15th New York State Legislature

The 15th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 5 to April 12, 1792, during the fifteenth year of George Clinton's governorship, in New York City.

15th New York State Legislature
← 14th 16th →
The Old New York City Hall, where the Legislature met in 1784. From January 1785 to August 1790, the Congress of the Confederation and the 1st United States Congress met here, and the building was renamed Federal Hall. From 1791 to 1793, the State Legislature met again here, and the building was demolished in 1812. (1798)
Overview
Legislative body	New York State Legislature
Jurisdiction	New York, United States
Term	July 1, 1791 – June 30, 1792
Senate
Members	24
President	Lt. Gov. Pierre Van Cortlandt
Assembly
Members	70
Speaker	John Watts (Fed.)
Sessions
1st January 5, 1792 – April 12, 1792

Background

Under the provisions of the New York Constitution of 1777, the State Senators were elected on general tickets in the senatorial districts, and were then divided into four classes. Six senators each drew lots for a term of 1, 2, 3 or 4 years and, beginning at the election in April 1778, every year six Senate seats came up for election to a four-year term. 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. No general meeting place was determined, leaving it to each Legislature to name the place where to reconvene, and if no place could be agreed upon, the Legislature should meet again where it adjourned.

On February 7, 1791, the Legislature re-apportioned the Senate and Assembly districts, according to the figures of the United States Census of 1790. The area of Columbia and Rensselaer counties were transferred from the Western to the Eastern District; and the Southern and the Western districts lost one senator each, which were added to the Eastern District. The total number of assemblymen was again set at 70; but several new counties were established: Herkimer (1 seat), Ontario (1), Otsego (1), Rensselaer (5), Saratoga (4) and Tioga (1); Kings, Orange, Queens, Richmond, Suffolk, Ulster and Westchester lost 1 seat, and Montgomery and New York lost 2; and Columbia won 3 seats.

At this time the politicians were divided into two opposing political parties: the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans.^[1] Party lines were not as distinctly drawn then as they became during the 19th century. Some politicians changed sides, for example the Livingston faction of the Federalist Party who felt betrayed after the election of Rufus King over their candidate James Duane in the United States Senate election in New York, 1789 and later voted down Schuyler for re-election in 1791.

Elections

The State election was held from April 26 to 28, 1791. Senators Samuel Jones (Southern D.), Thomas Tillotson and Jacobus Swartwout (both Middle D.) were re-elected; and Joshua Sands (Southern D.), William Powers (Eastern D.) and Ex-U.S. Senator Philip Schuyler (Western D.) were also elected to the Senate.

Sessions

The Legislature was to meet for the regular session on January 3, 1792, at Federal Hall in New York City; both Houses assembled a quorum two days later; and adjourned on April 12.

On April 12, 1792, they enacted that the Legislature should meet on the first Tuesday of November every four years, beginning in 1792, to choose presidential electors. The electors should then meet as electoral college at Poughkeepsie.

State Senate

Districts

• The Southern District (8 seats) consisted of Kings, New York, Queens, Richmond, Suffolk and Westchester counties.
• The Middle District (6 seats) consisted of Dutchess, Orange and Ulster counties.
• The Eastern District (5 seats) consisted of Washington, Clinton, Columbia and Rensselaer counties.
• The Western District (5 seats) consisted of Albany, Montgomery, Herkimer, Ontario, Otsego, Saratoga and Tioga 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	Ezra L'Hommedieu*	1 year	Fed./Dem.-Rep.
	Paul Micheau*	1 year	Federalist
	Isaac Roosevelt*	1 year	Federalist
	Philip Livingston*^[2]	2 years	Federalist
	David Gelston*	3 years	Dem.-Rep.	also Surrogate of New York County
	Philip Van Cortlandt*	3 years	Federalist	elected to the Council of Appointment
	Samuel Jones*	4 years	Dem.-Rep.	also Recorder of New York City
	Joshua Sands	4 years	Federalist
Middle	James Clinton*	1 year	Dem.-Rep.
	John Cantine*	2 years	Dem.-Rep.
	James Carpenter*	2 years
	David Pye*	3 years	Federalist	elected to the Council of Appointment
	Thomas Tillotson*	4 years	Dem.-Rep.
	Jacobus Swartwout*	4 years	Dem.-Rep.
Eastern	Edward Savage*	1 year	Dem.-Rep.
	Peter Van Ness*	1 year	Dem.-Rep.^[3]	Van Ness lived in Columbia Co., and was elected in the old Western D. in 1788
	Alexander Webster*	2 years	Dem.-Rep.
	John Williams*	3 years	Dem.-Rep.
	William Powers	4 years	Federalist	elected to the Council of Appointment
Western	Volkert P. Douw*	2 years
	Leonard Gansevoort	2 years	Federalist
	(Peter Schuyler)*^[4]	3 years	Federalist	died January 4, 1792,^[5] before the Legislature convened
	Stephen Van Rensselaer*	3 years	Federalist	elected to the Council of Appointment
	Philip Schuyler	4 years	Federalist

Employees

• Clerk: Abraham B. Bancker

State Assembly

Districts

• The City and County of Albany (7 seats)
• Columbia County (6 seats)
• Dutchess County (7 seats)
• Herkimer County (1 seat)
• Kings County (1 seat)
• Montgomery County (4 seats)
• The City and County of New York (7 seats)
• Ontario County (1 seat)
• Orange County (3 seats)
• Otsego County (1 seat)
• Queens County (3 seats)
• Rensselaer County (5 seats)
• Richmond County (1 seat)
• Saratoga County (4 seats)
• Suffolk County (4 seats)
• Tioga County (1 seat)
• Ulster County (5 seats)
• Washington and Clinton counties (4 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	Jellis A. Fonda	Federalist
	Stephen Lush
	David McCarty	Dem.-Rep.
	Francis Nicoll	Federalist
	William North	Federalist
	John Ten Broeck
	Henry Ten Eyck
Columbia	Benjamin Birdsall
	Jared Coffin
	Jacob Ford	Federalist	previously a member from Albany Co.
	Lawrence Hogeboom
	Henry Livingston	Federalist
	James Savage*	Federalist
Dutchess	Jonathan Akins*	Dem.-Rep.
	Samuel A. Barker*
	Isaac Bloom*
	Daniel Graham	Dem.-Rep.
	Morgan Lewis
	Matthew Patterson
	James Tallmadge*
Herkimer	Michael Myers*		previously a member from Montgomery Co.; unsuccessfully contested^[6]
Kings	Charles Doughty
Montgomery	Douw Fonda
	John Frey*	Dem.-Rep.
	David McMasters
	Silas Talbot	Federalist
New York	Josiah Ogden Hoffman*	Federalist
	William S. Livingston
	Melancton Smith	Dem.-Rep.
	William Pitt Smith
	John Watts*	Federalist	re-elected Speaker
	Henry Will*
	John Wylly
Ontario	Eleazer Lindsley
Orange	John D. Coe*	Federalist
	Seth Marvin*	Federalist
	John Smith*
Otsego	James Cannon		previously a member from Montgomery Co.
Queens	Samuel Clowes*
	Whitehead Cornwell	Dem.-Rep.
	Nathaniel Lawrence*	Dem.-Rep.
Rensselaer	Jonathan Brown*		previously a member from Albany Co.
	John Knickerbacker Jr.	Federalist
	John W. Schermerhorn*	Federalist	previously a member from Albany Co.
	Thomas Sickles	Federalist	previously a member from Albany Co.
	Moses Vail
Richmond	Gozen Ryerss*	Federalist
Saratoga^[7]	Sidney Berry*		previously a member from Albany Co.; seat vacated on January 20, 1792
	Andrew Mitchell		seat vacated on January 20, 1792
	Elias Palmer
	Benjamin Rosekrans
Suffolk	John Gelston*
	Jonathan N. Havens*	Dem.-Rep.
	Henry Scudder	Dem.-Rep.
	John Smith*	Dem.-Rep.
Tioga	Jonathan Fitch		seat in doubt, but retained^[8]
Ulster	Ebenezer Clark	Dem.-Rep.
	Jacob De Lametter*
	Ebenezer Foote	Federalist
	Joseph Hasbrouck*
	vacant
Washington and Clinton	John Conger
	Thomas Converse*
	Zina Hitchcock*
	David Hopkins	Dem.-Rep.
Westchester	Samuel Haight*
	Elias Newman
	Ebenezer Purdy*
	Jonathan G. Tompkins*	Dem.-Rep.
	Pierre Van Cortlandt Jr.	Dem.-Rep.

Employees

• Clerk: John McKesson

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. Philip Livingston (1740-1810), son of Peter Van Brugh Livingston, father of Charles L. Livingston
3. Van Ness was elected in 1788 as an Anti-Federalist, but presided on February 13, 1792, over the Federalist meeting in New York City which nominated John Jay for Governor and Stephen Van Rensselaer for Lt. Gov.; see 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 55)
4. Peter Schuyler, of Canajoharie (now Danube, New York), nephew of Philip Schuyler
5. Death notice in The Gentleman's Magazine (London, England, 1792; Vol. 72, pg. 182)
6. see A Compilation of Cases of Contested Elections to Seats in the Assembly of the State of New York (1871; pg. 14ff)
7. The seats of Sidney Berry and Andrew Mitchell were contested by Beriah Palmer and Adam Comstock. The ballots cast in the Town of Ballston were not counted because two persons who claimed to be Supervisor of the Town held separate elections; and all ballots from the county were burned by the canvass committee, so that the result could not be revised. The Assembly vacated the seats of Berry and Mitchell, but did not admit Palmer and Comstock, since the true election result could not be determined; see A Compilation of Cases of Contested Elections to Seats in the Assembly of the State of New York (1871; pg. 10–14)
8. see A Compilation of Cases of Contested Elections to Seats in the Assembly of the State of New York (1871; pg. 17f)

Sources

• The New York Civil List compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858) [see pg. 108 for Senate districts; pg. 114 for senators; pg. 148f for Assembly districts; pg. 166f for assemblymen]
• at project "A New Nation Votes", compiled by Phil Lampi, hosted by Tufts University Digital Library
• at project "A New Nation Votes"
• at project "A New Nation Votes"
• at project "A New Nation Votes"
• at project "A New Nation Votes"
• at project "A New Nation Votes"
• at project "A New Nation Votes"
• at project "A New Nation Votes"