The 143rd New York State Legislature, consisting of the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan com ...

and the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Assem ...

, met from January 7 to September 1920, during the second year of

Al Smith Alfred Emanuel Smith (December 30, 1873 – October 4, 1944) was an American politician who served four terms as Governor of New York and was the Democratic Party's candidate for president in 1928. The son of an Irish-American mother and a C ...

governorship A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

, in Albany.

Background

Under the provisions of the

New York Constitution The Constitution of the State of New York establishes the structure of the government of the State of New York, and enumerates the basic rights of the citizens of New York. Like most state constitutions in the United States, New York's constituti ...

of 1894, re-apportioned in 1917, 51 Senators and 150 assemblymen were elected in single-seat districts; senators for a two-year term, assemblymen for a one-year term. The senatorial districts consisted either of one or more entire counties; or a contiguous area within a single county. The counties which were divided into more than one senatorial district were New York (nine districts), Kings (eight), Bronx (three), Erie (three), Monroe (two), Queens (two) and Westchester (two). The Assembly districts were made up of contiguous area, all within the same county. At this time there were two major political parties: the Republican Party and the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

. The

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

also nominated tickets.

Elections

The New York state election, 1919, was held on November 4. No statewide elective offices were up for election. Two women were elected to the State Assembly: Elizabeth V. Gillette (Dem.), a physician, of

Schenectady Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...

; and Marguerite L. Smith (Rep.), an athletics teacher, of

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

Sessions

The Legislature met for the regular session at the State Capitol in Albany on January 7, 1920. Thaddeus C. Sweet (R) was re-elected

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

. At the beginning of the session, the five Socialist assemblymen were suspended by Speaker Sweet, pending a trial before the Assembly Committee on the Judiciary to determine whether they were fit to take their seats.

Charles Evans Hughes Charles Evans Hughes Sr. (April 11, 1862 – August 27, 1948) was an American statesman, politician and jurist who served as the 11th Chief Justice of the United States from 1930 to 1941. A member of the Republican Party, he previously was the ...

(Rep.) and Governor

(Dem.) condemned Speaker Sweet and the Republican majority for taking this course of action. On March 30, a majority of 7 members of the 13-member Judiciary Committee recommended the expulsion the five Socialists. Minority reports recommended the seating of all or part of the Socialist assemblymen. In the early morning of April 1, the five Socialist assemblymen were expelled. The Legislature adjourned at 2 a.m. on Sunday morning, April 25, after a session of 37 hours. During this last session, Marguerite L. Smith occupied for about half an hour the Speaker's chair. On August 12, Gov. Al Smith called a special session of the Legislature for September 20, and ordered special elections to be held on September 16 to fill the vacancies caused by the expulsion of the Socialist members. The session was called to consider the housing situation in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. On September 16, all five Socialists were re-elected to the Assembly. The Legislature met for a special session at the State Capitol in Albany on September 20, 1920. On September 21, Claessens, Solomon and Waldman were again expelled, while DeWitt and Orr were permitted by a majority vote to take their seats. However, DeWitt and Orr resigned their seats in protest against the ouster of their three comrades.

State Senate

Districts

Members

The asterisk (*) denotes members of the previous Legislature who continued in office as members of this Legislature.

Employees

* Clerk: Ernest A. Fay * Sergeant-at-Arms: * Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms: * Principal Doorkeeper: * First Assistant Doorkeeper: * Stenographer:

State Assembly

Note: For brevity, the chairmanships omit the words "...the Committee on (the)..."

Assemblymen

Employees

* Clerk: Fred W. Hammond *Deputy Clerk: Wilson Messer * Sergeant-at-Arms:

Harry W. Haines Harry may refer to: TV shows * ''Harry'' (American TV series), a 1987 American comedy series starring Alan Arkin * ''Harry'' (British TV series), a 1993 BBC drama that ran for two seasons * ''Harry'' (talk show), a 2016 American daytime talk show ...

* Principal Doorkeeper: * First Assistant Doorkeeper: * Second Assistant Doorkeeper: * Stenographer: Edwin Van Cett *Postmaster: James H. Underwood

Notes

Sources

''New York Legislative Documents'' (143rd Session)
(1920; Vol. I, No. 1 to 5)
''SENATE DEMOCRATS SPLIT OVER LEADER''
in NYT on January 7, 1920
''TWO CHAIRMANSHIPS FOR NEW YORK CITY''
in NYT on January 13, 1920 {{NYLegislatures 143 1920 in New York (state) 1920 U.S. legislative sessions