25th New York State Legislature

25th New York State Legislature

The Old Albany City Hall (undated)
Duration: July 1, 1801 – June 30, 1802
President of the State Senate: Lt. Gov. Jeremiah Van Rensselaer (Dem.-Rep.)
Temporary President of the State Senate:
Speaker of the State Assembly: Thomas Storm (Dem.-Rep.)
Members: 43 Senators
108 Assemblymen
Senate Majority: Federalist (22-19)
Assembly Majority: Democratic-Republican
Sessions
1st: January 26 – April 5, 1802
<24th 26th>

The 25th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 26 to April 5, 1802, during the first 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 re-apportionment of March 4, 1796, Senators were elected on general tickets in the senatorial districts for four-year terms. They were divided into four classes, and every year about one fourth of the 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.

On November 11, 1801, State Senator Moses Vail was appointed Sheriff of Rensselaer County, 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 28 to 30, 1801. Ex-Governor George Clinton (in office 1777-1795) was elected to a seventh term, and Jeremiah Van Rensselaer was elected Lieutenant Governor of New York, both were Democratic-Republicans

Senators Ezra L'Hommedieu (Southern D.), Jacobus S. Bruyn, James G. Graham (both Middle D.), Ebenezer Clark, Jacobus Van Schoonhoven and Abraham Van Vechten (all three Eastern D.) were re-elected. Peter A. Van Bergen (Middle D.), Christopher Hutton (Eastern D.), John Meyer, Isaac Foote (both Western D.) and Assemblyman Lemuel Chipman (Western D.) were also elected to the Senate. Assemblyman Edward Savage (Eastern D.) was elected to fill the vacancy. L'Hommedieu, Bruyn, Graham, Van Bergen and Savage were Democratic-Republicans, Hutton ran on both tickets, the others were Federalists.

Constitutional Convention

On April 6, 1801, the Legislature had passed an "Act Recommending a Convention" which called for the election of delegates to a convention to amend the State Constitution concerning the right to nominate appointees in the Council of Appointment, and the apportionment of the State Legislature. The delegates were elected from August 25 to 27, mirroring the apportionment of the Assembly. The convention met from October 13 to 27, and had a large Democratic-Republican majority. U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr presided.

The Constitutional Convention gave the governor and all four councillors concurrently the right to nominate appointees. The convention also changed the composition of the State Legislature: the number of state senators was fixed permanently at 32; the number of assemblymen was set at 100, but could increase at a rate of two per year until reaching 150.

Sessions

The Legislature met at the Old City Hall in Albany on January 26, 1802; and adjourned on April 5.

Dem.-Rep. Thomas Storm was elected Speaker unanimously.

On February 5, 1802, U.S. Senator John Armstrong (Dem.-Rep.) resigned, and on February 9, 1802, the Legislature elected State Senator DeWitt Clinton (Dem.-Rep.) to fill the vacancy.

On March 31, 1802, the Legislature re-apportioned the Assembly seats, according to the provisions of the Constitutional Convention.

State Senate

Districts

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. Edward Savage and Lemuel Chipman changed from the Assembly to the Senate.

To reduce the number of senators from 43 to 32, as enacted by the Constitutional Convention, 19 members left the Senate at the end of this session: the eleven members who finished their term this year (marked "term left 1 year"); and eight senators who had their term cut short (marked "legislated out of office"). Eight new senators were elected to arrive at 32.[2]

District Senators Term left Party Notes
Southern DeWitt Clinton* 1 year Dem.-Rep. elected on February 9, 1802, to the U.S. Senate, and took his
seat on February 27, thus vacating his seat in the State Senate
(David Gelston*) 1 year Dem.-Rep. vacated his seat upon appointment
as Collector of the Port of New York on July 9, 1801
John Schenck* 1 year Dem.-Rep.
John B. Coles* 2 years Federalist legislated out of office
Richard Hatfield* 2 years Federalist
William Denning* 3 years Dem.-Rep.
Benjamin Huntting* 3 years Dem.-Rep. elected to the Council of Appointment
Ebenezer Purdy* 3 years Dem.-Rep.
Ezra L'Hommedieu* 4 years Dem.-Rep.
Middle Ebenezer Foote* 1 year Federalist
Ambrose Spencer* 1 year Dem.-Rep. from February 3, 1802, also New York Attorney General
Isaac Bloom* 2 years Dem.-Rep. elected in April 1802 to the 8th United States Congress;
legislated out of office
John Hathorn* 2 years Dem.-Rep.
John Suffern* 2 years Dem.-Rep.
John C. Hogeboom* 3 years Dem.-Rep.
Solomon Sutherland* 3 years Dem.-Rep. legislated out of office
David Van Ness* 3 years Dem.-Rep. legislated out of office
James W. Wilkin* 3 years Dem.-Rep. elected to the Council of Appointment
Jacobus S. Bruyn* 4 years Dem.-Rep.
Peter A. Van Bergen 4 years Dem.-Rep.
James G. Graham* 4 years Dem.-Rep. legislated out of office
Eastern Leonard Gansevoort* 1 year Federalist
John Sanders* 1 year Federalist
Zina Hitchcock* 2 years Federalist
Ebenezer Russell* 2 years Federalist
Edward Savage* 2 years Dem.-Rep. elected to fill vacancy, in place of Moses Vail;
elected to the Council of Appointment
James Gordon* 3 years Federalist
Stephen Lush 3 years Federalist legislated out of office
Ebenezer Clark* 4 years Federalist legislated out of office
Christopher Hutton 4 years Dem.-Rep./Fed. Hutton ran on both tickets
Jacobus Van Schoonhoven* 4 years Federalist
Abraham Van Vechten* 4 years Federalist also Recorder of the City of Albany
Western William Beekman* 1 year Federalist
John Frey* 1 year Federalist
Frederick Gettman* 1 year Federalist
Thomas R. Gold* 1 year Federalist
Vincent Mathews* 2 years Federalist
Moss Kent* 2 years Federalist
Robert Roseboom* 3 years Dem.-Rep.
Jedediah Sanger* 3 years Federalist also First Judge of the Oneida County Court
Lemuel Chipman* 4 years Federalist elected to the Council of Appointment
John Meyer 4 years Federalist also First Judge of the Herkimer County Court;
legislated out of office
Isaac Foote 4 years Federalist

Employees

State Assembly

Districts

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 Johann Jost Dietz* Federalist
Prince Doty* Federalist
John Vernon Henry* Federalist
Peter S. Schuyler Federalist
Joseph Shurtleff* Federalist
Dirck Ten Broeck* Federalist
Jacob Ten Eyck* Federalist
Peter West* Federalist
Cayuga Salmon Buell
Chenango Nathaniel King
Joshua Mersereau Jr.
Clinton and
Essex		 William Bailey
Columbia Thomas Brodhead Federalist
Josiah Holley Dem.-Rep.
Henry W. Livingston Federalist elected in April 1802 to the 8th United States Congress
Samuel Ten Broeck Dem.-Rep.
Peter Van Alstyne Dem.-Rep.
Moses Younglove Dem.-Rep.
Delaware Gabriel North* Dem.-Rep.
Erastus Root* Dem.-Rep. elected in April 1802 to the 8th United States Congress
Dutchess Abraham Adriance* Dem.-Rep.
Benjamin Akins* Dem.-Rep.
Theodorus Bailey Dem.-Rep.
Elisha Barlow* Dem.-Rep.
Nicholas H. Emigh* Dem.-Rep.
Harry Garrison Dem.-Rep.
Alexander Spencer Dem.-Rep.
John Thompson Dem.-Rep.
John M. Thurston* Dem.-Rep.
vacant[3]
Greene William Beach
Philip Conine Jr. previously a member from Albany Co.
Herkimer Nathan Smith* Dem.-Rep.
Samuel Merry Jr. Dem.-Rep.
George Widrig* Dem.-Rep.
Kings John C. Vanderveer
Montgomery Archibald McIntyre* Dem.-Rep.
Frederick Sammons Dem.-Rep.
Alexander Sheldon* Dem.-Rep.
Jacob Snell* Dem.-Rep.
Charles Ward Dem.-Rep.
Christopher P. Yates* Dem.-Rep.
New York Philip I. Arcularius* Dem.-Rep.
John Broome* Dem.-Rep.
Peter Elting Dem.-Rep.
Thomas Farmar Dem.-Rep.
William Few Dem.-Rep.
James Hunt* Dem.-Rep.
(Henry Brockholst Livingston*) Dem.-Rep. vacated his seat upon appointment to the
New York Supreme Court on January 8, 1802
Elias Nexsen* Dem.-Rep.
Samuel Osgood* Dem.-Rep.
Ezekiel Robins* Dem.-Rep.
Henry Rutgers* Dem.-Rep.
Thomas Storm* Dem.-Rep. elected Speaker
George Warner* Dem.-Rep.
Oneida Joel Bristol
Abel French* Federalist
David Ostrom* Federalist
Onondaga Asa Danforth* Dem.-Rep.
Ontario and
Steuben		 Daniel Chapin
Peter B. Porter Dem.-Rep.
Orange Joshua Brown
James Burt Dem.-Rep.
Charles Clinton
Andrew McCord* Dem.-Rep. elected in April 1802 to the 8th United States Congress
Selah Strong Dem.-Rep.
Otsego Samuel Campbell
Solomon Martin*
Jedediah Peck* Dem.-Rep.
Jacob Ten Broeck*
Queens John D. Ditmis Dem.-Rep.
Abraham Monfoort* Dem.-Rep.
Joseph Pettit* Dem.-Rep.
William Mott Dem.-Rep.
Rensselaer John Carpenter Federalist
Jacob A. Fort Federalist
John Green Fed./Dem.-Rep. Green ran on both tickets
Burton Hammond Federalist
John Knickerbacker Jr. Federalist
John Stevens Federalist
Richmond Paul I. Micheau* Federalist
Rockland Peter Denoyelles Dem.-Rep.
Saratoga Samuel Clark
Adam Comstock* Dem.-Rep.
Henry Corl Jr.*
James Warren*
Edward A. Watrous
Schoharie Lawrence Lawyer Jr. Dem.-Rep.
Suffolk Israel Carll Dem.-Rep.
Jared Landon* Dem.-Rep.
Abraham Miller* Dem.-Rep.
Tredwell Scudder Dem.-Rep.
Tioga Caleb Hyde
Ulster Benjamin Bevier* Dem.-Rep.
Josiah Hasbrouck Dem.-Rep.
Elnathan Sears Dem.-Rep.
Benjamin Snyder Dem.-Rep.
Washington Kitchel Bishop Dem.-Rep.
Alexander Cowan Dem.-Rep.
Jason Kellogg Dem.-Rep.
John McLean Dem.-Rep.
Micajah Pettit
Isaac Sargent Dem.-Rep.
Westchester Abijah Gilbert* Dem.-Rep.
Abraham Odell* Dem.-Rep.
Abel Smith* Dem.-Rep.
Thomas Thomas* Dem.-Rep.
Joseph Travis Dem.-Rep.

Employees

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. ↑ For the exact instructions how to reduce the number of senators, see the Amendment at Reports of the Proceedings and Debates of the Convention of 1821. This shows that there was no additional senator in the Legislature, the number of seats being 43.
  3. ↑ The election result lists "John Paterson" as elected, but the Civil List omits his name

Sources