23rd New York State Legislature

The 23rd New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 28 to April 8, 1800, during the fifth year of John Jay's governorship, in Albany.

23rd New York State Legislature
← 22nd 24th →
The Old Albany City Hall (undated)
Overview
Legislative body	New York State Legislature
Jurisdiction	New York, United States
Term	July 1, 1799 – June 30, 1800
Senate
Members	43
President	Lt. Gov. Stephen Van Rensselaer (Fed.)
Party control	Federalist (32-11)
Assembly
Members	108
Speaker	Dirck Ten Broeck (Fed.)
Party control	Federalist
Sessions
1st January 28, 1800 – April 8, 1800

Background

Under the provisions of the New 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.

Congressman Jonathan N. Havens (D.-R.) died on October 25, 1799. Assemblyman John Smith (D.-R.) was elected in a special election in December 1799 to fill the vacancy.

In 1799, Cayuga County was split from Onondaga County, and was apportioned one seat in the Assembly, taken from Onondaga. Essex County was split from Clinton County, but remained in a double-county Assembly district.

At this time the politicians were divided into two opposing political parties: the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans.^[1]

Elections

The State election was held from April 30 to May 2, 1799. Senators Richard Hatfield (Southern D.), Zina Hitchcock, Ebenezer Russell, Moses Vail (all three Eastern D.) and Vincent Mathews (Western D.) were re-elected. John B. Coles (Southern D.), Isaac Bloom, John Hathorn, John Suffern (all three Middle D.) and Moss Kent (Western D.) were also elected to the Senate.

Sessions

The Legislature met on January 28, 1800, at the Old City Hall in Albany; and adjourned on April 8.

Federalist Dirck Ten Broeck was re-elected Speaker without opposition.

The Legislature reduced the salary of the New York State Comptroller from $3,000 to $2,500 whereupon Samuel Jones declined to be re-appointed. On March 12, 1800, the Council of Appointment chose Assemblyman John Vernon Henry to succeed Jones.^[2]

On March 12, 1800, a bill was proposed to divide the State into districts to elect presidential electors by popular ballot. This was rejected by the Federalist majority [vote 55 to 47], and the electors continued to be chosen by joint ballot of the State Legislature.^[3]

On March 19, 1800, U.S. Senator James Watson (Fed.) resigned after his appointment as Naval Officer of the Port of New York. On April 3, 1800, the Legislature elected Gouverneur Morris (Fed.) to fill the vacancy.

State Senate

Districts

• The Southern District (9 seats) consisted of Kings, New York, Queens, Richmond, Suffolk and Westchester counties.
• The Middle District (12 seats) consisted of Dutchess, Orange, Ulster, Columbia, Delaware and Rockland counties.
• The Eastern District (11 seats) consisted of Washington, Clinton, Rensselaer, Albany, Saratoga and Essex counties.
• The Western District (11 seats) consisted of Montgomery, Herkimer, Ontario, Otsego, Tioga, Onondaga, Schoharie, Steuben, Chenango, Oneida and Cayuga 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.

District	Senators	Term left	Party	Notes
Southern	Samuel Haight*	1 year	Federalist	elected to the Council of Appointment
	William Denning*	1 year	Dem.-Rep.
	Selah Strong*	1 year	Federalist
	Ezra L'Hommedieu*	2 years	Dem.-Rep.
	DeWitt Clinton*	3 years	Dem.-Rep.
	David Gelston*	3 years	Dem.-Rep.	also Surrogate of New York County
	John Schenck*	3 year	Dem.-Rep.
	John B. Coles	4 years	Federalist
	Richard Hatfield*	4 years	Federalist
Middle	Robert Sands*[4]	1 year	Federalist	elected to the Council of Appointment
	James Savage*	1 year	Federalist
	Peter Silvester*	1 year	Federalist
	William Thompson*	1 year	Federalist
	John Addison*	2 years	Dem.-Rep.	died in 1800[5]
	Peter Cantine Jr.*	2 years	Federalist
	James G. Graham*	2 years	Dem.-Rep.
	Ebenezer Foote*	3 years	Federalist	also Delaware County Clerk
	Ambrose Spencer*	3 years	Dem.-Rep.	also Assistant Attorney General (3rd D.)
	Isaac Bloom	4 years	Dem.-Rep.
	John Hathorn	4 years	Dem.-Rep.
	John Suffern	4 years	Dem.-Rep.
Eastern	Leonard Bronck*	1 year	Federalist
	James Gordon*	1 year	Federalist	elected to the Council of Appointment
	Ebenezer Clark*	2 years	Federalist
	Anthony Ten Eyck*	2 years	Federalist
	Jacobus Van Schoonhoven*	2 years	Federalist
	Abraham Van Vechten*	2 years	Federalist	also Recorder of the City of Albany
	Leonard Gansevoort*	3 years	Federalist
	John Sanders*	3 years	Federalist
	Zina Hitchcock*	4 years	Federalist
	Ebenezer Russell*	4 years	Federalist
	Moses Vail*	4 years	Federalist
Western	Jacob Morris*	1 year	Federalist
	Jedediah Sanger*	1 year	Federalist	also First Judge of the Oneida County Court
	Thomas Morris*	2 years	Federalist	elected in April 1800 to the 7th United States Congress
	Michael Myers*	2 years	Federalist
	Seth Phelps*	2 years	Federalist
	William Beekman*	3 years	Federalist
	John Frey*	3 years	Federalist
	Frederick Gettman*	3 years	Federalist
	Thomas R. Gold*	3 years	Federalist	also Assistant Attorney General (7th D.); elected to the Council of Appointment
	Vincent Mathews*	4 years	Federalist
	Moss Kent	4 years	Federalist

Employees

• Clerk: Abraham B. Bancker

State Assembly

Districts

• Albany County (9 seats)
• Cayuga County (1 seat)
• Chenango County (2 seats)
• Clinton and Essex counties (1 seat)
• Columbia County (6 seats)
• Delaware County (2 seats)
• Dutchess County (10 seats)
• Herkimer County (3 seats)
• Kings County (1 seat)
• Montgomery County) (6 seats)
• The City and County of New York (13 seats)
• Oneida County (3 seats)
• Onondaga County (1 seat)
• Ontario and Steuben counties (2 seats)
• Orange County (5 seats)
• Otsego County (4 seats)
• Queens County (4 seats)
• Rensselaer County (6 seats)
• Richmond County (1 seat)
• Rockland County (1 seat)
• Saratoga County (5 seats)
• Schoharie County (1 seat)
• Suffolk County (4 seats)
• Tioga County (1 seat)
• Ulster County (5 seats)
• Washington County (6 seats)
• Westchester County (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.

County	Assemblymen	Party	Notes
Albany	James Bill*
	Philip Conine Jr.
	Johann Jost Dietz*	Federalist
	Prince Doty*	Federalist
	John Vernon Henry	Federalist	from March 12, 1800, also New York State Comptroller
	Francis Nicoll	Federalist
	Joseph Shurtleff*	Federalist
	Dirck Ten Broeck*	Federalist	re-elected Speaker
	Jacob Winne
Cayuga	Silas Halsey	Dem.-Rep.	previously a member from Onondaga Co.
Chenango	Peter B. Garnsey
	Nathaniel King*
Clinton and Essex	William Gilliland
Columbia	Ezekiel Gilbert	Federalist
	Robert T. Livingston	Federalist
	Charles McKinstry*	Federalist
	John Noyes	Federalist
	Anson Pratt	Federalist
	Jacob R. Van Rensselaer	Federalist
Delaware	Patrick Lamb
	Sluman Wattles
Dutchess	Abraham Adriance*	Dem.-Rep.
	William Barker	Dem.-Rep.
	William Emott	Dem.-Rep./Fed.
	Joseph C. Field	Dem.-Rep.
	Robert Johnston*	Dem.-Rep.
	Ebenezer Mott*	Dem.-Rep./Fed.
	Isaac Sherwood	Dem.-Rep.
	William Taber*	Dem.-Rep.
	Samuel Towner	Dem.-Rep.
	John Van Benthuysen*	Dem.-Rep.
Herkimer	Thomas Manly	Federalist
	John Mills	Federalist
	John Meyer	Federalist
Kings	Jacob Sharpe Jr.
Montgomery	John Herkimer	Dem.-Rep.
	Cornelius Humfrey	Dem.-Rep.
	Archibald McIntyre*	Dem.-Rep.
	Frederick Sammons
	Jacob Snell*	Dem.-Rep.
	Simon Veeder*	Dem.-Rep.
New York	John Bogert	Federalist
	Nicholas Evertson	Federalist
	John Oothout	Federalist
	Anthony Post	Federalist
	Caleb S. Riggs	Federalist
	Robert Rutgers	Federalist
	Jacob Sherred	Federalist
	Anthony Steenback	Federalist
	Ebenezer Stevens	Federalist
	Samuel Stillwell	Federalist
	Bernardus Swartwout Jr.	Federalist
	William B. Woolsey	Federalist
	vacant
Oneida	John Hall
	David Ostrom*	Federalist
	Nathan Smith
Onondaga	Ebenezer Butler Jr.
Ontario and Steuben	Nathaniel Norton
	Charles Williamson*
Orange	John Blake Jr.*	Dem.-Rep.
	Robert R. Burnet
	James Burt*	Dem.-Rep.
	Andrew McCord	Dem.-Rep.
	Seth Marvin
Otsego	Jedediah Peck*	Dem.-Rep.
	Robert Roseboom	Dem.-Rep.
	Jacob Ten Broeck
	Rensselaer Williams
Queens	Isaac Denton	Dem.-Rep.
	Jonah Hallett	Dem.-Rep.
	Abraham Monfoort	Dem.-Rep.
	John I. Skidmore*	Dem.-Rep.
Rensselaer	Jacob A. Fort*	Federalist
	Daniel Gray*	Federalist
	James McKown	Federalist
	Josiah Masters	Dem.-Rep.
	John W. Schermerhorn*
	George Tibbits	Federalist
Richmond	John P. Ryerss
Rockland	Samuel G. Verbryck
Saratoga	Daniel Bull
	Samuel Clark*
	Adam Comstock*	Dem.-Rep.
	James Warren*
	Edward A. Watrous
Schoharie	Storm A. Becker	Federalist
Suffolk	Nicoll Floyd*	Dem.-Rep.
	Jared Landon*	Dem.-Rep.
	John Smith*	Dem.-Rep.	elected in December 1799 to the 6th United States Congress and took his seat on February 27, 1800, vacating his seat in the Assembly
	Silas Wood	Federalist
Tioga	Samuel Tinkham	Federalist
Ulster	Charles W. Broadhead
	Johannes Bruyn
	Moses Cantine
	John C. DeWitt
	Martin G. Schuneman*	Dem.-Rep.
Washington	Benjamin Colvin
	Micajah Pettit
	Isaac Sargent	Dem.-Rep.
	Edward Savage*	Dem.-Rep.
	David Thomas	Dem.-Rep.	elected in April 1800 to the 7th United States Congress
	John Thurman	Federalist
Westchester	George Comb
	Abijah Gilbert	Dem.-Rep.
	Nathan Rockwell	Federalist
	Abel Smith*	Dem.-Rep.
	Charles Teed*	Federalist

Employees

• Clerk: James Van Ingen
• Sergeant-at-Arms: Ephraim Hunt
• Doorkeeper: Peter Hansen