The 114th 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 6 to April 30, 1891, during the seventh year of

David B. Hill David Bennett Hill (August 29, 1843October 20, 1910) was an American politician from New York who was the 29th Governor of New York from 1885 to 1891 and represented New York in the United States Senate from 1892 to 1897. In 1892, he made an u ...

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, forming a contiguous area, all within the same county. At this time there were two major political parties: 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 ...

and the Republican Party. 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 ...

, the Democrats were split into two 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 ...

and the "County Democracy". The Prohibition Party and the

Socialist Labor Party The Socialist Labor Party (SLP)"The name of this organization shall be Socialist Labor Party". Art. I, Sec. 1 of thadopted at the Eleventh National Convention (New York, July 1904; amended at the National Conventions 1908, 1912, 1916, 1920, 1924 ...

also nominated tickets.

Elections

The

New York state election, 1890 The 1890 New York state election was held on November 4, 1890, to elect a judge of the New York Court of Appeals, as well as all members of the New York State Assembly. History In 1890, there was only one state officer to be elected statewide: ...

was held on November 4. The only statewide elective office up for election was carried by the incumbent Judge of the Court of Appeals

Robert Earl Robert Earl (born 29 May 1951) is an English-American businessman who is the founder and CEO of Planet Hollywood, Chairman of the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, and host of ''Robert Earl's Be My Guest'' television program whic ...

, a Democrat who was endorsed by the Republicans. The approximate party strength at this election, as expressed by the vote for Judge of the Court of Appeals, was: Democratic/Republican 927,000; Prohibition 34,000; and Socialist Labor 13,000.

Sessions

The Legislature met for the regular session at the State Capitol in Albany on January 6, 1891; and adjourned on April 30.

William F. Sheehan William Francis Sheehan (November 6, 1859 – March 14, 1917) was an American lawyer and politician from New York. A Democrat, he was most notable for serving as the speaker of the New York State Assembly in 1891 and the lieutenant governor ...

(D) 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 ...

with 66 votes against 56 for Milo M. Acker (R).''REED TACTICS IN ALBANY''
in NYT on January 7, 1891 On January 21, the Legislature elected Governor

(D) to succeed

William M. Evarts William Maxwell Evarts (February 6, 1818February 28, 1901) was an American lawyer and statesman from New York who served as U.S. Secretary of State, U.S. Attorney General and U.S. Senator from New York. He was renowned for his skills as a li ...

(R) as

U.S. Senator from New York Below is a list of U.S. senators who have represented the State of New York in the United States Senate since 1789. The date of the start of the tenure is either the first day of the legislative term (Senators who were elected regularly before th ...

, for a six-year term beginning on March 4, 1891. However, Governor Hill remained in office until the end of his term on December 31, 1891, and took his seat in the U.S. Senate only on January 7, 1892.

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.

Employees

* Clerk: John S. Kenyon * Sergeant-at-Arms: Charles V. Schram * Doorkeeper: Edward R. Gibbons * Stenographer: George H. Thornton

State Assembly

Assemblymen

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

Employees

* Clerk: Charles R. DeFreest *Clerk for the Committee on Cities: Morris Jacoby * Sergeant-at-Arms: Michael B. Redmond * Doorkeeper: Edward A. Moore * First Assistant Doorkeeper: Lawrence D. Fitzpatrick * Second Assistant Doorkeeper: Kenneth D. L. Nivin * Stenographer: Thomas Hassett

Notes

Sources

''The New York Red Book''
compiled by Edgar L. Murlin (published by James B. Lyon, Albany NY, 1897; see pg. 384f for senate districts; pg. 403 for senators; pg. 410–417 for Assembly districts; and pg. 508f for assemblymen)
Biographical sketches of the members of the Legislature
in ''The Evening Journal Almanac'' (1891)
''THE ASSEMBLY SLATE FIXED''
in NYT on January 6, 1891 {{NYLegislatures 114 1891 in New York (state) 1891 U.S. legislative sessions