The 73rd New York State Legislature, consisting of the
New York State Senate and the
New York State Assembly, met from January 1 to April 10, 1850, during the second year of
Hamilton Fish
Hamilton Fish (August 3, 1808September 7, 1893) was an American politician who served as the 16th Governor of New York from 1849 to 1850, a United States Senator from New York from 1851 to 1857 and the 26th United States Secretary of State ...
's governorship, 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 were elected in single-seat senatorial districts for a two-year term, the whole Senate being renewed biennially. The senatorial districts (except those in New York City) were made up of entire counties. 128 Assemblymen were elected in single-seat districts to a one-year term, the whole Assembly being renewed annually. The Assembly districts were made up of entire towns, or city wards, forming a contiguous area, all in the same county. The City and County of New York was divided into four senatorial districts, and 16 Assembly districts.
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
Whig Party. After the split in 1848, the Democratic factions (see
Barnburners and Hunkers
The Barnburners and Hunkers were the names of two opposing factions of the New York Democratic Party in the mid-19th century. The main issue dividing the two factions was that of slavery, with the Barnburners being the anti-slavery faction. Whi ...
and
Free Soil Party
The Free Soil Party was a short-lived coalition political party in the United States active from 1848 to 1854, when it merged into the Republican Party. The party was largely focused on the single issue of opposing the expansion of slavery int ...
) held separate state conventions, but ran joint tickets. The
Anti-Rent Party mostly endorsed Whig or Democratic nominees, and was the balance of power at this election.
Elections
The
New York state election, 1849 was held on November 6. The eight statewide elective offices up for election were carried by 4 Whigs, 3 Hunkers and 1 Barnburner, all of whom had been endorsed by the Anti-Renters.
17 Whigs and 15 Democrats were elected to a two-year term in the State Senate (1850–1851). 64 Whigs and 64 Democrats were declared elected to the State Assembly, resulting in a "split Assembly."
Sessions
The Legislature met for the regular session at the Old State Capitol in
Albany on January 1, 1850; and adjourned on April 10.
64 Democrats and 64 Whigs appeared at the opening of the session, constituting a "split assembly." The election of
Daniel Fullerton (W) was contested, and objections were raised to his taking the seat. In view of the precedent of 1816 (see
39th New York State Legislature#Sessions), upon taking his seat, Fullerton "claimed to have been fairly, legally and equitably chosen," but "not desiring to cause any delay or embarrassment in the organization of the House," he "declined to vote or take any part in the election of officers of the House."
Noble S. Elderkin (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 63 votes against 62 for
Robert H. Pruyn (W). Elderkin and Pruyn did not vote, as the candidates traditionally did not vote for themselves. After much haggling,
James R. Rose (D) was elected Clerk of the Assembly with 64 votes against 63 for the incumbent
Philander B. Prindle
Philander may mean:
* to have sexual intercourse with many women
* ''Philander'' (genus), a genus of opossums
* "Philander", a historic name for the dusky pademelon (''Thylogale brunii'')
People with the given name Philander
* Philander Chase ...
(W).
On January 24, leave of absence for two weeks was granted to Speaker Elderkin to go home to his ill wife
On January 26,
Robert H. Pruyn was chosen, by unanimous consent, Speaker pro tempore to preside over the Assembly during the absence of Speaker Elderkin who was expected to return at some later time, but did not appear again during the remainder of the session.
[Elderkin's wife died on April 8, and his father on May 19, 1850.]
On February 26,
Daniel T. Durland (D) was seated in place of Fullerton (W) which ended the "split Assembly" and gave the Democrats a nominal majority of 2. Due to the absence of Speaker Elderkin,
de facto
''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...
the Whigs had a majority of 1, which was inverted after seating Durland.
On March 13,
Ferral C. Dininny (D) was elected Speaker pro tempore, to succeed Pruyn, to preside over the Assembly during the continued absence of Speaker Elderkin who was by then not expected to return during this session.
State Senate
Districts
* 1st District:
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 and
Suffolk counties
* 2nd District:
Kings County
* 3rd District: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th wards of New York City
* 4th District: 7th, 10th, 13th and 17th wards of New York City
* 5th District: 8th, 9th and 14th wards of New York City
* 6th District: 11th, 12th, 15th, 16th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st and 22nd wards of New York City
* 7th District:
Putnam,
Rockland and
Westchester counties
* 8th District:
Columbia and
Dutchess counties
* 9th District:
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
Sullivan counties
* 10th District:
Greene
Greene may refer to:
Places United States
*Greene, Indiana, an unincorporated community
*Greene, Iowa, a city
*Greene, Maine, a town
** Greene (CDP), Maine, in the town of Greene
*Greene (town), New York
** Greene (village), New York, in the town ...
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
* 11th District:
Albany and
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 ...
counties
* 12th District:
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 ...
* 13th District:
Saratoga and
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 ...
counties
* 14th District:
Clinton,
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...
and
Warren
A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval A ...
counties
* 15th District:
Franklin and
St. Lawrence
Saint Lawrence or Laurence ( la, Laurentius, lit. " laurelled"; 31 December AD 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that the Roma ...
counties
* 16th District:
Fulton
Fulton may refer to:
People
* Robert Fulton (1765–1815), American engineer and inventor who developed the first commercially successful steam-powered ship
* Fulton (surname)
Given name
* Fulton Allem (born 1957), South African golfer
* Fult ...
,
Hamilton Hamilton may refer to:
People
* Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname
** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland
** Lord Hamilt ...
,
Herkimer and
Montgomery counties
* 17th District:
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...
and
Schoharie counties
* 18th District:
Chenango and
Otsego counties
* 19th District:
Oneida County
* 20th District:
Madison Madison may refer to:
People
* Madison (name), a given name and a surname
* James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States
Place names
* Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...
and
Oswego counties
* 21st District:
Jefferson and
Lewis
Lewis may refer to:
Names
* Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name
* Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname
Music
* Lewis (musician), Canadian singer
* "Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohead ...
counties
* 22nd District:
Onondaga County
Onondaga County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 476,516. The county seat is Syracuse.
Onondaga County is the core of the Syracuse, NY MSA.
History
The name ''Onondaga'' derives from ...
* 23rd District:
Broome,
Cortland and
Tioga counties
* 24th District:
Cayuga and
Wayne counties
* 25th District:
Seneca
Seneca may refer to:
People and language
* Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname
* Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America
** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people
Places Extrat ...
,
Tompkins and
Yates counties
* 26th District:
Chemung and
Steuben counties
* 27th District:
Monroe County
* 28th District:
Genesee
Genesee, derived from the Seneca word for "pleasant valley", may refer to:
Geographic features Canada
*Genesee, Alberta, an unincorporated community
United States
*Genesee, California
*Genesee, Colorado
*Genesee County, Michigan
*Genesee Co ...
,
Niagara and
Orleans counties
* 29th District:
Livingston and
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 ...
counties
* 30th District:
Allegany and
Wyoming
Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the s ...
counties
* 31st District:
Erie County
* 32nd District:
Cattaraugus and
Chautauqua
Chautauqua ( ) was an adult education and social movement in the United States, highly popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Chautauqua assemblies expanded and spread throughout rural America until the mid-1920s. The Chautauqua br ...
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. John A. Cross and James W. Beekman changed from the Assembly to the Senate.
Employees
* Clerk:
William H. Bogart
* Sergeant-at-Arms: George W. Bull
* Doorkeeper: Ransom Van Valkenburgh
* Assistant Doorkeeper: George A. Loomis
State Assembly
Assemblymen
The asterisk (*) denotes members of the previous Legislature who continued as members of this Legislature. Frederick S. Martin changed from the Senate to the Assembly.
Party affiliations follow the vote on Speaker.
Employees
* Clerk:
James R. Rose
* Sergeant-at-Arms: Samuel Reynolds
* Doorkeeper: John K. Anderson
* First Assistant Doorkeeper: Matthew Higgins
* Second Assistant Doorkeeper: Thomas Hollenbeck
Notes
Sources
''The New York Civil List''compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858)
g. 109 for Senate districts; pg. 136 for senators; pg. 148–157 for Assembly districts; pg. 238ff for assemblymen''Journal of the Senate'' (73rd Session)(1850)
{{NYLegislatures
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1850 in New York (state)
1850 U.S. legislative sessions