77th New York State Legislature

The 77th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 3 to April 17, 1854, during the second year of Horatio Seymour's governorship, in Albany.

77th New York State Legislature
← 76th 78th →
The Old State Capitol (1879)
Overview
Legislative body	New York State Legislature
Jurisdiction	New York, United States
Term	January 1 – December 31, 1854
Senate
Members	32
President	Lt. Gov. Sanford E. Church (D)
Temporary President	Andrew B. Dickinson (W), from January 30
Party control	Whig (23-9)
Assembly
Members	128
Speaker	Robert H. Pruyn (W)
Party control	Whig (80-25-18-5)
Sessions
1st January 3 – April 17, 1854

Background

Under the provisions of the New York Constitution of 1846, 32 Senators were elected in single-seat senatorial districts for a two-year term, the whole Senate being renewed biennially. The senatorial districts (except those in New York City) were made up of entire counties. 128 Assemblymen were elected in single-seat districts to a one-year term, the whole Assembly being renewed annually. The Assembly districts were made up of entire towns, or city wards, forming a contiguous area, all in the same county. The City and County of New York was divided into four senatorial districts, and 16 Assembly districts.

At this time there were two major political parties: the Democratic Party and the Whig Party.

The Democratic Party was split into two factions: the Hard-Shells (or Hards) and the Soft-Shells (or Softs). In 1848, the Democratic Party had been split into Barnburners and Hunkers. The Barnburners left the party, and ran as the Free Soil Party, with presidential candidate Martin Van Buren. Afterwards the larger part of the Free Soilers re-joined the Democratic Party. During the following years, the Hunkers split over the question of reconciliation with the Barnburners. The Hards were against it, denying the Barnburners to gain influence in the Party. The Softs favored reconciliation with the intention of maintaining enough strength to win the elections. Both Hards and Softs favored a compromise on the slavery question: to maintain the status quo and to leave the decision to the local population in new Territories or States if they want slavery or not, as expressed in the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The Barnburners were against the permission of slavery in new Territories or States, but were now the minority in the party. The small faction of the Free Soil Party which advocated abolition of slavery, ran their own State ticket as the "Free Democratic Party".

About this time the Temperance movement began to enter politics to advocate legal and/or political measures to prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages, and endorsed candidates of the major parties who favored prohibition.

Elections

The New York state election, 1853 was held on November 8. Due to the Democratic split, of the ten statewide elective offices up for election, eight were carried by the Whigs, and two by the Democrats. The approximate statewide party strength, as shown by the vote for Secretary of State, was: Whig 160,000; Hard 99,000; Soft 96,000; and Free Democrats 14,000.

Sessions

The Legislature met for the regular session at the Old State Capitol in Albany on January 3, 1854; and adjourned on April 17.

Robert H. Pruyn (W) was elected Speaker with 74 votes against 24 for George De Witt Clinton (Hard) and 17 for Jonathan C. Collins (Soft).

On January 20, the Legislature passed "An Act to perfect an amendment of the Constitution, providing means for the completion of the canals of this State".

On January 30, Andrew B. Dickinson (W) was elected president pro tempore of the State Senate.

On February 15, a special election was held at which the Canal Amendment was ratified by the voters with 185,771 votes For; and 60,526 votes Against the proposed amendment.^[1]

On April 4, the Legislature elected Victor M. Rice (W) as the first State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

State Senate

Districts

• 1st District: Queens, Richmond and Suffolk counties
• 2nd District: Kings County
• 3rd District: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th wards of New York City
• 4th District: 7th, 10th, 13th and 17th wards of New York City
• 5th District: 8th, 9th and 14th wards of New York City
• 6th District: 11th, 12th, 15th, 16th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st and 22nd wards of New York City
• 7th District: Putnam, Rockland and Westchester counties
• 8th District: Columbia and Dutchess counties
• 9th District: Orange and Sullivan counties
• 10th District: Greene and Ulster counties
• 11th District: Albany and Schenectady counties
• 12th District: Rensselaer County
• 13th District: Saratoga and Washington counties
• 14th District: Clinton, Essex and Warren counties
• 15th District: Franklin and St. Lawrence counties
• 16th District: Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer and Montgomery counties
• 17th District: Delaware and Schoharie counties
• 18th District: Chenango and Otsego counties
• 19th District: Oneida County
• 20th District: Madison and Oswego counties
• 21st District: Jefferson and Lewis counties
• 22nd District: Onondaga County
• 23rd District: Broome, Cortland and Tioga counties
• 24th District: Cayuga and Wayne counties
• 25th District: Seneca, Tompkins and Yates counties
• 26th District: Chemung and Steuben counties
• 27th District: Monroe County
• 28th District: Genesee, Niagara and Orleans counties
• 29th District: Livingston and Ontario counties
• 30th District: Allegany and Wyoming counties
• 31st District: Erie County
• 32nd District: Cattaraugus and Chautauqua 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. James H. Hutchins changed from the Assembly to the Senate.

District	Senator	Party	Notes
1st	Hugh Halsey	Dem.-Hard/Temp.
2nd	James H. Hutchins*	Dem.-Hard
3rd	Thomas J. Barr	Dem.-Hard
4th	Thomas R. Whitney	Whig	on November 7, 1854, elected to the 34th U.S. Congress
5th	Mark Spencer	Dem.-Soft
6th	Erastus Brooks	Whig
7th	William H. Robertson	Whig
8th	Robert A. Barnard	Whig
9th	John D. Watkins	Dem
10th	Eliakim Sherrill	Whig
11th	Clarkson F. Crosby	Whig
12th	Elisha N. Pratt	Whig
13th	James C. Hopkins	Whig	also Postmaster of Granville
14th	George Richards	Whig
15th	Zenas Clark	Dem.-Soft
16th	George Yost	Whig
17th	Peter S. Danforth	Dem.-Hard
18th	Ebenezer Blakely	Whig	contested; vacated on March 14
	Adam Storing	Democrat	seated on March 14
19th	Daniel G. Dorrance	Whig
20th	Simon C. Hitchcock	Democrat
21st	Robert Lansing	Democrat
22nd	James Munroe*	Whig
23rd	George W. Bradford	Whig
24th	William Clark	Whig
25th	Josiah B. Williams*	Whig
26th	Andrew B. Dickinson	Whig	on January 30, elected president pro tempore
27th	William S. Bishop	Whig
28th	Ben Field	Whig
29th	Myron H. Clark*	Whig	on November 7, 1854, elected Governor of New York
30th	Martin Butts	Whig
31st	James O. Putnam	Whig
32nd	Alvah H. Walker	Whig

Employees

• Clerk: Hugh J. Hastings
• Sergeant-at-Arms: Joseph Garlinghouse
• Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms: Hiram M. Eaton
• Doorkeeper: Samuel R. Tuell
• Assistant Doorkeeper: Almond Becker

State Assembly

Assemblymen

The asterisk (*) denotes members of the previous Legislature who continued as members of this Legislature.

Party affiliations follow the vote on Speaker.

District		Assemblymen	Party	Notes
Albany	1st	Stephen M. Hollenbeck	Dem.-Hard
	2nd	Israhiah W. Chesebro	Whig
	3rd	Robert H. Pruyn	Whig	elected Speaker
	4th	Archibald A. Dunlop	Whig
Allegany	1st	Gideon H. Jenkins	Whig
	2nd	Lucius S. May	Whig
Broome		Robert Harpur	Whig
Cattaraugus	1st	William H. Wood	Whig	took his seat on January 9
	2nd	James Kirkland	Whig
Cayuga	1st	Justus Townsend	Whig
	2nd	Mosely Hutchinson	Whig
	3rd	Mathias Hutchinson*	Whig
Chautauqua	1st	Walter L. Sessions*	Whig
	2nd	Francis W. Palmer	Whig
Chemung		John M. Randall	Dem.-Soft
Chenango	1st	Levi Harris	Whig
	2nd	Rufus J. Baldwin	Whig
Clinton		George V. Hoyle*	Whig
Columbia	1st	Milton Martin	Whig
	2nd	Harvey W. Gott	Whig
Cortland		Perrin H. McGraw	Whig
Delaware	1st	Samuel F. Miller	Dem.-Soft
	2nd	Daniel Rowland	Dem.-Soft
Dutchess	1st	Peter P. Monfort	Whig	died on February 26, 1854
	2nd	George W. Sterling	Free Dem./Temp.
	3rd	William H. Bostwick	Dem.-Hard
Erie	1st	William W. Weed	Whig
	2nd	Rollin Germain	Whig
	3rd	Charles A. Sill	Whig
	4th	Edward N. Hatch	Whig
Essex		Jonathan Burnet*	Whig
Franklin		Andrew W. Ferguson	Dem.-Soft
Fulton and Hamilton		Wesley Gleason	Whig
Genesee	1st	Theodore C. Peters*	Whig
	2nd	Joseph Cook*	Whig
Greene	1st	Joshua Fiero Jr.	Whig
	2nd	George Robertson	Whig
Herkimer	1st	Gardner Hinkley	Dem.-Soft
	2nd	Dean Burgess	Dem.-Soft
Jefferson	1st	Calvin Littlefield	Whig
	2nd	Alden Adams	Whig	contested; vacated on February 3
		Jesse E. Willis		seated on February 3
	3rd	William Dewey	Whig
Kings	1st	John G. Bergen	Whig
	2nd	Samuel D. Backus	Whig
	3rd	Samuel D. Morris	Dem.-Hard
Lewis		Jonathan C. Collins	Dem.-Soft
Livingston	1st	Leman Gibbs	Dem.-Hard
	2nd	Abram Lozier*	Whig
Madison	1st	Samuel White 2nd	Dem.-Hard
	2nd	Franklin M. Whitman	Dem.-Hard
Monroe	1st	Lyman Payne*	Whig
	2nd	James L. Angel	Whig
	3rd	Pliny B. Holdridge	Whig
Montgomery	1st	Aaron W. Hull	Whig
	2nd	Hezekiah Baker	Whig
New York	1st	Peter H. Graham	Whig
	2nd	George De Witt Clinton	Dem.-Hard
	3rd	Daniel W. Clarke	Dem.-Soft	contested; vacated on February 18
		Patrick H. Maguire	Dem.-Hard	seated on February 18
	4th	Theodore A. Ward	Whig
	5th	Edmund P. Barrow	Whig
	6th	William B. Aitken	Dem.-Hard
	7th	Charles C. Leigh	Dem.-Soft
	8th	George H. Richards	Dem.-Soft
	9th	Daniel Willis	Whig
	10th	Joseph W. Savage	Whig
	11th	James M. Boyd	Whig
	12th	Peter Dawson	Dem.-Soft
	13th	Frederick A. Conkling	Whig
	14th	John P. Cumming	Whig
	15th	Edward A. Ware	Whig
	16th	Alexander P. Sharp	Whig	"Independent Whig", but voted for Pruyn
Niagara	1st	Robert Dunlap	Dem.-Hard
	2nd	Reuben F. Wilson*	Dem.-Hard
Oneida	1st	Joseph Benedict	Whig
	2nd	A. Pierson Case	Whig
	3rd	Derick L. Boardman	Whig
	4th	James Mitchell	Whig
Onondaga	1st	James M. Munro	Free Dem.
	2nd	Milton A. Kinney	Whig
	3rd	Daniel P. Wood*	Whig
	4th	William Richardson	Whig
Ontario	1st	Jesse Cost	Whig
	2nd	Stephen V. R. Mallory	Whig	took his seat on January 16
Orange	1st	Charles W. Cushman	Dem.-Hard
	2nd	Charles M. Thompson	Dem.-Hard
	3rd	Andrew J. Mills	Dem.-Hard
Orleans		Jeremiah Freeman	Whig
Oswego	1st	DeWitt C. Littlejohn*	Whig
	2nd	Azariah Wart	Dem.-Soft
Otsego	1st	Lewis Whipple	Whig
	2nd	Andrew A. Mather	Free Dem.
	3rd	St. Paul Seeley	Dem.-Soft
Putnam		James J. Smalley	Dem.-Hard
Queens		John A. Searing	Dem.-Hard
Rensselaer	1st	Jonathan Edwards	Whig
	2nd	Lyman Wilder	Dem.-Soft
	3rd	George Brust	Dem.-Hard
Richmond		Nicholas Crocheron	Whig
Rockland		John I. Suffern	Dem.-Hard/Temp
St. Lawrence	1st	Barnabas Hall*	Dem.-Soft
	2nd	Silas Baldwin	Whig
	3rd	Levi Miller	Dem.-Soft
Saratoga	1st	George W. Neilson	Whig
	2nd	Joseph Baucus	Dem.-Hard
Schenectady		Matthew Winne Jr.	Whig
Schoharie	1st	Jacob J. Barton	Dem.-Hard
	2nd	James S. Wood	Dem.-Hard
Seneca		David D. Scott	Whig
Steuben	1st	John F. Williams	Dem.-Soft
	2nd	Benajah P. Bailey	Whig
	3rd	Obadiah Stephens	Whig
Suffolk	1st	George Miller	Whig/Temp.
	2nd	William S. Preston	Dem.-Hard
Sullivan		Amos Y. Sheeley	Dem.-Hard
Tioga		Lewis P. Legg	Dem.-Soft
Tompkins	1st	Benjamin Joy	Temperance
	2nd	Eli Beers	Whig
Ulster	1st	Meeker Gorham	Whig
	2nd	John B. Howell	Free Dem.
Warren		David Noble 2nd	Dem.-Hard
Washington	1st	Ebenezer McMurray	Whig
	2nd	George W. Thorn	Whig
Wayne	1st	Willis G. Wade	Whig
	2nd	John P. Bennett	Whig
Westchester	1st	Elijah Lee	Dem.-Hard
	2nd	Jacob Odell*	Dem.-Hard
Wyoming		Alonzo B. Rose*	Whig
Yates		David G. Underwood	Whig

Employees

• Clerk: Richard U. Sherman
• Deputy Clerk: Loren B. Sessions
• Sergeant-at-Arms: Silas D. Nicholas
• Doorkeeper: John Davis
• First Assistant Doorkeeper: Byron Ellsworth
• Second Assistant Doorkeeper: John Lewis

Notes

1. see Documents of the Senate (77th Session) (1854; No. 65, pg. 41ff)

Sources

• The New York Civil List compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858) [pg. 109 for Senate districts; pg. 137 for senators; pg. 148–157 for Assembly districts; pg. 246ff for assemblymen]
• STATE ELECTION; LATEST RETURNS in NYT on November 12, 1853
• Journal of the Senate (77th Session) (1854)
• Journal of the Assembly (77th Session) (1854)