The 107th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 1 to May 16, 1884, during the second year of

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...

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 constitut ...

of 1846, 32 Senators and 128 assemblymen were elected in single-seat districts; senators for a two-year term, assemblymen for a one-year term. The senatorial districts were made up of entire counties, except New York County (seven districts) and Kings County (three districts). The Assembly districts were made up of entire towns, or city wards,Except New York City where the wards were apportioned into election districts, and then some whole wards and some election districts of other wards were gerrymandered together into Assembly districts. forming a contiguous area, all within the same county. At this time there were two major political parties: the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. In

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

the Democrats were split into three factions:

Tammany Hall Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York City political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society. It became the main loc ...

, "Irving Hall" and the "County Democrats". The Prohibition Party and the

Greenback Party The Greenback Party (known successively as the Independent Party, the National Independent Party and the Greenback Labor Party) was an American political party with an anti-monopoly ideology which was active between 1874 and 1889. The party ran ...

also nominated tickets.

Elections

The New York state election, 1883 was held on November 6. Of the five statewide elective offices up for election, four were carried by the Democrats, and one by a Republican. The approximate party strength at this election was: Democratic 446,000; Republican 430,000; Prohibition 18,000; and Greenback 7,000.

Sessions

The Legislature met for the regular session at the State Capitol in Albany on January 1, 1884; and adjourned on May 16.

Titus Sheard Titus Sheard (October 4, 1841 in Batley, West Riding of Yorkshire, England – April 13, 1904 in Little Falls, Herkimer County, New York) was an American businessman and politician. Life He came to the United States in 1856, and settled first in ...

(R) was 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 ...

against Frank Rice (D). Dennis McCarthy (R) was elected president pro tempore of the State Senate.

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. Michael C. Murphy and Timothy J. Campbell changed from the Assembly to the Senate.

Employees

* Clerk: John W. Vrooman * Sergeant-at-Arms: George A. Goss * Doorkeeper: David W. Bogert * Stenographer: Hudson C. Tanner * Postmaster: A. E. Darrow * Janitor: A. L. Neidick * Chaplain: S. V. Leech

State Assembly

Assemblymen

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

Employees

* Clerk: Charles A. Chickering * Sergeant-at-Arms: Henry Wheeler * Doorkeeper: Michael Maher * First Assistant Doorkeeper: James Robinson * Second Assistant Doorkeeper: John P. Earl * Stenographer: Emory P. Close

Notes

Sources

''Civil List and Constitutional History of the Colony and State of New York''
compiled by Edgar Albert Werner (1884; see pg. 276 for Senate districts; pg. 291 for senators; pg. 298–304 for Assembly districts; and pg. 382 for assemblymen)
Biographical sketches of the members of the Legislature
in ''The Evening Journal Almanac'' (1884)
''MR. SHEARD TO BE SPEAKER''
in NYT on January 1, 1884
''THE LEGISLATURE OF 1884''
in NYT on January 2, 1884 {{NYLegislatures

107 107 may refer to: *107 (number), the number *AD 107, a year in the 2nd century AD *107 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC *107 (New Jersey bus) See also *10/7 (disambiguation) *Bohrium Bohrium is a synthetic chemical element with the symbol Bh an ...

1884 in New York (state) 1884 U.S. legislative sessions