16th New York State Legislature
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The 16th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from November 6, 1792, to March 12, 1793, during the sixteenth year of George Clinton'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
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 ...
.


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 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. In March 1786, the Legislature enacted that future Legislatures meet on the first Tuesday of January of each year unless called earlier by the governor. No general meeting place was determined, leaving it to each Legislature to name the place where to reconvene, and if no place could be agreed upon, the Legislature should meet again where it adjourned. On February 7, 1791, the Legislature re-apportioned the Senate and Assembly districts, according to the figures of the 1790 United States Census. State Senator
Peter Schuyler Pieter Schuyler (17 September 1657 – 19 February 1724) was the first mayor of Albany, New York. A long-serving member of the executive council of the Province of New York, he acted as governor of the Province of New York on three occasions ...
died on January 4, 1792, leaving a vacancy in the Western District. At this time the politicians were divided into two opposing political parties: the
Federalists The term ''federalist'' describes several political beliefs around the world. It may also refer to the concept of parties, whose members or supporters called themselves ''Federalists''. History Europe federation In Europe, proponents of de ...
and the
Democratic-Republicans The Democratic-Republican Party, known at the time as the Republican Party and also referred to as the Jeffersonian Republican Party among other names, was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early ...
. Since the first appearance of the political parties, many politicians changed sides for a variety of reasons, but the highly controversial gubernatorial election of 1792 re-aligned the politicians more clearly.


Elections

The State election was held from April 24 to 26, 1792. Gov. George Clinton and Lt. Gov.
Pierre Van Cortlandt Pierre Van Cortlandt (January 10, 1721 – May 1, 1814) was an American politician who served as the first Lieutenant Governor of New York. He was first elected to the New York Assembly in March 1768 and served in that body as the representative ...
were re-elected to a sixth term after the Canvass Committee rejected the votes of Otsego, Clinton and Tioga counties on technicalities.
Henry Cruger Henry Cruger Jr. (November 22, 1739April 24, 1827) was an American and British merchant at the time of the American Revolution. He has a unique distinction of having been elected to both the Parliament of Great Britain (MP, 1774–1780, 1784– ...
,
John Schenck John Schenck (sometimes written ''Schanck'') (1750–1823) was a captain in the New Jersey Militia during the American Revolutionary War. Background Schenck was born in the now-defunct Amwell Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey on May 26, 175 ...
, Selah Strong (all three Southern D.), John Livingston, Robert Woodworth (both Eastern D.) and Assemblyman Joseph Hasbrouck (Middle D.) were elected to full terms in the Senate. Assemblyman John Frey was elected to fill the vacancy in the Western District.


Sessions

This time, the Legislature was called to meet early to elect
presidential elector The United States Electoral College is the group of presidential electors required by the Constitution to form every four years for the sole purpose of appointing the president and vice president. Each state and the District of Columbia app ...
s. Both Houses met at
Federal Hall Federal Hall is a historic building at 26 Wall Street in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City. The current Greek Revival–style building, completed in 1842 as the Custom House, is operated by the National Park Service as a nat ...
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 ...
; assembled a quorum on November 6, 1792; and adjourned on March 12, 1793. On November 20, 1792, the Legislature chose 12 presidential electors:
William Floyd William Floyd (December 17, 1734 – August 4, 1821) was an American Founding Father, wealthy farmer, and political leader from New York. Floyd served as a delegate to the Continental Congress and was a signer of the Continental Association and ...
,
Samuel Osgood Samuel Osgood (February 3, 1747 – August 12, 1813) was an American merchant and statesman born in Andover, Massachusetts, currently a part of North Andover, Massachusetts. His family home still stands at 440 Osgood Street in North Andover ...
, Edward Savage,
Stephen Ward Stephen Thomas Ward (19 October 1912 – 3 August 1963) was an English osteopath and artist who was one of the central figures in the 1963 Profumo affair, a British political scandal which brought about the resignation of John Profumo, the Sec ...
,
John Bay John Marshall Bay (November 30, 1928 – November 7, 1982) was an American actor and playwright. Personal Bay was born in Chicago, the location of his family's company, Bays English Muffins. He was married to the actress Elaine Stritch for nine ...
,
Jesse Woodhull Jesse Woodhull (February 10, 1735 – February 3, 1795) was an American politician from New York. Life He was born on February 10, 1734/5, in Setauket, Suffolk County, Province of New York, the son of Nathaniel Woodhull (1691–1760) and Sarah ( ...
, David Van Ness, Johannes Bruyn, Volkert Veeder, Abraham Yates Jr., Samuel Clark and Abraham Ten Eyck. All were Democratic-Republicans, elected on the first ballot in both Houses, and all cast their votes for
George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...
and Gov. George Clinton. After the 1790 United States Census, Congress re-apportioned the seats, increasing New York's representation from 6 to 10 seats. This required the Legislature to re-apportion the congressional districts in the State what was belatedly done on December 18, 1792. Subsequently, the congressional elections were held in January 1793.


State Senate


Districts

*The Southern District (8 seats) consisted of Kings, New York,
Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
,
Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...
, Suffolk and Westchester counties. *The Middle District (6 seats) consisted of
Dutchess Dutchess County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 295,911. The county seat is the city of Poughkeepsie, New York, Poughkeeps ...
,
Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...
and
Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...
counties. *The Eastern District (5 seats) consisted of
Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
, Clinton, Columbia and Rensselaer counties. *The Western District (5 seats) consisted of Albany, Montgomery, Herkimer,
Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
, Otsego, Saratoga and Tioga counties. 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. Joseph Hasbrouck and John Frey changed from the Assembly to the Senate. The party affiliations follow the vote on the contested election of John Livingston. The Democratic-Republicans voted to seat Livingston, affirming that the decision of the Canvass Committee was final for both the governor's and the senators' vote. The Federalists voted against this, supporting the claim of Thomas Jenkins, the Federalist candidate who had lost the election after the rejection of the ballots from Clinton County, affirming that under the Constitution it was the right and duty of the Senate to revise the decision of the Canvass Committee concerning the election of senators.''The History of Political Parties in the State of New-York, from the Ratification of the Federal Constitution to 1840''
by Jabez D. Hammond (4th ed., Vol. 1, H. & E. Phinney,
Cooperstown Cooperstown is a village in and county seat of Otsego County, New York, United States. Most of the village lies within the town of Otsego, but some of the eastern part is in the town of Middlefield. Located at the foot of Otsego Lake in the C ...
, 1846; pg. 74f)


Employees

*Clerk: Abraham B. Bancker


State Assembly


Districts

*The
City A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
and
County A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
of Albany (7 seats) * Columbia County (6 seats) * Dutchess County (7 seats) *
Herkimer County Herkimer County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 60,139. Its county seat is Herkimer. The county was created in 1791 north of the Mohawk River out of part of Montgomery County. It is named af ...
(1 seat) * Kings County (1 seat) * Montgomery County) (4 seats) *The City and County of New York (7 seats) * Ontario County (1 seat) *
Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...
(3 seats) * Otsego County (1 seat) * Queens County (3 seats) *
Rensselaer County Rensselaer County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 161,130. Its county seat is Troy. The county is named in honor of the family of Kiliaen van Rensselaer, the original Dutch owner of the ...
(5 seats) *
Richmond County Richmond County may refer to places: Australia *Richmond County, New South Wales, a cadastral division Canada *Richmond County, Nova Scotia United Kingdom *Richmondshire, the original Richmond County in Yorkshire, England United States ...
(1 seat) *
Saratoga County Saratoga County is a county in the U.S. state of New York, and is the fastest-growing county in Upstate New York. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county's population was enumerated at 235,509, representing a 7.2% increase from the 2010 popul ...
(4 seats) * Suffolk County (4 seats) * Tioga County (1 seat) *
Ulster County Ulster County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. It is situated along the Hudson River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 181,851. The county seat is Kingston. The county is named after the Irish province of Ulster. History ...
(5 seats) *
Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
and Clinton counties (4 seats) *
Westchester County Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population ...
(5 seats) 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.


Employees

*Clerk: John McKesson *Sergeant-at-Arms: Robert Hunter *Doorkeeper:Richard Ten Eyck


Notes


Sources


''The New York Civil List''
compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858) ee pg. 108 for Senate districts; pg. 114 for senators; pg. 148f for Assembly districts; pg. 167 for assemblymen; pg. 320 and 323 for presidential electionbr>Election result Assembly, Dutchess Co.
at project "A New Nation Votes", compiled by Phil Lampi, hosted by
Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...
Digital Library
Election result Assembly, Herkimer Co.
at project "A New Nation Votes"
Election result Assembly, Kings Co.
at project "A New Nation Votes"
Election result Assembly, Montgomery Co.
at project "A New Nation Votes"
Election result Assembly, Orange Co.
at project "A New Nation Votes"
Election result Assembly, Otsego Co.
at project "A New Nation Votes"
Election result Assembly, Rensselaer Co.
at project "A New Nation Votes"
Election result Assembly, Ulster Co.
at project "A New Nation Votes" {{NYLegislatures 1792 in New York (state) 1793 in New York (state)
016 HV-016 is a former military unit of Norway, that was a part of the Home Guard. It was established after 1985 to "stop terror- or sabotage actions that could weaken or paralyze Norway's ability to mobilize its military and its ability to resist". ...