104th New York State Legislature

104th New York State Legislature
←103rd 105th→

The facade of the New York State Capitol building in bright daylight

Overview
Jurisdiction New York, United States
Term January 1 – December 31, 1881
Senate
Members 32
President Lt. Gov. George G. Hoskins (R)
Temporary President William H. Robertson (R);
Dennis McCarthy (R), from July 22
Party control Republican (25-7)
Assembly
Members 128
Speaker George H. Sharpe (R)
Party control Republican (81-47)
Sessions
1st January 4 – July 23, 1881

The 104th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 4 to July 23, 1881, during the second year of Alonzo B. Cornell's governorship, in Albany.

Background

Under the provisions of the New York Constitution of 1846, 32 Senators and 128 assemblymen were elected in single-seat districts; senators for a two-year term, assemblymen for a one-year term. The senatorial districts were made up of entire counties, except New York County (seven districts) and Kings County (three districts). The Assembly districts were made up of entire towns, or city wards,[1] forming a contiguous area, all within the same county.

At this time there were two major political parties: the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. The Republicans were split into two factions: the Stalwarts and the Half-Breeds. The Greenback Party also nominated a ticket.

Elections

The New York state election, 1880 was held on November 2. The only statewide elective office up for election was carried by a Republican. The approximate party strength at this election, as expressed by the vote for Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals, was: Republican 563,000; Democratic 518,000; and Greenback 13,000.

Sessions

The Legislature met for the regular session at the State Capitol in Albany on January 4, 1881; and adjourned on July 23.

George H. Sharpe (R) was re-elected Speaker, with 80 votes against 45 for Erastus Brooks (D).[2]

On January 18, the Legislature elected Thomas C. Platt (R) to succeed Francis Kernan (D) as U.S. Senator from New York, for a term beginning on March 4, 1881.[3]

On March 24, President James A. Garfield (Half-Breed) nominated President pro tempore of the State Senate William H. Robertson (Half-Breed) for the office of Collector of the Port of New York. The two U.S. Senators from New York, Roscoe Conkling and Platt (both Stalwarts) openly opposed the nomination, causing deadlock in the Senate which was evenly divided with 37 Republicans, 37 Democrats and two Independents. The office of Collector of the Port of New York was the most profitable federal office in the United States, and Conkling insisted in having a Stalwart appointed, but Garfield did not budge.

On May 16, Conkling and Platt resigned in protest, leaving the Republicans in the minority in the U.S. Senate. Conkling believed that they would be re-elected by the New York State Legislature and would thus show Garfield that they were in a balance of power position.

On May 18, Robertson was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Collector.

On May 31, the Legislature began the special elections to fill the two vacant seats in the U.S. Senate.

On July 16, Congressman Warner Miller was elected on the 48th ballot to succeed Platt.[4]

On July 22, Congressman Elbridge G. Lapham was elected on the 56th ballot to succeed Conkling,[5] thus ending 53 days of deadlock, the second longest in the history of the New York Legislature.[6] After the election, Robertson resigned his seat in the State Senate, to accept the office of Collector, and Dennis McCarthy was elected President pro tempore.

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.

District Senator Party Notes
1st John Birdsall* Republican
2nd William H. Murtha* Democrat
3rd Frederick A. Schroeder* Republican
4th John C. Jacobs* Democrat
5th Edward Hogan* Democrat
6th Jacob Seebacher* Democrat
7th Ferdinand Eidman* Republican
8th Robert H. Strahan* Republican
9th Francis M. Bixby* Democrat
10th William W. Astor* Republican
11th George H. Forster* Republican
12th William H. Robertson* Republican President pro tempore; resigned after appointment
as Collector of the Port of New York
13th Edward M. Madden* Republican
14th Charles A. Fowler* Democrat
15th Stephen H. Wendover* Republican
16th Isaac V. Baker Jr.* Republican
17th Waters W. Braman* Republican
18th Webster Wagner* Republican
19th William W. Rockwell* Republican
20th Dolphus S. Lynde* Republican
21st Bradley Winslow* Republican
22nd James Stevens* Democrat
23rd Albert M. Mills* Republican
24th Edwin G. Halbert* Republican
25th Dennis McCarthy* Republican on July 22, elected President pro tempore
26th William B. Woodin* Republican
27th Ira Davenport* Republican
28th George P. Lord* Republican
29th Edmund L. Pitts* Republican
30th James H. Loomis* Republican
31st Benjamin H. Williams* Republican
32nd Loren B. Sessions* Republican also Supervisor of the Town of Harmony

Employees

State Assembly

Assemblymen

The asterisk (*) denotes members of the previous Legislature who continued as members of this Legislature.

District Assemblymen Party Notes
Albany 1st Miner Gallup Democrat
2nd Andrew S. Draper Republican unsuccessfully contested by Daniel Casey (D)[7]
3rd Aaron B. Pratt Democrat
4th George Campbell Republican
Allegany Samuel H. Morgan* Republican
Broome L. Coe Young Republican
Cattaraugus 1st Samuel H. Bradley Republican
2nd Joseph Miller Congdon* Republican
Cayuga 1st Thomas Hunter Republican
2nd Hector H. Tuthill* Republican
Chautauqua 1st Albert B. Sheldon Republican
2nd Milton M. Fenner Republican
Chemung Henry C. Hoffman* Democrat
Chenango Solomon K. Bemiss Republican
Clinton Shepard P. Bowen Republican
Columbia John Elbert Gillette* Republican
Cortland Alburtis A. Carley Republican
Delaware William Lewis Republican
Dutchess 1st Isaac S. Carpenter* Republican
2nd James E. Dutcher Republican
Erie 1st Jeremiah Higgins Democrat
2nd Frank Sipp* Republican
3rd Arthur W. Hickman Republican
4th George Bingham Republican
5th Harvey J. Hurd* Republican
Essex James W. Sheehy Republican
Franklin William D. Brennan* Republican died March 7, 1881
Samuel A. Beman elected to fill vacancy on April 5
Fulton and Hamilton David A. Wells* Republican
Genesee Joseph W. Holmes Republican
Greene Orlando L. Newton Democrat
Herkimer William D. Gorsline* Republican
Jefferson 1st Charles R. Skinner* Republican on November 8, 1881, elected to the 47th U.S. Congress
to fill vacancy, in place of Warner Miller
2nd Henry Binninger Republican
Kings 1st John Shanley* Democrat
2nd John McTernan* Democrat
3rd Lawrence J. Tormey* Democrat
4th John M. Clancy* Democrat
5th Thomas J. Sheridan* Democrat
6th Patrick J. Tully* Democrat
7th John Reitz Republican
8th Moses Engle Democrat
9th Charles H. Russell* Republican
10th Richard J. Newman* Democrat
11th William H. Waring Republican
12th Jaques J. Stillwell Democrat
Lewis Charles A. Chickering* Republican
Livingston Kidder M. Scott Republican
Madison David A. Jackson Republican
Monroe 1st George Le Grand Seeley* Republican
2nd John Cowles Republican
3rd Frederick P. Root* Republican
Montgomery Cornelius Van Buren Republican
New York 1st Michael C. Murphy Democrat
2nd Constantine Donoho Democrat
3rd Thomas Smith, Jr. Democrat
4th John Henry McCarthy* Democrat
5th Thomas Bogan Democrat
6th Matthew Patten Democrat
7th Isaac Israel Hayes* Republican died on December 17, 1881
8th John E. Brodsky* Republican
9th John W. Browning Democrat
10th Charles E. Brehm Republican
11th Robert Ray Hamilton Republican
12th Louis Cohen* Democrat
13th Arthur D. Williams Republican
14th John Murphy Democrat
15th Michael J. Dougherty* Democrat
16th Francis B. Spinola Democrat
17th James Fanning Democrat
18th Joseph P. McDonough Democrat
19th William B. Finley Democrat
20th Frederick Thilemann, Jr.* Democrat
21st William J. Trimble Republican
22nd William S. Andrews Democrat
23rd Charles W. Dayton Democrat
24th William W. Niles Democrat
Niagara 1st Elijah Adams Holt Republican
2nd James Low* Republican
Oneida 1st James Armstrong Republican
2nd David G. Evans Republican
3rd Thomas D. Roberts Republican
Onondaga 1st Thomas G. Alvord* Republican
2nd Albert Howland* Republican
3rd Henry L. Duguid* Republican
Ontario John Raines Republican
Orange 1st Joseph M. Dickey Republican
2nd William Harvey Clark Democrat
Orleans Marcus H. Phillips* Republican
Oswego 1st Patrick W. Cullinan* Republican
2nd William H. Steele* Republican
Otsego 1st J. Stanley Browne[8] Democrat
2nd David Russell Republican
Putnam Samuel H. Everett Republican
Queens 1st Townsend D. Cock Democrat
2nd George E. Bulmer Democrat
Rensselaer 1st Charles E. Patterson Democrat
2nd Richard A. Derrick Republican
3rd Barnis C. Strait* Democrat
Richmond Erastus Brooks Democrat Minority Leader
Rockland John Cleary Democrat
St. Lawrence 1st Daniel Peck* Republican
2nd Worth Chamberlain* Republican
3rd Ebenezer S. Crapser* Republican
Saratoga 1st Benjamin F. Baker* Republican
2nd Delcour S. Potter* Republican
Schenectady George Lasher Republican
Schoharie John J. Dominic Democrat
Schuyler Lewis Beach* Republican
Seneca Samuel R. Welles Democrat
Steuben 1st Charles S. Longwell Democrat
2nd Russell M. Tuttle* Republican
Suffolk Everett A. Carpenter* Republican
Sullivan Edward H. Pinney Democrat
Tioga Edward G. Nowlan* Republican
Tompkins Truman Boardman Republican
Ulster 1st George H. Sharpe* Republican re-elected Speaker
2nd Marius Turck Republican
3rd Thomas E. Benedict* Democrat
Warren Benjamin C. Butler Republican
Washington 1st Hiram Sisson* Republican
2nd James E. Goodman Republican
Wayne 1st Rowland Robinson Republican
2nd Addison W. Gates Republican
Westchester 1st William F. Moller Democrat
2nd William H. Catlin* Democrat
3rd James W. Husted* Republican previously a member from Rockland Co.
Wyoming George M. Palmer Republican
Yates Asa P. Fish* Republican

Employees

Notes

  1. ↑ Except New York City where the wards were apportioned into election districts, and then some whole wards and some election districts of other wards were gerrymandered together into Assembly districts.
  2. ↑ OPENING DAY AT ALBANY in NYT on January 5, 1881
  3. ↑ BUSY STATE LEGISLATORS in NYT on January 19, 1881
  4. ↑ CONKLING'S RANKS BROKEN; ELECTION OF WARNER MILLER TO SUCCEED PLATT in NYT on July 17, 1881
  5. ↑ ROSCOE CONKLING BEATEN; ELDRIDGE G. LAPHAM ELECTED HIS SUCCESSOR in NYT on July 23, 1881
  6. ↑ The longest deadlock in the State Legislature occurred in 1911 when it took 74 days to elect a U.S. Senator, and all legislative business was blocked from the beginning of the session until April 1.
  7. ↑ see A Compilation of Cases of Contested Elections to Seats in the Assembly of the State of New York (1899; pg. 596–606)
  8. ↑ J. Stanley Browne, see Bio until 1892

Sources

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