Under the provisions of the New York Constitution of 1777, amended by the Constitutional Convention of 1801, 32 Senators were elected on general tickets in the four 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.
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 February 24, 1817, Gov. Tompkins resigned, to take office as U.S. Vice President on March 4; and Lt. Gov. John Tayler became Acting Governor for the remainder of the legislative year, until June 30. On March 25, the Democratic-Republican State Convention nominated Canal Commissioner DeWitt Clinton for Governor, and Acting Gov. John Tayler for Lieutenant Governor. Clinton received 85 votes against 41 for Peter B. Porter (Buckt.). The Federalist Party did not nominate candidates for governor and lieutenant governor.
On April 6, 1817, State Senator Chauncey Loomis died, leaving a vacancy in the Western District.
On April 7, 1817, Tompkins County was created from parts of Cayuga and Seneca counties, and was apportioned two seats in the Assembly, one each taken from Cayuga and Seneca.[1]
At this time the politicians were divided into two opposing political parties: the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans.[2] The Democratic-Republican Party was split into two factions: the Clintonians (supporters of Gov. DeWitt Clinton and his Erie Canal project) and the Bucktails (led by Att. Gen. Martin Van Buren, and including the Tammany Hall organization in New York City).
Elections
The State election was held from April 29 to May 1, 1817. DeWitt Clinton and John Tayler were elected unopposed.
Senator Jonathan Dayton (Southern D.) was re-elected. Stephen Barnum (Southern D.), Jabez D. Hammond, John Lounsbery (both Middle D.), Roger Skinner, Henry Yates Jr., Samuel Young (all three Eastern D.) and Assemblyman Isaac Wilson (Western D.) were also elected to full terms in the Senate. Assemblyman Jediah Prendergast (Western D.) was elected to fill the vacancy. All nine were Democratic-Republicans.
Sessions
The Legislature met at the Old State Capitol in Albany on January 27, 1818, and adjourned on April 21.
Assemblyman Ogden Edwards (Buckt.) proposed a bill to call a State convention to amend the Constitution concerning the appointment of public officers, his object being the abolition of the Council of Appointment. The bill, opposed by Gov. DeWitt Clinton, was eventually rejected, but the issue was pursued further by the Bucktails, and led to the New York State Constitutional Convention of 1821, and a new Constitution.
On April 21, 1818, the Legislature enacted that future Legislatures meet on the first Tuesday of January of each year, unless called earlier by the governor.[3]
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. Jediah Prendergast and Isaac Wilson changed from the Assembly to the Senate.
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.
^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.
^Colden was an old Federalist who had joined the Tammany Hall organization and was elected to this Assembly, and appointed Mayor of New York, as a Democratic-Republican/Bucktail; see Hammond, pg. 466. However, in 1820 he was elected to Congress, on the Federalist ticket again.
^There is much confusion about the members from Seneca Co. at this session. Myndert M. Dox was returned as elected, claimed his seat, but was not admitted. However, he was paid like a member until the final rejection of his claim. See Laws of the State of New York (41st Session, 1818; pg. 295) It seems that John Sutton was returned as elected from both Seneca Co. and Tompkins Co. which gave Dox a strong argument to pursue his claim vigorously, but without success.
^Dr. Nathaniel Miller (1783–1863), physician, of Brookhaven
Sources
The New York Civil List compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858) [see pg. 108f for Senate districts; pg. 123 for senators; pg. 148f for Assembly districts; pg. 193f for assemblymen]
