Members, with the following apportionment:
- For the city and county of New York, nine.
- The city and county of Albany, ten.
- The county of Dutchess, seven.
- The county of Westchester, six.
- The county of Ulster, six.
- The county of Suffolk, five.
- The county of Queens, four.
- The county of Orange, four.
- The county of Kings, two.
- The county of Richmond, two.
- Tryon County (Now Montgomery County), six.
- Charlotte County (Now Washington County.), four.
- Cumberland County (Partitioned January 15, 1777 for the creation of the State of Vermont.), three.
- Gloucester County (Partitioned January 15, 1777 for the creation of the State of Vermont.), two.
This apportionment was to stand unchanged until a period of seven years from the end of the Revolution had expired, whereapon a census was held to correct the apportionment.
On the subject of enfranchisement, Article VII of the new constitution had the following to say:
VII. That every male inhabitant of full age, who shall have personally resided within one of the counties of this State for six months immediately preceding the day of election, shall, at such election, be entitled to vote for representatives of the said county in assembly; if, during the time aforesaid, he shall have been a freeholder, possessing a freehold of the value of twenty pounds, within the said county, or have rented a tenement therein of the yearly value of forty shillings, and been rated and actually paid taxes to this State: Provided always, That every person who now is a freeman of the city of Albany, or who was made a freeman of the city of New York on or before the fourteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-fiv, and shall be actually and usually resident in the said cities, respectively, shall be entitled to vote for representatives in assembly within his said place of residence.
[edit] See also
[edit] Sources
- Thorpe, Francis Newton (1909). The Federal and State Constitutions Colonial Charters, and Other Organic Laws of the States, Territories, and Colonies Now or Heretofore Forming the United States of America, Compiled and Edited Under the Act of Congress of June 30, 1906. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. ISBN. [USMARC Cataloging Record]
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