32nd New York State Legislature

32nd New York State Legislature
← 31st 33rd →
The Old Albany City Hall (undated)
Overview
Legislative body	New York State Legislature
Jurisdiction	New York, United States
Term	July 1, 1808 – June 30, 1809
Senate
Members	32
President	Lt. Gov. John Broome (Dem.-Rep.)
Party control	Democratic-Republican (31-1)
Assembly
Members	112
Speaker	James W. Wilkin (Dem.-Rep.)
Party control	Democratic-Republican (60-45)
Sessions
1st November 1 – 8, 1808 2nd January 17 – March 30, 1809

The 32nd New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from November 1, 1808, to March 30, 1809, during the second year of Daniel D. Tompkins's governorship, in Albany.

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 8, 1808, State Senator Joseph C. Yates was appointed to the New York Supreme Court, leaving a vacancy in the Eastern District. The Legislature re-apportioned the Senate seats, and transferred one seat each from the Southern, the Middle and the Eastern (the vacant one) districts to the Western District.

On April 1, 1808, the Legislature also re-apportioned the Assembly districts. The total number of assemblymen was increased from 100 to 112. Broome and Tioga were separated with 1 seat each. Allegany, Genesee and Ontario were separated with 1 seat for Genesee, 5 for Ontario and Allegany was joined with Steuben. Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence were separated with 2 seats for Jefferson and 1 each for Lewis and St. Lawrence. Cayuga, Chenango, Madison and Onondaga gained 1 seat each; New York City and Oneida gained 2 each. Dutchess, Rensselaer, Washington and Westchester lost 1 seat each. Franklin County was split from Clinton County but remained in the same Assembly district. Niagara County was split from Genesee County, and had 1 seat in the Assembly.

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

In 1805, the 28th Legislature had chartered the Merchant's Bank of New York which had been founded by Federalists in competition to the Democratic-Republican Bank of the Manhattan Company. The Democratic-Republican majority of the 27th Legislature had not only refused to grant a charter, but actually ordered the Merchant's Bank to shut down by May 1805. During the next session, the bank bribed enough legislators to have the charter approved, although the Democratic-Republican leaders advocated strongly against it. Gov. Morgan Lewis spoke out in favor of granting the charter what was resented by the party leaders DeWitt Clinton and Ambrose Spencer, and soon led to the split of the party into "Lewisites" and "Clintonians".^[2] The 30th Legislature had a Lewisite-Federalist majority and elected a Council of Appointment which removed most Clintonian office-holders. The Lewisites and the Federalists nominated Gov. Morgan Lewis for re-election but he was defeated by Clintonian Daniel D. Tompkins. The 31st New York State Legislature had a Clintonian majority and elected a Council of Appointment which removed most of the Lewisite office-holders, many of whom had been appointed during the previous year.

Elections

The State election was held from April 26 to 28, 1808. Senators Benjamin Coe (Southern D.) were re-elected. Edward P. Livingston (Middle D.), David Hopkins (Eastern D.), Francis A. Bloodgood, Walter Martin, Luther Rich (all three Western D.); and Assemblymen William W. Gilbert (Southern D.) and Sylvanus Smalley (Western D.) were also elected to full terms in the Senate. Silas Halsey (Western D.) was elected to fill the vacancy. Hopkins was a Federalist, Livingston a Lewisite, the other seven were regular Democratic-Republicans.

Sessions

The Legislature met at the Old City Hall in Albany on November 1, 1808, to elect presidential electors; and adjourned on November 8.

James W. Wilkin (Dem.-Rep.) was elected Speaker with 60 votes against 45 for Stephen Van Rensselaer (Fed.). Daniel Rodman (Dem.-Rep.) was re-elected Clerk of the Assembly with 61 votes against 46 for James Van Ingen (Fed.).

On November 7, 1808, the Legislature elected 19 presidential electors, all Democratic-Republicans: Ambrose Spencer, Henry Huntington, John W. Seaman, Henry Rutgers, John Garretson, Ebenezer White, Thomas Lawrence, James Tallmadge, Jonathan Rouse, Micajah Pettit, Henry Yates Jr., Benjamin Mooers, Adam B. Voorman, Thomas Shankland, William Hallock, Russell Attwater, Joseph Simonds, Hugh Jamison and Matthew Carpenter. They cast 13 votes for James Madison and 6 votes for George Clinton for president; and 13 votes for George Clinton, and 3 votes each for James Madison and James Monroe for vice president.

The Assembly met for the regular session on January 17, 1809, the Senate assembled a quorum only the next day; and both Houses adjourned on March 30.

On February 7, 1809, the Legislature elected Assemblyman Obadiah German (Dem.-Rep.) to succeed Samuel L. Mitchill (Dem.-Rep.) in the U.S. Senate.

At this time the major political controversy was the Embargo Act of 1807 which was supported by the Democratic-Republicans, but opposed by the Federalists. Most of the Lewisites eventually supported the Embargo, but assailed DeWitt Clinton in the press because he had originally opposed it. The Embargo was very unpopular and led to a revival of the Federalist Party which had been reduced to a small minority (without any member in the Senate from 1806 to 1808), but at the State election in April 1809 would already win a majority of the Assembly seats.

State Senate

Districts

• The Southern District (5 seats) consisted of Kings, New York, Queens, Richmond, Suffolk and Westchester counties.
• The Middle District (7 seats) consisted of Dutchess, Orange, Ulster, Columbia, Delaware, Rockland and Greene counties.
• The Eastern District (8 seats) consisted of Washington, Clinton, Rensselaer, Albany, Saratoga, Essex, Montgomery and Franklin counties.
• The Western District (12 seats) consisted of Herkimer, Ontario, Otsego, Tioga, Onondaga, Schoharie, Steuben, Chenango, Oneida, Cayuga, Genesee, Seneca, Jefferson, Lewis, St. Lawrence, Allegany, Broome, Madison and Niagara 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 W. Gilbert and Sylvanus Smalley changed from the Assembly to the Senate.

District	Senators	Term left	Party	Notes
Southern	Ezra L'Hommedieu*	1 year	Dem.-Rep.
	Jonathan Ward*	2 years	Dem.-Rep.	elected to the Council of Appointment
	DeWitt Clinton*	3 years	Dem.-Rep.	also Mayor of New York City
	Benjamin Coe*	4 years	Dem.-Rep.
	William W. Gilbert*	4 years	Dem.-Rep.
Middle	Peter C. Adams*	1 year	Dem.-Rep.
	James G. Graham*	1 year	Dem.-Rep./Lewisite	elected to the Council of Appointment
	Elisha Barlow*	2 years	Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
	James Burt*	2 years	Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
	Joshua H. Brett*	3 years	Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
	Robert Williams*	3 years	Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
	Edward P. Livingston	4 years	Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
Eastern	Adam Comstock*	1 year	Dem.-Rep.
	John Veeder*	1 year	Dem.-Rep.
	Jacob Snell*	2 years	Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
	Isaac Kellogg*	3 years	Dem.-Rep.	elected to the Council of Appointment
	John McLean*	3 years	Dem.-Rep.
	Charles Selden*	3 years	Dem.-Rep.
	John Tayler*	3 years	Dem.-Rep.
	David Hopkins	4 years	Federalist
Western	Silas Halsey	1 year	Dem.-Rep.	elected to fill vacancy, in place of Joseph C. Yates; also Seneca County Clerk
	Nathaniel Locke*	1 year	Dem.-Rep.
	John Nicholas*	1 year	Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
	John Ballard*	2 years	Dem.-Rep.
	Salmon Buell*	2 years	Dem.-Rep.
	Jacob Gebhard*	2 years	Dem.-Rep.
	Nathan Smith*[3]	2 years	Dem.-Rep.
	Alexander Rea*	3 years	Dem.-Rep.	elected to the Council of Appointment
	Francis A. Bloodgood	4 years	Dem.-Rep.
	Walter Martin	4 years	Dem.-Rep.
	Luther Rich	4 years	Dem.-Rep.
	Sylvanus Smalley*	4 years	Dem.-Rep.

Employees

• Clerk: Sebastian Visscher

State Assembly

Districts

• Albany County (6 seats)
• Allegany and Steuben counties (1 seat)
• Broome County (1 seat)
• Cayuga County (3 seats)
• Chenango County (3 seats)
• Clinton and Franklin counties (1 seat)
• Columbia County (4 seats)
• Delaware County (2 seats)
• Dutchess County (6 seats)
• Essex County (1 seat)
• Genesee County (1 seat)
• 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)
• Niagara County (1 seat)
• Oneida County (5 seats)
• Onondaga County (3 seats)
• Ontario County (5 seats)
• Orange County (4 seats)
• Otsego County (4 seats)
• Queens County (3 seats)
• Rensselaer County (4 seats)
• Richmond County (1 seat)
• Rockland County (1 seat)
• St. Lawrence County (1 seat)
• Saratoga County (4 seats)
• Schoharie County (2 seats)
• Seneca County (1 seat)
• Suffolk County (3 seats)
• Tioga County (1 seat)
• Ulster County (4 seats)
• Washington County (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	John Brown*
	John H. Burhans
	Johann Jost Dietz*	Federalist
	Jonathan Jenkins*
	Stephen Van Rensselaer*	Federalist	Minority Leader
	Abraham Van Vechten*	Federalist
Allegany and Steuben	Henry A. Townsend	Dem.-Rep.
Broome	Eleazar Dana
Cayuga	Henry Bloom	Dem.-Rep.
	Ebenezer Hewitt	Dem.-Rep.
	Charles Kellogg	Dem.-Rep.
Chenango	Samuel Campbell
	Obadiah German*	Dem.-Rep.	on February 7, 1809, elected to the U.S. Senate
	Ebenezer Wakley	Dem.-Rep.
Clinton and Franklin	Kinner Newcomb	Dem.-Rep.
Columbia	James Hyatt
	Moncrief Livingston	Federalist
	Gaius Stebbins
	Jacob R. Van Rensselaer*	Federalist
Delaware	Daniel Fuller
	David St. John
Dutchess	Samuel A. Barker	Federalist
	George Bloom
	Derick A. Brinckerhoff
	Ebenezer Haight	Federalist
	Benajah Thompson	Dem.-Rep.
	Jesse Thompson	Federalist
Essex	Benjamin Pond*	Dem.-Rep.
Genesee	William Ramsey*	Dem.-Rep.
Greene	James Gale	Federalist
	Eliakim Reed	Federalist
Herkimer	Aaron Budlong*	Dem.-Rep.
	John M. Petrie*	Dem.-Rep.
	Westel Willoughby, Jr.*	Dem.-Rep.
Jefferson	David I. Andrus	Dem.-Rep.
	Corlis Hinds	Dem.-Rep.
Kings	Jeremiah Johnson[4]	Federalist
Lewis	Judah Barnes
Madison	Oliver Brown	Federalist
	John W. Bulkley*	Federalist
	David Van Horne	Federalist
Montgomery	Daniel Cady	Federalist
	John Fay	Dem.-Rep.
	John Greene	Federalist
	Richard Van Horne[5]	Federalist
	vacant
New York	John P. Anthony
	Joseph Constant
	Francis Cooper*	Dem.-Rep.
	James Fairlie	Dem.-Rep.
	Thomas Farmar*
	Frederick Jenkins
	Caleb Pell
	Nathan Sanford	Dem.-Rep.
	Arthur Smith	Dem.-Rep.
	Solomon Townsend*
	Beekman M. Van Buren
Niagara	Archibald S. Clarke	Dem.-Rep.	also Surrogate of Niagara County
Oneida	Joel Bristol
	James Dean Sr.
	David Ostrom	Federalist
	John Storrs	Federalist
	Benjamin Wright*
Onondaga	Jacobus Dupuy	Dem.-Rep.
	Asahel Minor	Dem.-Rep.
	Barnet Mooney	Dem.-Rep.
Ontario	Micah Brooks	Dem.-Rep.
	Samuel Lawrence
	Richard Leech
	Hugh McNair
	William Rogers
Orange	Anthony Davis	Dem.-Rep.
	David Dill	Dem.-Rep.
	William Ross*	Dem.-Rep.
	James W. Wilkin*	Dem.-Rep.	elected Speaker
Otsego	Haviland Chase
	Roger Kinne
	Martin Luce
	Henry Scott*	Dem.-Rep.
Queens	Stephen Carman	Federalist
	David Kissam	Federalist
	William Townsend	Federalist
Rensselaer	Derick Lane
	Henry Platt	Federalist
	Cornelius I. Schermerhorn	Federalist
	Israel Shepard
Richmond	David Mersereau*	Dem.-Rep.
Rockland	Samuel G. Verbryck*	Dem.-Rep.
St. Lawrence	Alexander Richards
Saratoga	Nehemiah Cande
	Salmon Child*	Dem.-Rep.
	David Rogers	Dem.-Rep.
	Daniel L. Van Antwerp	Dem.-Rep.
Schoharie	John Ingold Jr.	Federalist
	John Rice	Federalist
Seneca	James McCall
Suffolk	Mills Phillips
	Abraham Rose
	Daniel T. Terry
Tioga	Emanuel Coryell*	Federalist
Ulster	Joshua Dumond	Federalist
	Peter Lefevre	Federalist
	Cornelius Low
	William Swart	Federalist
Washington	Kitchel Bishop*	Dem.-Rep.
	James Hill*	Dem.-Rep.
	Alexander Livingston	Dem.-Rep.
	Roger Skinner	Dem.-Rep.
	Reuben Whallon	Dem.-Rep.
Westchester	William Barker	Federalist
	Abraham Odell	Federalist
	Samuel Youngs	Federalist

Employees

• Clerk: Daniel Rodman
• Sergeant-at-Arms: Thomas Donnelly
• Doorkeeper: Benjamin Whipple

Notes

1. 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.
2. see Hammond, pg. 219f
3. Nathan Smith (ca. 1769-1836), of Fairfield, First Judge of the Herkimer County Court 1814-1821; see bio in A History of Herkimer County by Nathaniel S. Benton (pages 357ff)
4. Jeremiah Johnson (1766-1852), brother of Jeromus Johnson
5. Richard Van Horne (b. ca. 1770, d. March 12, 1823 Danube)

Sources

• The New York Civil List compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858) [see pg. 108f for Senate districts; pg. 120 for senators; pg. 148f for Assembly districts; pg. 182 for assemblymen; pg. 321 and 324 for presidential election]
• The History of Political Parties in the State of New-York, from the Ratification of the Federal Constitution to 1840 by Jabez D. Hammond (4th ed., Vol. 1, H. & E. Phinney, Cooperstown, 1846; pages 265-275)
• Election result Assembly, Clinton and Franklin Co. at project "A New Nation Votes", compiled by Phil Lampi, hosted by Tufts University Digital Library
• Election result Assembly, Dutchess Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Assembly, Essex Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Assembly, Genesee Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Assembly, Greene Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Assembly, Jefferson Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Assembly, Kings Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Assembly, Madison Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Assembly, Niagara Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Assembly, Onondaga Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Assembly, Orange Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Assembly, Queens Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Assembly, Richmond Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Assembly, Schoharie Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result Assembly, Washington Co. at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Partial election result Senate, Southern D. at project "A New Nation Votes" [omits votes from New York City and Suffolk Co.]
• Partial election result Senate, Middle D. at project "A New Nation Votes" gives only votes from Dutchess, Greene and Orange Co.
• Partial election result Senate, Eastern D. at project "A New Nation Votes" [gives only votes from Clinton, Franklin, Essex and Washington Co.]
• Partial election result Senate, Western D. at project "A New Nation Votes" [gives only votes from Genesee, Jefferson, Madison and Onondaga Co.]
• Election result, Assembly Speaker at project "A New Nation Votes"
• Election result, Assembly Clerk at project "A New Nation Votes"