22nd New York State Legislature

22nd New York State Legislature
← 21st 23rd →
The Old Albany City Hall (undated)
Overview
Legislative body	New York State Legislature
Jurisdiction	New York, United States
Term	July 1, 1798 – June 30, 1799
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[1]
Sessions
1st August 9 – 27, 1798 2nd January 2 – April 3, 1799

The 22nd New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from August 9, 1798, to April 3, 1799, during the fourth year of John Jay's governorship, in Albany.

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 March 1786, the Legislature enacted that future Legislatures meet on the first Tuesday of January of each year unless called earlier by the governor. In 1797, Albany was declared the State capital, and all subsequent Legislatures have been meeting there ever since.

On April 26, 1797, State Senator Joshua Sands was appointed as Collector of the Port of New York; and on September 24, 1797, State Senator Andrew Onderdonk died; leaving two vacancies in the Southern District.

U.S. Senator John Sloss Hobart (Fed.) vacated his seat on April 16, 1798, when he was appointed to the United States District Court for the District of New York, and on May 5, Gov. John Jay appointed William North (Fed.) to fill the vacancy temporarily.

In 1798, Chenango County was created from parts of Herkimer and Tioga counties, and was apportioned two seats in the Assembly, one each taken from Herkimer and Tioga. Oneida County was created from Herkimer, and was apportioned three seats in the Assembly, taken from Herkimer. Rockland County was created from Orange County, and was apportioned one seat in the Assembly, taken from Orange. Besides, two seats from Ulster Co. and one seat from Albany Co. were transferred to Orange Co.

At this time the politicians were divided into two opposing political parties: the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans.^[2]

Elections

The State election was held from April 24 to 26, 1798. Gov. John Jay and Lt. Gov. Stephen Van Rensselaer (both Fed.) were re-elected.

Senators Ambrose Spencer (Middle D.), Leonard Gansevoort (Eastern D.), John Frey and Thomas R. Gold (both Western D.) were re-elected. David Gelston, John Schenck (both Southern D.), Ebenezer Foote (Middle D.), John Sanders (Eastern D.); and Assemblymen DeWitt Clinton (Southern D.) and Frederick Gettman (Western D.) were also elected to full terms in the Senate. Senator Richard Hatfield (Southern D.) was re-elected, but only to a one-year term to fill a vacancy. Assemblyman William Denning (Southern D.) was elected to the Senate to a two-year term, to fill the other vacancy.

Sessions

Gov. Jay called a special session of the Legislature when it seemed that a war with France was likely to break out, and he deemed it necessary to prepare the State for defence.^[3] The Legislature met on August 9, 1798, at the Old City Hall in Albany, New York; and adjourned on August 27.

Federalist Dirck Ten Broeck was re-elected Speaker with 58 votes against 37 for Dem.-Rep. John Swartwout.

On August 17, 1798, the Legislature elected James Watson (Fed.) to fill the vacancy in the U.S. Senate.

The Legislature met for the regular session on January 2, 1799; and both Houses adjourned on April 3.

Near the end of the session, an "Act for Supplying the City of New-York with Pure and Wholesome Water" was passed, which contained hidden in its text the charter to set up the Bank of the Manhattan Company.

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 and Saratoga counties.
• The Western District (11 seats) consisted of Montgomery, Herkimer, Ontario, Otsego, Tioga, Onondaga, Schoharie, Steuben, Chenango and Oneida 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. William Denning, DeWitt Clinton and Frederick Gettman changed from the Assembly to the Senate.

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

Employees

• Clerk: Abraham B. Bancker

State Assembly

Districts

• Albany County (9 seats)
• Chenango County (2 seats)
• Clinton County (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 (2 seats)
• 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.

District	Assemblymen	Party	Notes
Albany	Thomas E. Barker*	Federalist
	James Bill
	Johann Jost Dietz*	Federalist
	Prince Doty	Federalist
	Andrew N. Heermance*
	Jeremiah Lansingh
	Philip P. Schuyler*
	Joseph Shurtleff	Federalist
	Dirck Ten Broeck*	Federalist	re-elected Speaker
Chenango	Obadiah German	Federalist[6]
	Nathaniel King
Clinton	Asa Adgate	Dem.-Rep.
Columbia	Elisha Gilbert
	Killian Hogeboom*	Dem.-Rep.
	Charles McKinstry	Federalist
	John McKinstry
	Peter B. Ten Broeck
	Samuel Ten Broeck*	Dem.-Rep.
Delaware	Elias Butler
	Erastus Root	Dem.-Rep.
Dutchess	Abraham Adriance	Dem.-Rep.
	Lemuel Clift*	Federalist
	Henry Dodge	Federalist
	Robert Johnston	Dem.-Rep.
	Ebenezer Mott
	William Pearce
	Platt Smith
	Jonathan Soule
	William Taber	Dem.-Rep.
	John Van Benthuysen	Dem.-Rep.
Herkimer	Ludwick Campbell*
	John Cummins Jr.
	Phineas Gates
Kings	Johannes I. Lott
Montgomery	Archibald McIntyre	Dem.-Rep.
	Henry Pawling
	Stephen Reynolds
	Jacob Snell*	Dem.-Rep.
	Simon Veeder
	Peter Voorhis
New York	Philip I. Arcularius*	Dem.-Rep.
	William Boyd*	Dem.-Rep.
	Ebenezer S. Burling*	Dem.-Rep.
	Aaron Burr*	Dem.-Rep.
	James Fairlie	Dem.-Rep.
	Richard Furman	Federalist
	James Hunt*	Dem.-Rep.
	Elias Nexsen	Dem.-Rep.
	John B. Prevost	Dem.-Rep.
	Ezekiel Robins	Dem.-Rep.
	Thomas Storm	Dem.-Rep.
	John Swartwout	Dem.-Rep.
	John A. Wolfe	Dem.-Rep.
Oneida	Abel French	Federalist
	Henry McNeil*	Federalist	previously a member from Herkimer Co.
	David Ostrom	Federalist
Onondaga	Edward Paine
	John Richardson	Federalist
Ontario and Steuben	Amos Hall*	Federalist
	Charles Williamson*
Orange	John Blake Jr.	Dem.-Rep.
	James Burt*	Dem.-Rep.
	Moses Philips
	Hendrick Smith
	David M. Westcott
Otsego	Joshua Dewey*
	Benjamin Gilbert
	Francis Henry*	Federalist
	Jedediah Peck	Federalist[7]	also judge of the Otsego County Court until March 9, 1799, when he was removed[8]
Queens	Robert Moore	Federalist
	William Mott	Federalist
	John I. Skidmore*	Dem.-Rep.
	John M. Smith	Federalist
Rensselaer	Jacob A. Fort*	Federalist
	Daniel Gray*	Federalist
	Jonathan Hoag
	Cornelius Lansing
	John W. Schermerhorn
	John I. Van Rensselaer
Richmond	Paul I. Micheau*	Federalist
Rockland	Benjamin Coe*		previously a member from Orange Co.
Saratoga	Seth C. Baldwin*
	Samuel Clark*
	Adam Comstock*	Dem.-Rep.
	Henry Corl Jr.
	James Warren
Schoharie	Peter Swart	Dem.-Rep.
Suffolk	Nicoll Floyd
	Jared Landon	Dem.-Rep.
	John Smith	Dem.-Rep.
	Joshua Smith Jr.
Tioga	Matthew Carpenter
Ulster	Gerrit Abeel
	Jacobus S. Bruyn*	Dem.-Rep.
	John A. DeWitt*
	Peter Lefevre Jr.
	Martin G. Schuneman	Dem.-Rep.
Washington	Seth Crocker
	David Hopkins	Dem.-Rep.
	Charles Kane*
	Edward Savage*	Dem.-Rep.
	Philip Smith
	David Thomas	Dem.-Rep.
Westchester	William Adams*
	Israel Honeywell
	Elijah Lee*
	Abel Smith*	Dem.-Rep.
	Charles Teed*	Federalist

Employees

• Clerk: James Van Ingen
• Sergeant-at-Arms: Robert Hunter
• Doorkeeper: Peter Hansen

Notes

1. The Assembly had a nominal majority of Federalists, the party strength being 57 to 48 as shown by the vote for U.S. Senator. However there were "8 to 10 members elected as Federalists who voted on political issues with the Dem.-Reps., among them Obadiah German, Jedediah Peck and McKinstry." The existence of this group of waverers explains also the election of Dem.-Rep. William Denning to the Council of Appointment by a vote of 49 to 47 over Fed. Samuel Haight, while Fed. Ebenezer Foote was elected 49 to 47 over Dem.-Rep. John Addison. See: Hammond, pg. 123
2. The Anti-Federalists called themselves "Republicans." However, at the same time, the Federalists called them "Democrats" which was meant to be pejorative. After some time both terms got more and more confused, and sometimes used together as "Democratic Republicans" which later historians have adopted (with a hyphen) to describe the party from the beginning, to avoid confusion with both the later established and still existing Democratic and Republican parties.
3. The History of Political Parties in the State of New-York, from the Ratification of the Federal Constitution to December, 1840 by Jabez D. Hammond (4th ed., Vol. 1, H. & E. Phinney, Cooperstown, 1846; page 121)
4. Original owner of Robert Sands Estate in Rhinebeck, Dutchess Co.
5. Spencer changed sides in 1798. It was believed that the change was caused by his disappointment when he was not appointed New York State Comptroller in 1797, but Spencer denied this. See: Hammond, pg. 125f
6. see note on Assembly majority
7. see note on Assembly majority
8. See Hammond, pg. 127

Sources

• The New York Civil List compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858) [see pg. 108f for Senate districts; pg. 117 for senators; pg. 148f for Assembly districts; pg. 172 for assemblymen]
• Election result Assembly, Dutchess Co. at project "A New Nation Votes", compiled by Phil Lampi, hosted by Tufts University Digital Library
• Election result Assembly, Montgomery Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Assembly, Saratoga Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Assembly, Washington Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Assembly Speaker at project "A New Nation Votes"