The 142nd New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 1 to June 16, 1919, during the first year of Al Smith's

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 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 t ...

, 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, 1918 The 1918 New York state election was held on November 5, 1918, to elect the governor, the lieutenant governor, the secretary state, the state comptroller, the attorney general, the state treasurer and the state engineer, as well as all membe ...

, was held on November 5. This was the first election at which women had the right to vote, and the right to run for elective offices. Two women were elected to the State Assembly: Ida B. Sammis (Rep.) and Mary M. Lilly (Dem.). Al Smith and Harry C. Walker were elected Governor and Lieutenant Governor, both Democrats. The incumbent Governor

Charles S. Whitman Charles Seymour Whitman (September 29, 1868March 29, 1947) was an American lawyer who served as the 41st Governor of New York from January 1, 1915, to December 31, 1918. An attorney and politician, he also served as a delegate from New York to t ...

ran on the Republican and the Prohibition tickets for re-election, but was defeated by Smith in a tight race, with a plurality of about 15,000 votes out of more than two million. The other five statewide elective offices up for election were carried by the Republicans. The approximate party strength at this election, as expressed by the vote for Governor, was: Democrats 1,010,000; Republicans 956,000; Socialists 122,000; Prohibition 39,000; and Socialist Labor 5,000. 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 ...

, where in November 1917 ten Socialists had been elected to the Assembly by pluralities in three-way races, Republicans and Democrats combined to stem the "red flood", and nominated joint candidates in most of the "Socialist" districts. Thus they managed to outpoll the Socialists in eight of the ten districts; only two Socialists, August Claessens and Charles Solomon, managed to get elected.

Sessions

The Legislature met for the regular session at the State Capitol in Albany on January 1, 1919; and adjourned on April 19. 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 ...

. J. Henry Walters (R) was elected president pro tempore of the State Senate. The Legislature met for a special session at the State Capitol in Albany in the evening of June 16. This session was called to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution which established

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

. The amendment was ratified by a vote of 44 to 0 in the Senate, and 137 to 0 in the Assembly. State Senator Henry M. Sage—who was an outspoken opponent of women's suffrage–was, on his request, excused from voting because "he did not care to vote against it, but could not possibly vote to ratify." The Legislature also passed four bills concerning the housing situation in

; and adjourned after four hours.

State Senate

Districts

Members

The asterisk (*) denotes members of the previous Legislature who continued in office as members of this Legislature. Peter J. McGarry, Kenneth F. Sutherland, Daniel F. Farrell, Jeremiah F. Twomey and Burt Z. Kasson changed from the Assembly to the Senate.

Employees

* Clerk: Ernest A. Fay * Sergeant-at-Arms: Charles R. Hotaling * Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms: * Principal Doorkeeper: * First Assistant Doorkeeper: * Stenographer: John K. Marshall

State Assembly

Assemblymen

Employees

* Clerk: Fred W. Hammond *Deputy Clerk: Wilson Messer * Sergeant-at-Arms: Harry W. Haines * Principal Doorkeeper: * First Assistant Doorkeeper: * Second Assistant Doorkeeper: * Stenographer: *Postmaster: James H. Underwood

Notes

Sources

''NOMINEES ANALYZED BY CITIZENS UNION''
in NYT on October 27, 1918
''THE NEXT LEGISLATURE''
in NYT on November 6, 1918
''REPUBLICANS' LEAD CUT IN LEGISLATURE''
in NYT on November 7, 1918
''"WETS" WIN IN SENATE CAUCUS''
in NYT on January 1, 1919 {{NYLegislatures 142 1919 in New York (state) 1919 U.S. legislative sessions