21st New York State Legislature

The 21st New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 2 to April 6, 1798, during the third year of John Jay's governorship, in Albany.

21st New York State Legislature
←20th 22nd→
The Old Albany City Hall (undated)
Overview
Legislative bodyNew York State Legislature
JurisdictionNew York, United States
TermJuly 1, 1797 – June 30, 1798
Senate
Members43
PresidentLt. Gov. Stephen Van Rensselaer (Fed.)
Party controlFederalist (33-7)
Assembly
Members108
SpeakerDirck Ten Broeck (Fed.)
Party controlFederalist
Sessions
1stJanuary 2 – April 6, 1798

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 March 1786, the Legislature enacted that future Legislatures meet on the first Tuesday of January of each year unless called earlier by the governor. In 1797, Albany was declared the State capital, and all subsequent Legislatures have been meeting there ever since.

On January 24, 1797, State Senator Philip Schuyler was elected to the U.S. Senate, leaving a vacancy in the Eastern District.

In 1797, Delaware County was created from parts of Ulster and Otsego counties, and was apportioned two seats in the Assembly, one each taken from Ulster and Otsego.

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 25 to 27, 1797. Senators Ezra L'Hommedieu (Southern D.), Ebenezer Clark, Anthony Ten Eyck, Jacobus Van Schoonhoven (all three Eastern D.), Thomas Morris and Michael Myers (both Western D.) were re-elected. John Addison, Peter Cantine Jr., James G. Graham (all three Middle D.) and Seth Phelps (Western D.) were also elected to full terms in the Senate. Senator Zina Hitchcock (Eastern D.) was re-elected, but only to a two-year term to fill the vacancy.

Sessions

The Legislature met on January 2, 1798, at the Old City Hall in Albany, New York; the Senate adjourned on April 5, the Assembly on April 6.

Federalist Dirck Ten Broeck was elected Speaker with 59 votes against 42 for Dem.-Rep. William Denning.[2]

On January 3, 1798, Philip Schuyler (Fed.) resigned from the U.S. Senate. On January 11, the Legislature elected New York Supreme Court Justice John Sloss Hobart (Fed.) to fill the vacancy. Hobart vacated his seat on April 16, 1798, when he was appointed to the United States District Court for the District of New York, and on May 5 Gov. John Jay appointed William North (Fed.) to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy temporarily.

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 Senators Term left Party Notes
Southern Richard Hatfield* 1 year Federalist
Philip Livingston*[3] 1 year Federalist
James Watson* 1 year Federalist
Samuel Jones* 2 years Federalist also New York State Comptroller
vacant 2 years Joshua Sands vacated his seat on April 26, 1797, upon
appointment as Collector of the Port of New York
Samuel Haight* 3 years Federalist
(Andrew Onderdonk*) 3 years Federalist died September 24, 1797, before this Legislature met
Selah Strong* 3 years Federalist
Ezra L'Hommedieu* 4 years Dem.-Rep.[4] elected to the Council of Appointment
Middle John D. Coe* 1 year Dem.-Rep.
Ambrose Spencer* 1 year Federalist also Assistant Attorney General (3rd D.)
Abraham Schenck* 2 years Dem.-Rep.
Christopher Tappen* 2 years Dem.-Rep.
Thomas Tillotson* 2 years Dem.-Rep.
Robert Sands*[5] 3 years Federalist
James Savage* 3 years Federalist
Peter Silvester* 3 years Federalist
William Thompson* 3 years Federalist elected to the Council of Appointment
John Addison 4 years Dem.-Rep.
Peter Cantine Jr. 4 years Federalist
James G. Graham 4 years Dem.-Rep.
Eastern Leonard Gansevoort* 1 year Federalist
Francis Nicoll* 1 year Federalist
Zina Hitchcock* 2 years Federalist elected to fill vacancy, in place of Philip Schuyler
Ebenezer Russell* 2 years Federalist
Moses Vail* 2 years Federalist elected to the Council of Appointment
Leonard Bronck* 3 years Federalist
James Gordon* 3 years Federalist
Ebenezer Clark* 4 years Federalist
Anthony Ten Eyck* 4 years Federalist
Jacobus Van Schoonhoven* 4 years Federalist
Abraham Van Vechten 4 years Federalist also Recorder of the City of Albany
Western Abraham Arndt 1 year Federalist
Johannes Dietz* 1 year Federalist
John Frey* 1 year Federalist
Thomas R. Gold* 1 year Federalist also Assistant Attorney General (7th D.)
Vincent Mathews* 2 years Federalist
Joseph White* 2 years Federalist elected to the Council of Appointment
Jacob Morris* 3 years Federalist
Jedediah Sanger* 3 years Federalist from March 22, 1798, also First Judge of the Oneida County Court
Thomas Morris* 4 years Federalist
Michael Myers* 4 years Federalist
Seth Phelps 4 years Federalist

Employees
  • Clerk: Abraham B. Bancker

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 Thomas E. Barker Federalist
Johann Jost Dietz Federalist
Andrew N. Heermance
Nathaniel Ogden*
John Prince*
Philip P. Schuyler*
Dirck Ten Broeck* Federalist elected Speaker
Joel Thompson Federalist
John H. Wendell*
Peter West Federalist
Clinton Daniel Ross
Columbia Caleb Benton*
John C. Hogeboom* Dem.-Rep.
Killian Hogeboom Dem.-Rep.
Elisha Jenkins Federalist[6]
Samuel Ten Broeck Dem.-Rep.
Peter I. Vosburgh*
Delaware William Horton
Nathaniel Wattles died on January 2, 1798, in Albany
Dutchess William Barker Dem.-Rep.
Lemuel Clift Federalist
Luther Holley
Joseph Potter Federalist
Philip J. Schuyler Federalist
Jacob Smith*
John Thomas
Jesse Thompson* Federalist
Samuel Towner Dem.-Rep.
William B. Verplanck* Federalist
Herkimer Benjamin Bowen
Matthew Brown Jr.*
Ludwick Campbell*
Isaac Foote Federalist
Gaylord Griswold* Federalist
Henry McNeil* Federalist
Nathan Smith
Kings Peter Vandervoort* Federalist
Montgomery Frederick Gettman* Federalist
James Hildreth
Robert McFarland
George Metcalfe also Assistant Attorney General (5th D.)
Jacob Snell Dem.-Rep.
Philip Van Alstyne Dem.-Rep.
New York Philip I. Arcularius Dem.-Rep.
William Boyd Dem.-Rep.
Ebenezer S. Burling Dem.-Rep.
Aaron Burr Dem.-Rep.
DeWitt Clinton Dem.-Rep.
Jacob De La Montagnie Dem.-Rep.
William Denning Dem.-Rep.
James Fairlie Dem.-Rep.
James Hunt Dem.-Rep.
Samuel L. Mitchill Dem.-Rep.
Ezekiel Robins Dem.-Rep.
Thomas Storm Dem.-Rep. previously a member from Dutchess Co.
George Warner Dem.-Rep.
Onondaga Silas Halsey*
Comfort Tyler*
Ontario and
Steuben		 Amos Hall Federalist
Charles Williamson*
Orange James Burt Dem.-Rep.
Benjamin Coe
Moses Hatfield
Otsego Joshua Dewey
Francis Henry* Federalist
Elijah Holt
Timothy Morse*
Queens Stephen Carman Federalist
Whitehead Cornwell
William Pearsall* Federalist
John I. Skidmore Dem.-Rep.
Rensselaer John Bird* Federalist in April 1798, elected to the 6th United States Congress
Jacob A. Fort* Federalist
Daniel Gray* Federalist
Jonathan Hoag
Hosea Moffitt* Federalist
Israel Thompson
Richmond Paul I. Micheau Federalist
Saratoga Seth C. Baldwin*
Samuel Clark*
Adam Comstock* Dem.-Rep.
Douw I. Fonda
Aaron Gregory
Schoharie John Rice* Federalist
Suffolk John Howard
Abraham Miller* Dem.-Rep.
Josiah Reeve
Silas Wood* Federalist
Tioga Emanuel Coryell* Federalist
Benjamin Hovey
Ulster John Barber
Philip D. Bevier Dem.-Rep.
Phineas Bowman
Jacobus S. Bruyn Dem.-Rep.
John A. DeWitt
John C. DeWitt* Dem.-Rep.
Andrew McCord Dem.-Rep.
Washington Charles Kane
Daniel Mason*
Reuben Pride
Edward Savage* Dem.-Rep.
Thomas Smith
Melancton Wheeler
Westchester William Adams
John Barker* Federalist
Elijah Lee
Abel Smith Dem.-Rep.
Charles Teed* Federalist

Employees
  • Clerk: James Van Ingen
  • Sergeant-at-Arms: Robert Hunter
  • Doorkeeper: Peter Hansen

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. The History of Political Parties in the State of New-York, from the Ratification of the Federal Constitution to 1840 by Jabez D. Hammond (4th ed., Vol. 1, H. & E. Phinney, Cooperstown, 1846; page 110)
  3. Philip Livingston, son of Peter Van Brugh Livingston
  4. L'Hommedieu changed sides, see Hammond, page 108
  5. Original owner of Robert Sands Estate in Rhinebeck, Dutchess Co.
  6. Jenkins was a close political friend of Ambrose Spencer and both changed sides in 1798.

Sources
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