41st New York State Legislature

The 41st New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 27 to April 21, 1818, during the first year of DeWitt Clinton's governorship, in Albany.

41st New York State Legislature
← 40th 42nd →
The Old State Capitol (1879)
Overview
Legislative body	New York State Legislature
Jurisdiction	New York, United States
Term	July 1, 1817 – June 30, 1818
Senate
Members	32
President	Lt. Gov. John Tayler (Dem.-Rep.)
Party control	Democratic-Republican (27-5)
Assembly
Members	126
Speaker	David Woods (Dem.-Rep.)
Party control	Democratic-Republican
Sessions
1st January 27 – April 21, 1818

Background

Under the provisions of the New York Constitution of 1777, amended by the Constitutional Convention of 1801, 32 Senators were elected on general tickets in the four senatorial districts for four-year terms. They were divided into four classes, and every year eight 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 February 24, 1817, Gov. Tompkins resigned, to take office as U.S. Vice President on March 4; and Lt. Gov. John Tayler became Acting Governor for the remainder of the legislative year, until June 30. On March 25, the Democratic-Republican State Convention nominated Canal Commissioner DeWitt Clinton for Governor, and Acting Gov. John Tayler for Lieutenant Governor. Clinton received 85 votes against 41 for Peter B. Porter (Buckt.). The Federalist Party did not nominate candidates for governor and lieutenant governor.

On April 6, 1817, State Senator Chauncey Loomis died, leaving a vacancy in the Western District.

On April 7, 1817, Tompkins County was created from parts of Cayuga and Seneca counties, and was apportioned two seats in the Assembly, one each taken from Cayuga and Seneca.^[1]

At this time the politicians were divided into two opposing political parties: the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans.^[2] The Democratic-Republican Party was split into two factions: the Clintonians (supporters of Gov. DeWitt Clinton and his Erie Canal project) and the Bucktails (led by Att. Gen. Martin Van Buren, and including the Tammany Hall organization in New York City).

Elections

The State election was held from April 29 to May 1, 1817. DeWitt Clinton and John Tayler were elected unopposed.

Senator Jonathan Dayton (Southern D.) was re-elected. Stephen Barnum (Southern D.), Jabez D. Hammond, John Lounsbery (both Middle D.), Roger Skinner, Henry Yates Jr., Samuel Young (all three Eastern D.) and Assemblyman Isaac Wilson (Western D.) were also elected to full terms in the Senate. Assemblyman Jediah Prendergast (Western D.) was elected to fill the vacancy. All nine were Democratic-Republicans.

Sessions

The Legislature met at the Old State Capitol in Albany on January 27, 1818, and adjourned on April 21.

David Woods (Dem.-Rep.) was re-elected Speaker with 97 votes.

Assemblyman Ogden Edwards (Buckt.) proposed a bill to call a State convention to amend the Constitution concerning the appointment of public officers, his object being the abolition of the Council of Appointment. The bill, opposed by Gov. DeWitt Clinton, was eventually rejected, but the issue was pursued further by the Bucktails, and led to the New York State Constitutional Convention of 1821, and a new Constitution.

On April 21, 1818, the Legislature enacted that future Legislatures meet on the first Tuesday of January of each year, unless called earlier by the governor.^[3]

State Senate

Districts

• The Southern District (6 seats) consisted of Dutchess, Kings, New York, Putnam, Queens, Richmond, Rockland, Suffolk and Westchester counties.
• The Middle District (9 seats) consisted of Albany, Chenango, Columbia, Delaware, Greene, Orange, Otsego, Schoharie, Sullivan and Ulster counties.
• The Eastern District (8 seats) consisted of Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Montgomery, Rensselaer, St. Lawrence, Saratoga, Schenectady, Warren and Washington counties.
• The Western District (9 seats) consisted of Allegany, Broome, Cattaraugus, Cayuga, Chautauqua, Cortland, Genesee, Madison, Niagara, Oneida, Onondaga, Ontario, Seneca, Steuben, Tioga and Tompkins 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. Jediah Prendergast and Isaac Wilson changed from the Assembly to the Senate.

District	Senators	Term left	Party	Notes
Southern	Darius Crosby*	1 year	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
	Peter R. Livingston*	2 years	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail	elected to the Council of Appointment
	Walter Bowne*	3 years	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
	John D. Ditmis*	3 years	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
	Stephen Barnum	4 years	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
	Jonathan Dayton*	4 years	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
Middle	Moses I. Cantine*	1 year	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
	William Ross*	1 year	Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
	Isaac Ogden*	2 years	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
	Abraham Van Vechten*	2 years	Federalist
	John Noyes*	3 years	Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
	Peter Swart*	3 years	Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
	Martin Van Buren*	3 years	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail	also New York Attorney General
	Jabez D. Hammond	4 years	Dem.-Rep./Clintonian	elected to the Council of Appointment
	John Lounsbery	4 years	Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Eastern	John J. Prendergast*[4]	1 year	Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
	George Tibbits*	1 year	Federalist
	David Allen*	2 years	Federalist
	Henry J. Frey*	2 years	Federalist
	Ralph Hascall*	2 years	Federalist	from June 11, 1818, also D.A. of Essex Co.
	Roger Skinner	4 years	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail	also U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York
	Henry Yates Jr.	4 years	Dem.-Rep.	elected to the Council of Appointment
	Samuel Young	4 years	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail	also an Erie Canal Commissioner
Western	Bennett Bicknell*	1 year	Dem.-Rep.
	Jediah Prendergast*[5]	1 year	Dem.-Rep.	elected to fill vacancy, in place of Chauncey Loomis; originally a Clintonian, joined the Bucktails after he lost the vote for the full term[6]
	Philetus Swift*	1 year	Dem.-Rep.
	Stephen Bates*	2 years	Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
	Henry Seymour*	2 years	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail	elected to the Council of Appointment
	Ephraim Hart*	3 years	Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
	John Knox*	3 years	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
	William Mallery*	3 years	Dem.-Rep.
	Isaac Wilson*	4 years	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail

Employees

• Clerk: John F. Bacon

State Assembly

Districts

• Albany County (4 seats)
• Allegany and Steuben counties (2 seats)
• Broome County (1 seat)
• Cattaraugus, Chautauqua and Niagara counties (2 seats)
• Cayuga County (3 seats)
• Chenango County (3 seats)
• Clinton and Franklin counties (1 seat)
• Columbia County (4 seats)
• Cortland County (1 seat)
• Delaware County (2 seats)
• Dutchess County (5 seats)
• Essex County (1 seat)
• Genesee County (3 seats)
• Greene County (2 seats)
• Herkimer County (3 seats)
• Jefferson County (2 seats)
• Kings County (1 seat)
• Lewis County (1 seat)
• Madison County (3 seats)
• Montgomery County (5 seats)
• The City and County of New York (11 seats)
• Oneida County (5 seats)
• Onondaga County (4 seats)
• Ontario County (7 seats)
• Orange County (4 seats)
• Otsego County (5 seats)
• Putnam County (1 seat)
• Queens County (3 seats)
• Rensselaer County (5 seats)
• Richmond County (1 seat)
• Rockland County (1 seat)
• St. Lawrence County (1 seat)
• Saratoga County (4 seats)
• Schenectady County (2 seats)
• Schoharie County (3 seats)
• Seneca County (2 seats)
• Suffolk County (3 seats)
• Sullivan and Ulster counties (4 seats)
• Tioga County (1 seat)
• Tompkins County (2 seats)
• Warren and Washington counties (5 seats)
• Westchester County (3 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.

District	Assemblymen	Party	Notes
Albany	William A. Duer*	Federalist	previously a member from Dutchess Co.
	James Sackett
	Gideon Tabor*
	Stephen Van Rensselaer	Federalist	also an Erie Canal Commissioner
Allegany and Steuben	James McCall	Dem.-Rep.	previously a member from Seneca Co.
	William B. Rochester*	Dem.-Rep.
Broome	William W. Harper
Cattaraugus, Chautauqua and Niagara	Robert Fleming
	Isaac Phelps
Cayuga	William Clark 2nd
	Thatcher I. Ferris
	Isaac Smith
Chenango	Tilly Lynde	Dem.-Rep.
	Perez Randall
	Simon G. Throop	Dem.-Rep.	from June 11, 1818, also D.A. of Chenango Co.
Clinton and Franklin	Gates Hoit	Federalist
Columbia	Thomas Bay
	Benjamin Hilton
	Walter Patterson	Federalist
	Peter Van Vleck
Cortland	Samuel G. Hathaway
Delaware	William Beach
	Erastus Root	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
Dutchess	Benjamin Haxton	Federalist
	Thomas J. Oakley	Federalist
	Andrew Pray	Federalist
	Jehiel Sackett	Federalist
	John W. Wheeler	Federalist
Essex	John Hoffnagle	Dem.-Rep.
Genesee	Gilbert Howell	Dem.-Rep.
	Abraham Matteson
	Isaac Sutherland
Greene	John L. Bronk
	Jarvis Strong
Herkimer	Nicoll Fosdick	Dem.-Rep.
	Aaron Hackley, Jr.	Dem.-Rep.	in April 1818, elected to the 16th United States Congress
	George Rosecrantz*	Dem.-Rep.
Jefferson	Abel Cole*
	Horatio Orvis	Dem.-Rep.
Kings	Cornelius Van Cleef
Lewis	Levi Hart
Madison	Thomas Greenly
	James Nye
	David Woods*	Dem.-Rep.	previously a member from Washington Co.; re-elected Speaker
Montgomery	Ezekiel Belding	Dem.-Rep.
	Samuel Jackson*	Dem.-Rep.
	Henry Lyker	Dem.-Rep.
	Jacob Shew	Dem.-Rep.
	Barent H. Vrooman	Dem.-Rep.
New York	Cadwallader D. Colden	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail[7]	from February 18, 1818, also Mayor of New York City
	Clarkson Crolius*	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
	Ogden Edwards	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
	Cornelius Heeney*	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
	Robert R. Hunter	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
	Henry Meigs	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail	in April 1818, elected to the 16th United States Congress
	John Morss	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
	Isaac Pierson	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
	Peter Sharpe*	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
	Samuel Tooker	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
	Michael Ulshoeffer	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
Oneida	George Brayton	Dem.-Rep.
	Henry Huntington	Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
	Joseph Kirkland	Federalist
	Nathan Williams	Dem.-Rep.	from June 11, 1818, also D.A. of Oneida Co.
	Theor Woodruffe
Onondaga	Abijah Earll	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
	David Munro	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
	James Webb*	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
	Asa Wells*	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
Ontario	Phinehas P. Bates
	Nathaniel Case
	Samuel Lawrence
	James Roseburgh*
	Ira Selby
	John Van Vossen
	Ezra Waite
Orange	Isaac Belknap
	Anthony Davis	Dem.-Rep.
	John McGarrah
	William Mulliner
Otsego	Joshua Babcock
	Stukely Ellsworth
	Nathaniel Fenton	Dem.-Rep.
	John Moore
	David Tripp
Putnam	William H. Johnstone
Queens	Stephen Carman*	Federalist
	William Jones*	Federalist
	Daniel Kissam*	Federalist
Rensselaer	Abijah Bush	Federalist
	Andrew Finch	Federalist	contested by Cornelius I. Schermerhorn (Fed.) who was seated on February 2, 1818
	Myndert Groesbeck	Federalist
	Munson Smith	Dem.-Rep.
	Thomas Turner	Dem.-Rep.
Richmond	Richard C. Corson*
Rockland	Abraham Gurnee	Dem.-Rep.
St. Lawrence	David C. Judson
Saratoga	John Gibson
	Staats Morris
	Elisha Powell
	Earl Stimson
Schenectady	Daniel L. Van Antwerp	Dem.-Rep.	from June 11, 1818, also D.A. of Albany Co.
	Simon A. Veeder
Schoharie	William C. Bouck	Dem.-Rep.
	George H. Mann
	Nathan P. Tyler
Seneca	vacant[8]
	William Thompson*	Dem.-Rep.
Suffolk	Charles H. Havens
	Nathaniel Miller[9]
	John P. Osborn	Dem.-Rep.
Sullivan and Ulster	William Doll
	Levi Jansen
	Samuel Smith
	David Staples
Tioga	Gamaliel H. Barstow*	Dem.-Rep.	from June 22, 1818, also First Judge of the Tioga Co. Court
Tompkins	Samuel Crittenden
	John Sutton
Warren and Washington	Duncan Cameron
	Jason Kellogg	Dem.-Rep.
	Alexander Livingston	Dem.-Rep.
	John McLean Jr.
	Isaac Sargent*	Dem.-Rep.
Westchester	William Barker	Federalist
	Benjamin Isaacs	Federalist
	William Requa	Federalist

Employees

• Clerk: Aaron Clark
• Sergeant-at-Arms: Caleb Benjamin
• Doorkeeper: Benjamin Whipple