18th New York State Legislature

18th New York State Legislature
18th New York State Legislature
	Clinton House, one of the buildings used by the State government during sessions at Poughkeepsie (2007)
Overview
Legislative body	New York State Legislature
Jurisdiction	New York, United States
Term	July 1, 1794 – June 30, 1795
Senate
Members	24
President	Lt. Gov. Pierre Van Cortlandt
Party control	Federalist (14-10)
Assembly
Members	70
Speaker	William North (Fed.)
Party control	Federalist
Sessions
1st
1st	January 6, 1795 – January 14, 1795
2nd	January 20, 1795 – April 9, 1795

The 18th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 6 to April 9, 1795, during the eighteenth year of George Clinton's governorship, first in Poughkeepsie, then in New York City.

Background

Under the provisions of the New York Constitution of 1777, the state senators were elected on general tickets in the senatorial districts, and were then divided into four classes. Six senators each drew lots for a term of 1, 2, 3 or 4 years and, beginning at the election in April 1778, every year six Senate seats came up for election to a four-year term. Assemblymen were elected countywide on general tickets to a one-year term, the whole assembly being renewed annually.

In March 1786, the legislature enacted that future legislatures meet on the first Tuesday of January of each year unless called earlier by the governor. No general meeting place was determined, leaving it to each Legislature to name the place where to reconvene, and if no place could be agreed upon, the legislature should meet again where it adjourned.

On February 7, 1791, the legislature re-apportioned the Senate and Assembly districts, according to the figures of the 1790 United States Census.

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 29 to May 1, 1794. Senators Matthew Clarkson (Southern D.), John Williams (Eastern D.), John Frey and Stephen Van Rensselaer (both Western D.) were re-elected. Assemblymen Richard Hatfield (Southern D.) and John D. Coe (Middle D.) were also elected to the Senate.

Sessions

The Old New York City Hall, where the Legislature met in 1784. From January 1785 to August 1790, the Congress of the Confederation and the 1st United States Congress met here, and the building was renamed Federal Hall. From 1791 to 1793, and from 1795 to 1796, the State Legislature met again here. The building was demolished in 1812.

The legislature met first in Poughkeepsie on January 6; and adjourned on January 14, 1795. The legislature met again at Federal Hall in New York City on January 20; and adjourned on April 9.

William North was elected Speaker with 33 votes to 28 for James Watson, the Speaker of the previous Assembly, both were Federalists. The average vote for the members of the Council of Appointment was 36 to 29, showing a Federalist majority of 7.^[2]

On January 27, the Legislature re-elected Federalist Rufus King to the U.S. Senate.

State Senate

Districts

The Southern District (8 seats) consisted of Kings, New York, Queens, Richmond, Suffolk and Westchester counties.
The Middle District (6 seats) consisted of Dutchess, Orange and Ulster counties.
The Eastern District (5 seats) consisted of Washington, Clinton, Columbia and Rensselaer counties.
The Western District (5 seats) consisted of Albany, Montgomery, Herkimer, Ontario, Otsego, Saratoga, Tioga and Onondaga counties.

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. Richard Hatfield and John D. Coe changed from the Assembly to the Senate.

District	Senators	Term left	Party	Notes
Southern	Samuel Jones*	1 year	Federalist	also Recorder of New York City
	Joshua Sands*	1 year	Federalist
	Henry Cruger*	2 years	Federalist
	John Schenck*	2 years	Dem.-Rep.
	Selah Strong*	2 years	Federalist
	Ezra L'Hommedieu*	3 years	Federalist
	Matthew Clarkson*	4 years	Federalist
	Richard Hatfield*	4 years	Federalist	elected to the Council of Appointment
Middle	Thomas Tillotson*	1 year	Dem.-Rep.
	Jacobus Swartwout*	1 year	Dem.-Rep.
	Joseph Hasbrouck*	2 years	Dem.-Rep.	elected to the Council of Appointment
	John Cantine*	3 years	Dem.-Rep.
	Reuben Hopkins*	3 years	Dem.-Rep.
	John D. Coe*	4 years	Dem.-Rep.
Eastern	William Powers*	1 year	Federalist	elected to the Council of Appointment
	John Livingston*^[3]	2 years	Dem.-Rep.
	Robert Woodworth*	2 years	Dem.-Rep.
	Zina Hitchcock*	3 years	Federalist
	John Williams*	4 years	Dem.-Rep.	elected in December 1794 to the 4th United States Congress^[4]
Western	Philip Schuyler*	1 year	Federalist
	Michael Myers*	3 years	Federalist
	Jacobus Van Schoonhoven*	3 years	Federalist	elected to the Council of Appointment
	John Frey*	4 years	Federalist
	Stephen Van Rensselaer*	4 years	Federalist

Employees

Clerk: Abraham B. Bancker

State Assembly

Districts

The City and County of Albany (7 seats)
Columbia County (6 seats)
Dutchess County (7 seats)
Herkimer and Onondaga counties (1 seat)
Kings County (1 seat)
Montgomery County (4 seats)
The City and County of New York (7 seats)
Ontario County (1 seat)
Orange County (3 seats)
Otsego County (1 seat)
Queens County (3 seats)
Rensselaer County (5 seats)
Richmond County (1 seat)
Saratoga County (4 seats)
Suffolk County (4 seats)
Tioga County (1 seat)
Ulster County (5 seats)
Washington and Clinton counties (4 seats)
Westchester County (5 seats)

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. David Pye changed from the Senate to the Assembly.

County	Assemblymen	Party	Notes
Albany	Johannes Dietz*	Federalist
	Leonard Gansevoort Jr.
	Jacob Hochstrasser*
	Thomas Hun*
	William North*	Federalist	elected Speaker
	Stephen Platt*
	Andries Van Patten
Columbia	Matthew Adgate*	Dem.-Rep.
	John Bay*	Dem.-Rep.
	James Brebner*
	Philip L. Hoffman
	Elisha Jenkins	Dem.-Rep.
	Matthew Scott*
Dutchess	Samuel A. Barker*	Federalist
	Jacob Bockée*?
	David Brooks*	Federalist
	Jesse Oakley*
	Jacob Radclift*^[5]
	Jacob Smith
	Isaac Van Wyck*
Herkimer and Onondaga	Jedediah Sanger*
Kings	Peter Vandervoort*	Federalist
Montgomery	Douw Fonda
	Frederick Gettman*
	David McMasters
	Simon Veeder*
New York	Nicholas Cruger
	John DeLancey*
	Richard Furman*	Federalist
	Josiah Ogden Hoffman*	Federalist
	James M. Hughes
	Jotham Post Jr.*	Federalist
	James Watson*	Federalist
Ontario	Thomas Morris*	Federalist
Orange	William Allison
	John Hathorn	Dem.-Rep.
	David Pye*	Dem.-Rep.
Otsego	Jacob Morris	Federalist
Queens	Stephen Carman
	Samuel Clowes*
	Nathaniel Lawrence	Dem.-Rep.	also New York Attorney General
Rensselaer	Jonathan Brown*	Dem.-Rep.
	Daniel Gray	Federalist
	Benjamin Hicks*	Federalist
	Hosea Moffitt*	Federalist
	Jacob C. Schermerhorn
Richmond	Lewis Ryerss
Saratoga	Adam Comstock*	Dem.-Rep.
	Jabez Davis
	Beriah Palmer*	Dem.-Rep.
	John B. Schuyler
Suffolk	John Gelston*
	Jonathan N. Havens*	Dem.-Rep.	elected in April 1794 to the 4th United States Congress^[6]
	Joshua Smith Jr.
	Isaac Thompson
Tioga	Vincent Mathews*	Federalist
Ulster	(Severyn T. Bruyn)	Dem.-Rep.	died September 1794, before the Legislature met
	John C. DeWitt	Dem.-Rep.
	Andrew McCord	Dem.-Rep.
	Cornelius C. Schoonmaker	Dem.-Rep.
	(Jacob W. Tremper)	Dem.-Rep.	died October 8, 1794, before the Legislature met
Washington and Clinton	Samuel Beman Jr.
	Benjamin Colvin*
	David Hopkins	Dem.-Rep.
	Edward Savage	Dem.-Rep.
Westchester	Thomas Bowne
	Ebenezer Purdy
	Abel Smith*
	Pierre Van Cortlandt Jr.*	Dem.-Rep.
	Ebenezer White*

Employees

Clerk: Oliver L. Ker
Doorkeeper: Richard Ten Eyck

Notes

^ 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.
^ The History of Political Parties in the State of New-York, from the Ratification of the Federal Constitution to December, 1840 by Jabez D. Hammond (4th ed., Vol. 1, H. & E. Phinney, Cooperstown, 1846; pages 87f)
^ John Livingston, fifth son of Robert Livingston (1708–1790), 3rd Lord of the Manor
^ John Williams was re-elected in April 1794 to the State Senate for a four-year term beginning on July 1, 1794; and elected to the 4th United States Congress in December 1794 for a two-year term beginning on March 4, 1795. Although the Legislature had pronounced the incompatibility of holding both seats concurrently, Williams could remain in the Senate until the end of this session of the State Legislature because it ended about eight months before Congress actually met on December 7, 1795. A special election was held in April 1795 to fill the remainder of Williams's term in the State Senate, and was won by Ambrose Spencer.
^ It is unclear why this person is named "Radcliff", the Civil List of 1858 lists "Radclift" and he signed himself as such, see signature at his article on Wikipedia.
^ Jonathan N. Havens was re-elected in April 1794 to the State Assembly for a one-year term beginning on July 1, 1794; and elected to the 4th United States Congress in December 1794 for a two-year term beginning on March 4, 1795. Although the Legislature had pronounced the incompatibility of holding both seats concurrently, Havens could remain in the Assembly until the end of this session of the State Legislature because it ended about eight months before Congress actually met on December 7, 1795.

Sources

The New York Civil List compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858) [see pg. 108 for Senate districts; pg. 115 for senators; pg. 148f for Assembly districts; pg. 168f for assemblymen]
Election result Assembly, Dutchess Co. at project "A New Nation Votes", compiled by Phil Lampi, hosted by Tufts University Digital Library
Election result Assembly, Rensselaer Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
Election result Assembly, Ulster Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
Election result Assembly, Westchester Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"

[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] The History of Political Parties in the State of New-York, from the Ratification of the Federal Constitution to December, 1840 by Jabez D. Hammond (4th ed., Vol. 1, H. & E. Phinney, Cooperstown, 1846; pages 87f)

[3] John Livingston, fifth son of Robert Livingston (1708–1790), 3rd Lord of the Manor

[4] John Williams was re-elected in April 1794 to the State Senate for a four-year term beginning on July 1, 1794; and elected to the 4th United States Congress in December 1794 for a two-year term beginning on March 4, 1795. Although the Legislature had pronounced the incompatibility of holding both seats concurrently, Williams could remain in the Senate until the end of this session of the State Legislature because it ended about eight months before Congress actually met on December 7, 1795. A special election was held in April 1795 to fill the remainder of Williams's term in the State Senate, and was won by Ambrose Spencer.

[5] It is unclear why this person is named "Radcliff", the Civil List of 1858 lists "Radclift" and he signed himself as such, see signature at his article on Wikipedia.

[6] Jonathan N. Havens was re-elected in April 1794 to the State Assembly for a one-year term beginning on July 1, 1794; and elected to the 4th United States Congress in December 1794 for a two-year term beginning on March 4, 1795. Although the Legislature had pronounced the incompatibility of holding both seats concurrently, Havens could remain in the Assembly until the end of this session of the State Legislature because it ended about eight months before Congress actually met on December 7, 1795.

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