57th New York State Legislature

57th New York State Legislature
The Old State Capitol (1879)
Duration: January 1 – December 31, 1834
President of the State Senate:	Lt. Gov. John Tracy (J)
Temporary President of the State Senate:
Speaker of the State Assembly:	William Baker (J)
Members:	32 Senators 128 Assemblymen
Senate Majority:	Jacksonian (25-7)
Assembly Majority:	Jacksonian
Sessions
1st: January 7 – May 6, 1834
<56th 58th>

The 57th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 7 to May 6, 1834, during the second year of William L. Marcy's governorship, in Albany.

Background

Under the provisions of the New York Constitution of 1821, 32 Senators were elected on general tickets in eight 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.

At the time of the state election in 1833, there were three political parties: the Jacksonian Democrats, the Anti-Masonic Party, and the National Republican Party. The latter two parties had formed an Anti-Jacksonian bloc at the previous election.

Elections

The State election was held from November 4 to 6, 1833. State Senators Thomas Armstrong (7th D.) and Albert H. Tracy (8th D.) were re-elected. Leonard Maison (2nd D.), John C. Kemble (3rd D.), Isaac W. Bishop (4th D.), Ebenezer Mack (6th D.); and Assembly Speaker Charles L. Livingston (1st D.) and Assembly Clerk Francis Seger (5th D.) were also elected to the Senate. Tracy was an Anti-Jacksonian, the other seven were Jacksonians.

Sessions

The Legislature met for the regular session at the Old State Capitol in Albany on January 7, 1834; and adjourned on May 6.

William Baker (J) was elected Speaker unopposed.

On February 7, the Legislature re-elected State Treasurer Abraham Keyser, Jr.

On January 15, Assemblyman Samuel S. Bowne introduced "An act to abolish capital punishment, and to provide for the punishment of certain crimes". On March 8, the Assembly rejected the bill, after much debate, with a vote of 49 to 37.^[1]

About the time of the New York City election in April 1834, the Anti-Jacksonians assumed the name of Whig Party, and the Jacksonians became the Democratic Party.

The Whig state convention nominated State Senator William H. Seward for Governor, and Silas M. Stilwell for Lieutenant Governor.

The Democratic state convention met on September 10 at Herkimer and nominated Gov. Marcy and Lt. Gov. Tracy for re-election.

State Senate

Districts

• The First District (4 seats) consisted of Kings, New York, Queens, Richmond and Suffolk counties.
• The Second District (4 seats) consisted of Delaware, Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester counties.
• The Third District (4 seats) consisted of Albany, Columbia, Greene, Rensselaer, Schenectady and Schoharie counties.
• The Fourth District (4 seats) consisted of Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Hamilton, Montgomery, St. Lawrence, Saratoga, Warren and Washington counties.
• The Fifth District (4 seats) consisted of Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Madison, Oneida and Oswego counties.
• The Sixth District (4 seats) consisted of Broome, Chenango, Cortland, Otsego, Steuben, Tioga and Tompkins counties.
• The Seventh District (4 seats) consisted of Cayuga, Onondaga, Ontario, Seneca, Wayne and Yates counties.
• The Eighth District (4 seats) consisted of Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Niagara and Orleans 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. Charles L. Livingston changed from the Assembly to the Senate.

District	Senators	Term left	Party	Notes
First	Jonathan S. Conklin*	1 year	Jacksonian
	Harman B. Cropsey*	2 years	Jacksonian
	Myndert Van Schaick*	3 years	Jacksonian
	Charles L. Livingston*	4 years	Jacksonian
Second	David M. Westcott*	1 year	Jacksonian
	Allan Macdonald*	2 years	Jacksonian	also Postmaster of White Plains
	John Sudam*	3 years	Jacksonian
	Leonard Maison	4 years	Jacksonian
Third	Herman I. Quackenboss*	1 year	Jacksonian
	John W. Edmonds*	2 years	Jacksonian
	Peter Gansevoort*	3 years	Jacksonian
	John C. Kemble	4 years	Jacksonian
Fourth	William I. Dodge*	1 year	Jacksonian
	Josiah Fisk*	2 years	Jacksonian
	Louis Hasbrouck*	3 years	Anti-Jacksonian	died on August 20, 1834
	Isaac W. Bishop	4 years	Jacksonian
Fifth	Henry A. Foster*	1 year	Jacksonian
	Robert Lansing*	2 years	Jacksonian
	John G. Stower*	3 years	Jacksonian
	Francis Seger	4 years	Jacksonian
Sixth	Charles W. Lynde*	1 year	Anti-Jacksonian
	John G. McDowell*	2 years	Jacksonian	also Postmaster of Chemung
	John F. Hubbard*	3 years	Jacksonian
	Ebenezer Mack	4 years	Jacksonian
Seventh	William H. Seward*	1 year	Anti-Jacksonian
	Jehiel H. Halsey*	2 years	Jacksonian
	Samuel L. Edwards*	3 years	Jacksonian
	Thomas Armstrong*	4 years	Jacksonian
Eighth	Trumbull Cary*	1 year	Anti-Jacksonian
	(John Birdsall*)	2 years	Anti-Jacksonian	did not take his seat during this session,[2] and resigned on June 5, 1834
	John Griffin*	3 years	Anti-Jacksonian
	Albert H. Tracy*	4 years	Anti-Jacksonian

Employees

• Clerk: John F. Bacon

State Assembly

Districts

Albany County (3 seats) Allegany County (1 seat) Broome County (1 seat) Cattaraugus County (1 seat) Cayuga County (4 seats) Chautauqua County (2 seats) Chenango County (3 seats) Clinton County (1 seat) Columbia County (3 seats) Cortland County (2 seats) Delaware County (2 seats) Dutchess County (4 seats) Erie County (2 seats) Essex County (1 seat) Franklin County (1 seat) Genesee County (3 seats) Greene County (2 seats) Hamilton and Montgomery counties (3 seats)

Herkimer County (3 seats) Jefferson County (3 seats) Kings County (1 seat) Lewis County (1 seat) Livingston County (2 seats) Madison County (3 seats) Monroe County (3 seats) The City and County of New York (11 seats) Niagara County (1 seat) Oneida County (5 seats) Onondaga County (4 seats) Ontario County (3 seats) Orange County (3 seats) Orleans County (1 seat) Oswego County (1 seat) Otsego County (4 seats) Putnam County (1 seat) Queens County (1 seat)

Rensselaer County (4 seats) Richmond County (1 seat) Rockland County (1 seat) St. Lawrence County (2 seats) Saratoga County (3 seats) Schenectady County (1 seat) Schoharie County (2 seats) Seneca County (2 seats) Steuben County (2 seats) Suffolk County (2 seats) Sullivan County (1 seat) Tioga County (2 seats) Tompkins County (3 seats) Ulster County (2 seats) Warren County (1 seat) Washington (3 seats) Wayne County (2 seats) Westchester County (3 seats) Yates County (1 seat)

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.

The party affiliations follow the vote on State officers on February 7 and April 17.^[3]

District	Assemblymen	Party	Notes
Albany	Aaron Livingston	Jacksonian
	Barent P. Staats	Jacksonian
	Prentice Williams Jr.	Jacksonian
Allegany	Lewis Wood	Jacksonian
Broome	David C. Case	Jacksonian
Cattaraugus	Chauncey J. Fox*	Anti-Jacksonian
Cayuga	Dennis Arnold	Jacksonian
	Cornelius Cuykendall	Jacksonian
	Andrew Groom	Jacksonian
	Noyes Palmer	Jacksonian
Chautauqua	James Hall	Jacksonian
	Thomas A. Osborne	Jacksonian
Chenango	Joseph P. Chamberlin	Jacksonian
	Milo Hunt	Jacksonian
	Wells Wait	Jacksonian
Clinton	Miles Stevenson*	Jacksonian
Columbia	Henry C. Barnes
	John F. Collin
	John Snyder
Cortland	Stephen Bogardus	Jacksonian
	Oliver Kingman	Jacksonian
Delaware	Samuel Gordon	Jacksonian	also Postmaster of Delhi
	Amasa J. Parker	Jacksonian
Dutchess	Theodore V. W. Anthony	Jacksonian
	William H. Bostwick	Jacksonian
	Henry Conklin*	Jacksonian
	James Mabbett	Jacksonian
Erie	Joseph Clary	Jacksonian
	Carlos Emmons	Anti-Jacksonian
Essex	Barnabas Myrick	Jacksonian
Franklin	Jabez Parkhurst*	Anti-Jacksonian
Genesee	Truman Lewis	Anti-Jacksonian
	Peter Patterson*	Anti-Jacksonian
	Rufus Robertson*	Anti-Jacksonian
Greene	Benedict Bagley
	Sylvester Nichols	Jacksonian
Hamilton and Montgomery	Clark S. Grinnell	Jacksonian
	Azel Hough	Jacksonian
	Daniel Morrell	Jacksonian
Herkimer	Augustus Beardslee	Jacksonian
	Timothy L. Campbell	Jacksonian
	Charles Dyer	Jacksonian
Jefferson	William H. Angel*	Jacksonian
	Calvin McKnight	Jacksonian
	Eli West	Jacksonian
Kings	Philip Brasher	Jacksonian
Lewis	George D. Ruggles	Jacksonian
Livingston	Salmon G. Grover
	Tabor Ward	Jacksonian
Madison	Sardis Dana	Jacksonian
	Benjamin Enos	Jacksonian
	Henry T. Sumner	Jacksonian
Monroe	Elihu Church	Jacksonian
	Fletcher Mathews Haight	Jacksonian
	Jeremy S. Stone	Jacksonian
New York	Abraham Cargill	Jacksonian
	John W. Degrauw	Jacksonian
	Daniel Dusenbury	Jacksonian
	Thomas Herttell*	Jacksonian
	Henry Hone	Jacksonian
	John McKeon*	Jacksonian
	Robert H. Morris*	Jacksonian
	Mordecai Myers*	Jacksonian
	Benjamin Ringgold*	Jacksonian
	Peter S. Titus	Jacksonian
	Minthorne Tompkins*	Jacksonian
Niagara	Robert Fleming	Anti-Jacksonian
Oneida	Pomeroy Jones	Jacksonian
	Israel S. Parker	Jacksonian
	Hiram Shays	Jacksonian
	Aaron Stafford	Jacksonian
	Ithai Thompson	Jacksonian
Onondaga	Squire M. Brown	Jacksonian
	Jared H. Parker	Jacksonian
	Oliver R. Strong	Jacksonian
	Horace Wheaton	Jacksonian
Ontario	Peter Mitchell	Jacksonian
	Oliver Phelps	Jacksonian
	Aaron Younglove	Jacksonian
Orange	Merit H. Cash	Jacksonian
	Gilbert O. Fowler	Jacksonian
	Charles Winfield	Jacksonian
Orleans	Asa Clark Jr.	Jacksonian
Oswego	Orville Robinson	Jacksonian	also Surrogate of Oswego Co.
Otsego	William Baker*	Jacksonian	elected Speaker
	Samuel S. Bowne	Jacksonian
	Ransom Spafard	Jacksonian
	William Temple
Putnam	Jonathan Morehouse	Jacksonian
Queens	Thomas B. Jackson*	Jacksonian
Rensselaer	Archibald Bull	Jacksonian
	Smith Germond	Jacksonian
	Nicholas B. Harris	Anti-Jacksonian
	James Yates	Jacksonian
Richmond	Paul Mersereau	Jacksonian
Rockland	Daniel Johnson	Jacksonian
St. Lawrence	Sylvester Butrick*	Jacksonian
	Jabez Willes	Jacksonian
Saratoga	Solomon Ellithorp	Jacksonian
	Thomas J. Marvin	Jacksonian
	Eli M. Todd	Jacksonian
Schenectady	Simeon Schermerhorn	Jacksonian
Schoharie	Watson Orr	Jacksonian
	John G. Young	Jacksonian
Seneca	Peter Bockoven	Jacksonian
	John D. Coe	Jacksonian
Steuben	Joshua Healy	Jacksonian
	William Kernan*	Jacksonian
Suffolk	William Sidney Smith	Jacksonian
	John Terry	Jacksonian
Sullivan	Anthony Hasbrouck	Jacksonian
Tioga	John R. Drake	Jacksonian	also First Judge of the Tioga Co. Court
	George Gardner	Jacksonian
Tompkins	George B. Guinnip	Jacksonian
	Charles Humphrey	Anti-Jacksonian
	Thomas B. Sears
Ulster	Samuel Culver	Jacksonian
	Daniel Le Fever	Jacksonian
Warren	Thomas Archibald	Jacksonian
Washington	Charles F. Ingalls	Jacksonian
	Melancton Wheeler	Jacksonian
	James Wright	Jacksonian
Wayne	James P. Bartle	Jacksonian
	Russell Whipple	Jacksonian
Westchester	Joseph H. Anderson*	Jacksonian
	Edwin Crosby	Jacksonian
	Horatio Lockwood*	Jacksonian
Yates	James P. Robinson	Jacksonian

Employees

• Clerk: Philip Reynolds Jr.
• Sergeant-at-Arms: Daniel Dygert
• Doorkeeper: Alonzo Crosby
• Assistant Doorkeeper: Samuel Campbell

Notes

1. see Journal of the Assembly (pg. 93, 355, 365, 387, 398 and 410)
2. see Journal of the Senate (57th Session)
3. see Journal of the Assembly (57th Session) (1834, pg. 222f and 807f)

Sources

• The New York Civil List compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858) [pg. 109 and 441 for Senate districts; pg. 130 for senators; pg. 148f for Assembly districts; pg. 214ff for assemblymen]
• 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. 2, Phinney & Co., Buffalo, 1850; pg. 435 to 442)