7th New York State Legislature

The 7th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 21 to May 12, 1784, during the seventh year of George Clinton's governorship, at New York City.

7th New York State Legislature
←6th 8th→
The Old New York City Hall, where the Legislature met in 1784. It was later the venue for the 1st United States Congress and renamed Federal Hall (1798)
Overview
Legislative bodyNew York State Legislature
JurisdictionNew York, United States
TermJuly 1, 1783 – June 30, 1784
Senate
Members24
PresidentLt. Gov. Pierre Van Cortlandt
Assembly
Members70 (de facto 68)
SpeakerJohn Hathorn
Sessions
1stJanuary 21, 1784 – May 12, 1784

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.

On May 8, 1777, the Constitutional Convention had appointed the senators from the Southern District, and the assemblymen from Kings, New York, Queens, Richmond and Suffolk counties—the area which was under British control—and determined that these appointees serve in the Legislature until elections could be held in those areas, presumably after the end of the American Revolutionary War. The war ended when the Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3, 1783. The British forces left New York City on November 25, 1783, and subsequently a special election was held to fill the seats which had been occupied by appointment.

Elections

The State election was held from April 29 to May 1, 1783. Gov. George Clinton and Lt. Gov. Pierre Van Cortlandt were re-elected again. Joseph Gasherie, Jacobus Swartwout (both Middle D.) and Assemblyman Andrew Finck (Western D.) were elected to the Senate.

Sessions

The State Legislature met in New York City from January 21 to May 12, 1784. On January 27, the newly elected State senators from the Southern District drew lots to define their term lengths. On April 2, the Legislature changed the name of Charlotte County to Washington County, and Tryon County to Montgomery County.

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. Ezra L'Hommedieu, Jacobus Swartwout and Andrew Finck changed from the Assembly to the Senate.

District Senators Term left Notes
Southern William Floyd* 1 year
Ezra L'Hommedieu* 1 year elected to the Council of Appointment
Alexander McDougall 1 year
James Duane* 2 years from February 1784 also Mayor of New York City
Lewis Morris* 3 years
Isaac Roosevelt* 3 years
Isaac Stoutenburgh* 4 years
Samuel Townsend 4 years
Stephen Ward* 4 years
Middle Arthur Parks* 1 year
John Haring* 2 years
Ephraim Paine* 2 years
William Allison* 3 years
Joseph Gasherie 4 years
Jacobus Swartwout* 4 years elected to the Council of Appointment
Eastern (Elkanah Day)*[1] 1 year did not attend
Alexander Webster* 2 years elected to the Council of Appointment
John Williams* 3 years
Western Philip Schuyler* 1 year also New York State Surveyor General
Henry Oothoudt* 2 years
William B. Whiting* 2 years
Jacob G. Klock* 3 years
Abraham Yates Jr.* 3 years elected to the Council of Appointment
Andrew Finck* 4 years

Employees
  • Clerk: Robert Benson until February 18, 1784
    • 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.

County Assemblymen Notes
Albany Matthew Adgate*
Abraham Becker
Abraham Cuyler
Jacob Ford*
James Gordon
John Lansing Jr.*
Peter Schuyler
Dirck Swart*
Peter Van Ness*
Christopher Yates*
Charlotte
(renamed Washington)		 David Hopkins*
Hamilton McCollister*
Ebenezer Russell
Edward Savage
Cumberland[2] Joel Bigelow
Elijah Prouty
William Shattuck
Dutchess Dirck Brinckerhoff
Thomas Dennis
Anthony Hoffman
Cornelius Humfrey*
Ebenezer Husted*
Matthew Patterson*
Thomas Storm*
Gloucester none No election returns from this county[3]
Kings Johannes E. Lott
Rutger Van Brunt
New York Robert Harpur*
Henry Hughes
John Lamb vacated his seat on March 22, 1784, upon
appointment as Collector of the Port of New York[4]
William Malcom* previously member from Ulster County
Henry Rutgers
Isaac Sears
John Stagg* previously member from Orange Co.
Peter P. Van Zandt*
Marinus Willett seat declared vacant on February 10, 1784, upon
appointment as Sheriff of New York County
Orange Jeremiah Clark*
Gilbert Cooper*
John Hathorn* elected Speaker
William Sickles
Queens Benjamin Coe*
Hendrick Onderdonck
Samuel Riker
James Townsend
Richmond Adrian Bancker
Johannes Van Wagenen
Suffolk John Brush
David Gelston*
Ebenezer Platt
Jeffrey Smith
Thomas Youngs
Tryon
(renamed Montgomery)		 Abraham Copeman
William Harper
James Livingston
Isaac Paris
Volkert Veeder
Christopher P. Yates
Ulster John Cantine
Charles DeWitt*
James Hunter*
John Nicholson*
Cornelius C. Schoonmaker*
Nathan Smith
Westchester Abijah Gilbert*
Samuel Haight*
Zebediah Mills*
Philip Pell
Ebenezer Purdy*
Thomas Thomas*

Employees
  • Clerk: John McKesson

Notes
  1. Elkanah Day is not listed among the senators in any session in the Civil List of 1858, which means that he did not attend any session, but it is certain that election returns were filed with the Secretary of State of New York in 1780, since he was elected to the Council of Appointment in 1782; the History of Eastern Vermont by Benjamin Homer Hall (Civil list appendix, page 768) lists him as a New York State Senator and stating "Commencement of Session September 10, 1781"
  2. The three members from Cumberland Co. were "Yorkers", a faction who opposed the Vermont government and advocated the seceded counties' remaining in the State of New York. See History of Eastern Vermont by Benjamin Homer Hall (Civil list appendix; page 768)
  3. Cumberland and Gloucester counties seceded from the Province of New York in January 1777, and became part of the Vermont Republic, while the Constitutional Convention was still debating the new Constitution. The New York Constitution was approved in April 1777, not recognizing the secession. Gloucester county did not file any election returns with the Secretary of State of New York in 1783.
  4. Memoir of the Life and Times of General John Lamb by Isaac Q. Leake (Bedford, Mass., 1857; page 297)

Sources
  • The New York Civil List compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858) [see pg. 108 for Senate districts; pg. 112 for senators; pg. 148f for Assembly districts; pg. 161f for assemblymen]
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