| 25th New York State Legislature | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||
The Old Albany City Hall (undated) | |||||
| Overview | |||||
| Legislative body | New York State Legislature | ||||
| Jurisdiction | New York,United States | ||||
| Term | July 1, 1801 – June 30, 1802 | ||||
| Senate | |||||
| Members | 43 | ||||
| President | Lt. Gov.Jeremiah Van Rensselaer (Dem.-Rep.) | ||||
| Party control | Federalist (22-19) | ||||
| Assembly | |||||
| Members | 108 | ||||
| Speaker | Thomas Storm (Dem.-Rep.) | ||||
| Party control | Democratic-Republican | ||||
| Sessions | |||||
| |||||
The25th New York State Legislature, consisting of theNew York State Senate and theNew York State Assembly, met from January 26 to April 5, 1802, during the first year ofGeorge Clinton's second tenure asGovernor of New York, inAlbany.
Under the provisions of theNew York Constitution of 1777, amended by the re-apportionment of March 4, 1796, Senators were elected on general tickets in the senatorial districts for four-year terms. They were divided into four classes, and every year about one fourth of the Senate seats came up for election. Assemblymen were elected countywide on general tickets to a one-year term, the whole assembly being renewed annually.
In 1797, Albany was declared the State capital, and all subsequent legislatures have been meeting there ever since. In 1799, the legislature enacted that future legislatures meet on the last Tuesday of January of each year unless called earlier by the governor.
On November 11, 1801, State SenatorMoses Vail was appointed Sheriff of Rensselaer County, leaving a vacancy in the Eastern District.
At this time the politicians were divided into two opposing political parties: theFederalists and theDemocratic-Republicans.[1]
The State election was held from April 28 to 30, 1801. Ex-GovernorGeorge Clinton (in office 1777-1795) was elected to a seventh term, andJeremiah Van Rensselaer was electedLieutenant Governor of New York, both were Democratic-Republicans
SenatorsEzra L'Hommedieu (Southern D.),Jacobus S. Bruyn,James G. Graham (both Middle D.),Ebenezer Clark,Jacobus Van Schoonhoven andAbraham Van Vechten (all three Eastern D.) were re-elected.Peter A. Van Bergen (Middle D.),Christopher Hutton (Eastern D.),John Meyer,Isaac Foote (both Western D.) and AssemblymanLemuel Chipman (Western D.) were also elected to the Senate. AssemblymanEdward Savage (Eastern D.) was elected to fill the vacancy. L'Hommedieu, Bruyn, Graham, Van Bergen and Savage were Democratic-Republicans, Hutton ran on both tickets, the others were Federalists.
On April 6, 1801, the legislature had passed an "Act Recommending a Convention" which called for the election of delegates to a convention to amend theState Constitution concerning the right to nominate appointees in theCouncil of Appointment, and the apportionment of the state legislature. The delegates were elected from August 25 to 27, mirroring the apportionment of the Assembly. The convention met from October 13 to 27, and had a large Democratic-Republican majority. U.S. Vice PresidentAaron Burr presided.
The Constitutional Convention gave the governor and all four councillors concurrently the right to nominate appointees. The convention also changed the composition of the state legislature: the number of state senators was fixed permanently at 32; the number of assemblymen was set at 100, but could increase at a rate of two per year until reaching 150.
The legislature met at the Old City Hall inAlbany on January 26, 1802; and adjourned on April 5.
Dem.-Rep.Thomas Storm was electedSpeaker unanimously.
On February 5, 1802, U.S. SenatorJohn Armstrong (Dem.-Rep.) resigned, andon February 9, 1802, the Legislature elected State SenatorDeWitt Clinton (Dem.-Rep.) to fill the vacancy.
On March 31, 1802, the Legislature re-apportioned the Assembly seats, according to the provisions of the Constitutional Convention.
The asterisk (*) denotes members of the previous Legislature who continued in office as members of this Legislature. Edward Savage and Lemuel Chipman changed from the Assembly to the Senate.
To reduce the number of senators from 43 to 32, as enacted by the Constitutional Convention, 19 members left the Senate at the end of this session: the eleven members who finished their term this year (marked "term left 1 year"); and eight senators who had their term cut short (marked "legislated out of office"). Eight new senators were elected to arrive at 32.[2]
| District | Senators | Term left | Party | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southern | DeWitt Clinton* | 1 year | Dem.-Rep. | elected on February 9, 1802, to the U.S. Senate, and took his seat on February 27, thus vacating his seat in the State Senate |
| (David Gelston*) | 1 year | Dem.-Rep. | vacated his seat upon appointment asCollector of the Port of New York on July 9, 1801 | |
| John Schenck* | 1 year | Dem.-Rep. | ||
| John B. Coles* | 2 years | Federalist | legislated out of office | |
| Richard Hatfield* | 2 years | Federalist | ||
| William Denning* | 3 years | Dem.-Rep. | ||
| Benjamin Huntting* | 3 years | Dem.-Rep. | elected to theCouncil of Appointment | |
| Ebenezer Purdy* | 3 years | Dem.-Rep. | ||
| Ezra L'Hommedieu* | 4 years | Dem.-Rep. | ||
| Middle | Ebenezer Foote* | 1 year | Federalist | |
| Ambrose Spencer* | 1 year | Dem.-Rep. | from February 3, 1802, alsoNew York Attorney General | |
| Isaac Bloom* | 2 years | Dem.-Rep. | elected in April 1802 to the8th United States Congress; legislated out of office | |
| John Hathorn* | 2 years | Dem.-Rep. | ||
| John Suffern* | 2 years | Dem.-Rep. | ||
| John C. Hogeboom* | 3 years | Dem.-Rep. | ||
| Solomon Sutherland* | 3 years | Dem.-Rep. | legislated out of office | |
| David Van Ness* | 3 years | Dem.-Rep. | legislated out of office | |
| James W. Wilkin* | 3 years | Dem.-Rep. | elected to theCouncil of Appointment | |
| Jacobus S. Bruyn* | 4 years | Dem.-Rep. | ||
| Peter A. Van Bergen | 4 years | Dem.-Rep. | ||
| James G. Graham* | 4 years | Dem.-Rep. | legislated out of office | |
| Eastern | Leonard Gansevoort* | 1 year | Federalist | |
| John Sanders* | 1 year | Federalist | ||
| Zina Hitchcock* | 2 years | Federalist | ||
| Ebenezer Russell* | 2 years | Federalist | ||
| Edward Savage* | 2 years | Dem.-Rep. | elected to fill vacancy, in place ofMoses Vail; elected to theCouncil of Appointment | |
| James Gordon* | 3 years | Federalist | ||
| Stephen Lush | 3 years | Federalist | legislated out of office | |
| Ebenezer Clark* | 4 years | Federalist | legislated out of office | |
| Christopher Hutton | 4 years | Dem.-Rep./Fed. | Hutton ran on both tickets | |
| Jacobus Van Schoonhoven* | 4 years | Federalist | ||
| Abraham Van Vechten* | 4 years | Federalist | also Recorder of the City of Albany | |
| Western | William Beekman* | 1 year | Federalist | |
| John Frey* | 1 year | Federalist | ||
| Frederick Gettman* | 1 year | Federalist | ||
| Thomas R. Gold* | 1 year | Federalist | ||
| Vincent Mathews* | 2 years | Federalist | ||
| Moss Kent* | 2 years | Federalist | ||
| Robert Roseboom* | 3 years | Dem.-Rep. | ||
| Jedediah Sanger* | 3 years | Federalist | also First Judge of the Oneida County Court | |
| Lemuel Chipman* | 4 years | Federalist | elected to theCouncil of Appointment | |
| John Meyer | 4 years | Federalist | also First Judge of the Herkimer County Court; legislated out of office | |
| Isaac Foote | 4 years | Federalist |
The asterisk (*) denotes members of the previous Legislature who continued as members of this Legislature.