45th New York State Legislature

The 45th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 2 to April 17, 1822, during the fifth year of DeWitt Clinton's governorship, in Albany.

45th New York State Legislature
← 44th 46th →
The Old State Capitol (1879)
Overview
Legislative body	New York State Legislature
Jurisdiction	New York, United States
Term	July 1, 1821 – December 31, 1822[1]
Senate
Members	32
President	Lt. Gov. John Tayler (Clint.)
Party control	Split (16-16)
Assembly
Members	126
Speaker	Samuel B. Romaine (Buckt.)
Party control	Bucktail (70-52)
Sessions
1st January 2 – April 17, 1822

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 1818, the Legislature enacted that future Legislatures meet on the first Tuesday of January of each year unless called earlier by the governor.

State Senator Gideon Granger resigned in 1821, leaving a vacancy in the Western District.

On March 13, 1821, the 44th New York State Legislature passed a bill to submit the question, whether a Constitutional Convention should be called, to the voters at the next State election in April 1821.

In 1821, Erie County was split from Niagara County, but remained with Cattaraugus, Chautauqua and Niagara in one Assembly district. Livingston and Monroe counties were formed from parts of Genesee and Ontario counties, and were apportioned one seat each in the Assembly, taken from Ontario.

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 the Bucktails (led by Martin Van Buren, and including the Tammany Hall organization in New York City). The Federalist Party was disbanding, the majority joined the Clintonians, a minority joined the Bucktails.

Elections

The State election was held from April 24 to 26, 1821. Abel Huntington (Southern D.), Abraham J. Hasbrouck (Middle D.), David C. Judson, Daniel Shipherd, John L. Viele (all three Eastern D.), Henry Seymour ( Western D.); and Assemblymen Abraham Gurnee (Southern D.), Archibald McIntyre (Middle D.) and Samuel M. Hopkins (Western D.) were also elected to the Senate. Huntington, Gurnee and Seymour were Bucktails, the other six Clintonians.

At the same time, the question whether a Convention to amend the New York Constitution should be called, was answered in the affirmative by the voters, and delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1821 were elected in June.

Sessions

The Constitutional Convention met from August 28 to November 10, 1821, and the new Constitution was adopted by the voters in January 1822.

The Legislature met at the Old State Capitol in Albany on January 1, 1822, and adjourned on April 17.

Samuel B. Romaine (Buckt.) was elected Speaker with 74 votes against 44 for George Huntington (Clint.). Edward Livingston (Buckt.) was elected Clerk of the Assembly with the same vote against Sandford Cobb (Clint.).

On April 12, the Legislature re-apportioned the Assembly districts. All multiple-county districts (except Hamilton and Montgomery)^[3] were dismembered, and every county became a district. The total number of assemblymen was increased from 126 to 128.^[4]

On April 17, the Legislature enacted that future State elections be held on the first Monday in November and the two succeeding days.^[5]

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, Hamilton, 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, Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Madison, Monroe, Niagara, Oneida, Onondaga, Ontario, Oswego, 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. Abraham Gurnee, Archibald McIntyre and Samuel M. Hopkins changed from the Assembly to the Senate.

Under the provisions of the new Constitution, all senators were legislated out of office at the end of 1822. The whole Senate was renewed at the State election in November 1822, the term of the new senators beginning on January 1, 1823.

District	Senators	Term left	Party	Notes
Southern	John Townsend*	1 year	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail	elected to the Council of Appointment
	Peter R. Livingston*	2 years	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
	Walter Bowne*	3 years	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
	John Lefferts*	3 years	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail	also a delegate to the Constitutional Convention
	Abraham Gurnee*	4 years	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
	Abel Huntington	4 years	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
Middle	Moses Austin*	1 year	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
	William Ross*	1 year	Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
	Charles E. Dudley*	2 years	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail	also Mayor of Albany; elected to the Council of Appointment
	John T. More*	2 years	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
	William C. Bouck*	3 years	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail	also an Erie Canal Commissioner
	Tilly Lynde*	3 years	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
	John J. Miller*	3 years	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
	Abraham J. Hasbrouck	4 years	Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
	Archibald McIntyre*	4 years	Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Eastern	Levi Adams*	1 year	Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
	George Rosecrantz*	1 year	Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
	Thomas Frothingham*	2 years	Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
	Duncan McMartin Jr.*	2 years	Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
	Benjamin Mooers*	2 years	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail	elected to the Council of Appointment
	David C. Judson	4 years	Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
	Daniel Shipherd	4 years	Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
	John L. Viele	4 years	Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Western[6]	Gamaliel H. Barstow*	1 year	Dem.-Rep./Clintonian	also First Judge of the Tioga County Court
	Perry G. Childs*	1 year	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail	elected to the Council of Appointment
	David E. Evans*	1 year	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
	Lyman Paine*	2 years	Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
	Henry Seymour	2 years	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail	elected to fill vacancy, in place of Gideon Granger
	Ephraim Hart*	3 years	Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
	Oliver Forward*	3 years	Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
	Elijah Miles*	3 years	Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
	Samuel M. Hopkins*	4 years	Dem.-Rep./Clintonian

Employees

• Clerk: John F. Bacon

State Assembly

Districts

• Albany County (4 seats)
• Allegany and Steuben counties (2 seats)
• Broome County (1 seat)
• Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie 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)
• Hamilton and Montgomery counties (5 seats)
• Herkimer County (3 seats)
• Jefferson County (2 seats)
• Kings County (1 seat)
• Lewis County (1 seat)
• Livingston County (1 seat)
• Madison County (3 seats)
• Monroe County (1 seat)
• The City and County of New York (11 seats)
• Oneida and Oswego counties (5 seats)
• Onondaga County (4 seats)
• Ontario County (5 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	James McKown*	Fed./Clintonian
	William McKown	Fed./Clintonian
	Volkert D. Oothoudt	Fed./Clintonian
	John P. Shear	Fed./Clintonian
Allegany and Steuben	Amos Peabody
	Grattan H. Wheeler
Broome	Chauncey Hyde	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie and Niagara	Thomas B. Campbell	Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
	David Eason	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail	contested by Isaac Phelps who was seated on January 5, 1822[7]
Cayuga	Samuel Dill
	Charles Kellogg*
	Ephraim Marsh
Chenango	William Mason*	Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
	Edmond G. Per Lee*
	John Tracy*	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail	also Surrogate of Chenango Co.
Clinton and Franklin	Abijah North	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
Columbia	Philip P. Clum
	Elisha Gilbert Jr.	Fed./Clintonian
	George T. Snyder
	Augustus Tremain
Cortland	Daniel Sherwood
Delaware	Benjamin Benedict
	Asa Grant
Dutchess	John Cox
	Daniel Northrup
	Philo Ruggles	Clintonian
	Benjamin Sherman
	George Vanderburgh
Essex	Isaac Finch	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
Genesee	Robert Anderson
	Benedict Brooks
	Samuel McWhorter
Greene	James Powers	Fed./Clintonian
	Jacob Roggen	Fed./Clintonian
Hamilton and Montgomery	John W. Cady	Dem.-Rep./Clintonian	in November 1822, elected to the 18th U.S. Congress
	Nicholas Gros
	James McIntyre	Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
	Henry Valentine
	Joshua Webster
Herkimer	Christopher P. Bellinger	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail	contested by Stephen Todd (F/C) who was seated in January 1822[8]
	Simeon Ford*	Fed./Clintonian	also D.A. of Herkimer Co.
	Robert Shoemaker	Fed./Clintonian
Jefferson	George Andrus	Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
	John B. Esselstyn	Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Kings	Jeremiah Lott*	Fed./Clintonian
Lewis	Chester Buck
Livingston	George Smith
Madison	Pardon Barnard
	Henry Clark Jr.
	Justin Dwinell*	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
Monroe	Nathaniel Rochester	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
New York	Philip Brasher
	George Buckmaster	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
	Clarkson Crolius*	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
	Junius H. Hatch
	Cornelius Heeney*	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
	Jeromus Johnson	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
	John Morss	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
	Reuben Munson*
	Samuel B. Romaine*	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail	elected Speaker
	Michael Ulshoeffer*	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
	Gulian C. Verplanck*	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
Oneida and Oswego	Greene C. Bronson	Clintonian
	Samuel Chandler
	George Huntington*	Fed./Clintonian
	Peter Pratt
	Israel Stoddard
Onondaga	Josephus Barker
	Silvester Gardner
	James Geddes	Fed./Clintonian
	David Munro	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
Ontario	Birdseye Brooks
	Byram Green
	Isaac Marsh
	Aaron Remer
	David White
Orange	James Burt*	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
	Egbert Jansen
	Joseph McLaughlin
	Abraham Shultz
Otsego	John Blakeley*	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
	Calvin Brookins
	George Fenno
	Joseph Mumford
	Artemas Sheldon
Putnam	Edward Smith
Queens	William Jones	Fed./Clintonian
	Timothy Nostrand	Fed./Clintonian
	Thomas Tredwell	Fed./Clintonian
Rensselaer	Daniel Gray	Fed./Clintonian
	James Jones
	Harper Rogers
	Levi Rumsey
	Gardner Tracy
Richmond	Samuel Barton*	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
Rockland	Cornelius Blauvelt
St. Lawrence	William H. Vining		did not take his seat, and died in 1822
Saratoga	Thomas Collamer
	Conrad Cramer
	John Gilchrist
	John Prior
Schenectady	John F. D. Vedder	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
	James Walker	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
Schoharie	Abraham Keyser, Jr.*	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
	Freegift Patchin*	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
	Harvey Watson	Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Seneca	James Dickson
	John Maynard		also Seneca County Clerk
Suffolk	Hugh Halsey
	Tredwell Scudder
	John M. Williamson*
Sullivan and Ulster	John Brodhead Jr.	Fed./Clintonian
	Charles Bruyn	Fed./Clintonian
	Jacob J. Hasbrouck	Fed./Clintonian
	William A. Stokes
Tioga	Jared Patchin
Tompkins	Samuel Crittenden*
	Peter Hager 2d*	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
Warren and Washington	John Baker
	Duncan Cameron
	Silas D. Kellogg
	William McDonald
	James Teft
Westchester	Joseph Hunt	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
	Thomas Smith	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail
	Enoch Thompson	Dem.-Rep./Bucktail

Employees

• Clerk: Edward Livingston
• Sergeant-at-Arms: Henry Fryer
• Doorkeeper: James Myers
• Assistant Doorkeeper: William Campbell