50th New York State Legislature explained

Number:50th
Imagename:The Old State Capitol
Imagedate:1879
Start:January 1
End:December 31, 1827
Vp:Lt. Gov. Nathaniel Pitcher (Buckt.)
Speaker:Erastus Root (Buckt.)
Senators:32
Reps:128
S-Majority:Bucktail
H-Majority:Bucktail
Sessionnumber1:1st
Sessionstart1:January 2
Sessionend1:April 17, 1827
Sessionnumber2:2nd
Sessionstart2:September 11
Sessionend2:December 4, 1827
Previous:49th
Next:51st

The 50th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 2 to December 4, 1827, during the third year of DeWitt Clinton's second tenure as Governor of New York, in Albany.

Background

Under the provisions of the New York Constitution of 1821, 32 Senators were elected on general tickets in eight senatorial districts for four-year terms. They were divided into four classes, and every year eight Senate seats came up for election. Assemblymen were elected countywide on general tickets to a one-year term, the whole Assembly being renewed annually.

On April 18, 1826, the Legislature amended the senatorial district apportionment: Delaware Co. was transferred from the 6th to the 2nd District; and Steuben Co. was transferred from the 8th to the 6th District. They also amended the Assembly district apportionment: Chautauqua, Erie, New York, St. Lawrence and Tompkins gained one seat each; and Hamilton/Montgomery, Orange, Queens, Ulster and Washington lost one seat each.

State Senator George Brayton resigned on April 18, 1826, leaving a vacancy in the Fifth District. State Senator Jedediah Morgan resigned due to ill health, leaving a vacancy in the Seventh District.

At this time, the Democratic-Republican Party[1] was split into two factions: the "Bucktails" (led by U.S. Senator Martin Van Buren) and the "Clintonians" (supporters of Gov. DeWitt Clinton).

On September 21, 1826, the Clintonian state convention met at Utica; Pierre Van Cortlandt was Chairman; and Samuel Stevens and Simon G. Throop were Secretaries. The delegates nominated Gov. DeWitt Clinton for re-election; and Henry Huntington for lieutenant governor.

On October 4, 1826, the Bucktail state convention met at Herkimer; James L. Hogeboom was Chairman; and David E. Evans and Assembly Clerk Edward Livingston were Secretaries. The delegates nominated Circuit Judge William B. Rochester for governor; and Nathaniel Pitcher for lieutenant governor.

On September 11, 1826, began the affair surrounding the abduction, and probable murder, of William Morgan which led to the foundation of the Anti-Masonic Party in 1828.

Elections

The State election was held from November 6 to 8, 1826. Gov. DeWitt Clinton was re-elected, and Nathaniel Pitcher was elected lieutenant governor; for the first time in state history, the governor and the lieutenant governor were elected from opposing tickets.[2]

Robert Bogardus (1st D.), John McCarty (3rd D.), Duncan McMartin Jr. (4th D.), Truman Enos (5th D.), Thomas G. Waterman (6th D.), William M. Oliver (7th D.), Charles H. Carroll (8th D.); and Assemblyman Benjamin Woodward (2nd D.) were elected to full terms in the Senate. Charles Dayan (5th D.) and Victory Birdseye (7th D.) were elected to fill the vacancies. Bogardus and McMartin were Clintonians, the other eight were Bucktails.

Sessions

The Legislature met for the regular session at the Old State Capitol in Albany on January 2, 1827, and adjourned on April 17.

Erastus Root (Buckt.) was elected Speaker with 74 votes against 33 for Francis Granger (Clint.).

On February 6, the Legislature re-elected U.S. Senator Martin Van Buren to a second term of six years.

On February 20, Abraham Keyser, Jr. was re-elected New York State Treasurer.

The Legislature met for a special session on September 11; and adjourned on December 4. This session was called to debate the report of the Board of Revisers of the State Statutes, originally appointed in 1824. At this time, the members of the Board were John Duer, Benjamin F. Butler and John C. Spencer.

The Legislature enacted that 34 presidential electors should be elected by popular ballot in districts (corresponding to the congressional districts), and these 34 then should co-opt two electors-at-large (to complete the number of electors which is the sum of congressmen and U.S. senators).

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. Benjamin Woodward changed from the Assembly to the Senate.

DistrictSenatorsTerm leftPartyNotes
FirstDavid Gardiner1 year
Cadwallader D. Colden2 yearsClintonianresigned on August 30, 1827
Joshua Smith3 yearsDem.-Rep./Bucktail
Robert Bogardus4 yearsClintonian
SecondWilliam Nelson1 year
Wells Lake2 yearsDem.-Rep./Bucktail
Peter R. Livingston3 yearsDem.-Rep./Bucktail
Benjamin Woodward4 yearsDem.-Rep./Bucktailalso Postmaster of Mount Hope
ThirdJacob Haight1 year
Richard McMichael2 yearsClintonian
Ambrose L. Jordan3 yearsClintonianuntil October 1827 also Recorder of the City of Hudson
John McCarty4 yearsDem.-Rep./Bucktail
FourthSilas Wright, Jr.1 yearDem.-Rep./Bucktailin November 1826, elected to the 20th U. S. Congress, and took his
seat on December 3, 1827, thus vacating his seat in the Legislature
John Crary2 yearsClintonian
John L. Viele3 yearsClintonian
Duncan McMartin Jr.4 yearsClintonian
FifthPerley Keyes1 yearDem.-Rep./Bucktail
Charles Dayan2 yearsDem.-Rep./Bucktailelected to fill vacancy, in place of George Brayton
Charles Stebbins3 yearsDem.-Rep./Bucktail
Truman Enos4 yearsDem.-Rep./Bucktail
SixthLatham A. Burrows1 year
Stukely Ellsworth2 yearsDem.-Rep./Bucktail
Peter Hager 2d3 yearsDem.-Rep./Bucktail
Thomas G. Waterman4 yearsDem.-Rep./Bucktail
SeventhVictory Birdseye1 yearDem.-Rep./Bucktailelected to fill vacancy, in place of Jedediah Morgan;
also D.A. of Onondaga Co.
John C. Spencer2 yearsClintonian
Truman Hart3 yearsClintonian
William M. Oliver4 yearsDem.-Rep./Bucktailalso First Judge of the Yates County Court
EighthJames McCall1 yearDem.-Rep./Bucktail
Samuel Wilkeson2 yearsClintonian
Ethan B. Allen3 yearsClintonian
Charles H. Carroll4 yearsDem.-Rep./Bucktailalso First Judge of the Livingston County Court

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.

DistrictAssemblymenPartyNotes
AlbanyIsaac Hamilton
John Haswell
Henry Stone
AlleganyAsa Lee Davidson
BroomePeter Robinson
CattaraugusJohn A. BryanClintonianunsuccessfully contested by James McGlashan[3]
CayugaGardner Kortright
Andrews Preston
Peter Yawger
vacant[4]
ChautauquaSamuel A. Brown
Elial T. Foote
ChenangoJames BirdsallClintonian
Joseph Juliand
Augustus C. Welch
ClintonBela Edgerton
ColumbiaJacob P. Mesick
Isaac Mills
Simon Rockefeller
CortlandCephas Comstock
Nathan Dayton
DelawareErastus RootDem.-Rep./Bucktailelected Speaker
John Thompson
DutchessEgbert Cary
Jacob C. Elmendorf
Samuel B. Halsey
Henry A. Livingston
ErieDavid Burt
Oziel Smith
EssexJohn HoffnagleClintonian
FranklinJames Campbell
GeneseeJosiah Churchill
Shubeal Dunham
John B. SkinnerDem.-Rep./Bucktail
GreenePerkins King
William Tuttle
Howland FishClintonian
Lawrence GrosDem.-Rep./Bucktail
Nathaniel Westcott
HerkimerFrederick P. Bellinger
Daniel C. Henderson
Richard Smith 2d
JeffersonDavid W. BucklinDem.-Rep./Bucktail
Alpheus S. Greene
Daniel WardwellDem.-Rep./Bucktail
KingsClarence D. Sackett
LewisJohn W. Martin
LivingstonWilliam H. Spencer
Felix Tracy
Sylvester Beecher
James B. Eldredge
Lemuel White
MonroePeter Price
Abelard Reynolds
Joseph Sibley
New YorkPhilip BrasherDem.-Rep./Bucktail
Abraham Cargill
Jonathan I. Coddington
Gilbert Conant
Isaac MinardDem.-Rep./Bucktail
Joseph Piggot
Jonathan E. RobinsonDem.-Rep./Bucktail
Alpheus ShermanDem.-Rep./Bucktail
Lemuel Smith
Thomas R. Smith
Charles Town
NiagaraJohn Garnsey
OneidaJohn Billings
Winthrop H. Chandler
Benjamin P. Johnson
John Parker
Theodore SillClintonian
Chauncey Betts
Aaron Burt
Charles Jackson
Daniel MoseleyDem.-Rep./Bucktail
Francis GrangerClintonian
Lemuel Morse
Nathan Parke
William W. Crawford
William Ecker
Nathaniel Jones
OrleansAbraham Cantine
OswegoOrris Hart
OtsegoWilliam Campbell
John Judson
Sherman Page
Samuel Starkweather
PutnamHenry B. CowlesDem.-Rep./Bucktail
QueensThomas Tredwell
RensselaerJeremiah Dauchy
John DeFreest Jr.
Reuben Halsted
Henry Platt
RichmondAbraham Cole
RocklandLevi Sherwood
St. LawrenceBaron S. DotyDem.-Rep./Bucktail
Silvester Gilbert
SaratogaNicholas Emigh Jr.
Howell Gardner
John Gilchrist
SchenectadyAlonzo C. PaigeDem.-Rep./Bucktail
SchoharieSamuel Baldwin
William Mann
SenecaDaniel RhoadDem.-Rep./Bucktail
Daniel Scott
SteubenPaul C. Cook
George McClure
SuffolkGeorge L. Conklin
Samuel Strong
SullivanHiram Bennett
TiogaGamaliel H. BarstowClintonian
David Williams
TompkinsNathan Benson
Benjamin Jennings
John Sayler
UlsterJasper Cropsey
Jacob Trumpbour
WarrenJohn Hay Jr.Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
WashingtonJohn McDonald
Peter J. H. Myers
Samuel StevensClintonian
WayneThomas Armstrongpreviously a member from Seneca Co.;
also Supervisor of Butler
Jonathan Boynton
WestchesterJohn Fisher
Nathaniel Montross
Joseph ScofieldDem.-Rep./Bucktail
YatesJames C. Robinson

Employees

Notes

  1. Originally, 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. This happened again in 1846, 1850, 1906 and 1924, but is now impossible. Since 1954, New Yorkers cast a single joint vote for both offices.
  3. see A Compilation of Cases of Contested Elections to Seats in the Assembly of the State of New York (1871; pg. 66–73)
  4. James Kenyon was certified as elected, but was ineligible, being a Quaker minister. Under the New York Constitution, no minister of the gospel, of any denomination whatsoever, could then hold any civil or military office. The next most voted Assembly candidate Edward Allen claimed the seat, but was not admitted; see A Compilation of Cases of Contested Elections to Seats in the Assembly of the State of New York (1871; pg. 64ff)

Sources

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