61st New York State Legislature
| 61st New York State Legislature | |||
 The Old State Capitol (1879) | |||
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| Duration: January 1 – December 31, 1838 | |||
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| President of the State Senate: | Lt. Gov. John Tracy (D) | ||
| Temporary President of the State Senate: | |||
| Speaker of the State Assembly: | Luther Bradish (W) | ||
| Members: | 32 Senators 128 Assemblymen | ||
| Senate Majority: | Democratic (22-10) | ||
| Assembly Majority: | Whig (100-28) | ||
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| Sessions | |||
| 1st: January 2 – April 18, 1838 | |||
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The 61st New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 2 to April 18, 1838, during the sixth 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 this time there were two political parties: the Democratic Party and the Whig Party.
In May 1837, the Panic of 1837 broke out, and led to a severe financial crisis. The incumbent Democratic State government was blamed for it by the voters, and the opposing Whig Party won the election in November in a landslide.
Elections
The State election was held from November 6 to 8, 1837. Gulian C. Verplanck (1st D.), Henry A. Livingston (2nd D.), Edward P. Livingston (3rd D.), Martin Lee (4th D.), Avery Skinner (5th D.), Laurens Hull (6th D.), John Maynard (7th D.) and William A. Moseley (8th D.) were elected to the Senate. Edward P. Livingston and Avery Skinner were Democrats, the other six were Whigs.
Sessions
The Legislature met for the regular session at the Old State Capitol in Albany on January 2, 1838; and adjourned on April 18.
Luther Bradish (W) was elected Speaker.
On February 5, the Legislature elected Gamaliel H. Barstow (W) to succeed Abraham Keyser (D) as State Treasurer; and Orville L. Holley (W) to succeed William Campbell (D) as Surveyor General.
On September 12, the Whig state convention met at Utica, and nominated William H. Seward for Governor, and Speaker Luther Bradish for Lieutenant Governor. On the same day, the Democratic state convention met at Herkimer, and nominated Gov. Marcy and Lt. Gov. Tracy unanimously for re-election.
On October 3, a state convention of former Democrats (among them U.S. Senator Nathaniel P. Tallmadge, Congressman John C. Clark and Ex-Assemblyman Judah Hammond) met under the name of "Conservatives" at Syracuse, and endorsed the Whig nominees Seward and Bradish.
State Senate
Districts
- The First District (4 seats) consisted of Kings, New York and Richmond counties.
- The Second District (4 seats) consisted of Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Queens, Rockland, Suffolk, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester counties.
- The Third District (4 seats) consisted of Albany, Columbia, Delaware, Greene, Rensselaer, Schenectady and Schoharie counties.
- The Fourth District (4 seats) consisted of Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Hamilton, Herkimer, Montgomery, St. Lawrence, Saratoga, Warren and Washington counties.
- The Fifth District (4 seats) consisted of Jefferson, Lewis, Madison, Oneida, Oswego and Otsego counties.
- The Sixth District (4 seats) consisted of Allegany, Broome, Cattaraugus, Chemung, Chenango, Livingston, Steuben, Tioga and Tompkins counties.
- The Seventh District (4 seats) consisted of Cayuga, Cortland, Onondaga, Ontario, Seneca, Wayne and Yates counties.
- The Eighth District (4 seats) consisted of Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, 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.
Senators who resided in counties which were transferred to a different district continued to represent the district in which they were elected.
| District | Senators | Term left | Party | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First | Coe S. Downing* | 1 year | Democrat | |
| Henry Floyd-Jones* | 2 years | Democrat | resided in Queens Co., elected in the old 1st D. | |
| Frederick A. Tallmadge* | 3 years | Whig | ||
| Gulian C. Verplanck | 4 years | Whig | ||
| Second | John P. Jones* | 1 year | Democrat | |
| John Hunter* | 2 years | Democrat | ||
| Henry H. Van Dyck* | 3 years | Democrat | ||
| Henry A. Livingston | 4 years | Whig | ||
| Third | Abraham L. Lawyer* | 1 year | Democrat | |
| James Powers* | 2 years | Democrat | ||
| Noadiah Johnson* | 3 years | Democrat | ||
| Edward P. Livingston | 4 years | Democrat | ||
| Fourth | Jabez Willes* | 1 year | Democrat | |
| David Spraker* | 2 years | Democrat | ||
| Samuel Young* | 3 years | Democrat | also a Canal Commissioner and, until February 13, 1838, First Judge of the Saratoga Co. Court | |
| Martin Lee | 4 years | Whig | ||
| Fifth | Abijah Beckwith* | 1 year | Democrat | resided in Herkimer Co., elected in the old 5th D. |
| Micah Sterling* | 2 years | Democrat | ||
| David Wager* | 3 years | Democrat | ||
| Avery Skinner | 4 years | Democrat | also Postmaster of Union Square | |
| Sixth | Levi Beardsley* | 1 year | Democrat | resided in Otsego Co., elected in the old 6th D. |
| George Huntington* | 2 years | Democrat | ||
| Daniel S. Dickinson* | 3 years | Democrat | ||
| Laurens Hull | 4 years | Whig | ||
| Seventh | Chester Loomis* | 1 year | Democrat | also Postmaster of Rushville |
| John Beardsley* | 2 years | Democrat | ||
| Samuel L. Edwards* | 3 years | Democrat | ||
| John Maynard | 4 years | Whig | ||
| Eighth | Isaac Lacey* | 1 year | Whig | |
| Chauncey J. Fox* | 2 years | Whig | resided in Cattaraugus Co., elected in the old 8th D. | |
| Samuel Works* | 3 years | Whig | ||
| William A. Moseley | 4 years | Whig | ||
Employees
- Clerk: John F. Bacon
State Assembly
Districts
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.
Party affiliations follow the vote on State officers on February 5.[1]
| District | Assemblymen | Party | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Albany | Daniel D. Barnard | Whig | in November 1838 elected to the 26th U.S. Congress |
| Edmund Raynsford | Whig | ||
| Paul Settle | Whig | ||
| Allegany | Seth H. Pratt | Whig | |
| Samuel Russell | Whig | ||
| Broome | James Stoddard | Whig | |
| Cattaraugus | Nelson Green | Whig | |
| Timothy H. Porter | Whig | ||
| Cayuga | Henry R. Filley | Whig | |
| Isaac S. Miller | |||
| Nathan G. Morgan | |||
| Chautauqua | Thomas I. Allen | Whig | |
| George A. French | Whig | ||
| Abner Lewis | Whig | ||
| Chemung | Hiram White | Democrat | |
| Chenango | Henry Balcom | Whig | |
| Demas Hubbard, Jr. | Whig | ||
| Justus Parce | Whig | ||
| Clinton | Cornelius Halsey* | Democrat | |
| Columbia | Abraham Bain | Whig | |
| William A. Dean | Whig | ||
| William H. Tobey | Whig | ||
| Cortland | David Matthews | Whig | |
| John Osgood | Whig | ||
| Delaware | Cornelius Bassett | Democrat | |
| Darius Mapes | |||
| Dutchess | Cornelius Dubois | Whig | |
| Freeborn Garretson | Whig | ||
| Jacob Sisson | |||
| Erie | Lewis F. Allen | Whig | |
| Asa Warren | Whig | ||
| Cyrenus Wilbur | Whig | ||
| Essex | Gideon Hammond* | Whig | |
| Franklin | Luther Bradish* | Whig | elected Speaker; in November 1838 elected Lieutenant Governor of New York |
| Genesee | Reuben Benham* | Whig | |
| Andrew H. Green | Whig | ||
| John Head | Whig | ||
| Leverett Seward* | Whig | ||
| Greene | Thomas B. Cooke | Whig | |
| Peter Hubbell | Whig | ||
| Hamilton and Montgomery |
Jeremiah Nellis | Whig | |
| Abraham V. Putman | |||
| Marcellus Weston | |||
| Herkimer | Abijah Mann, Jr. | Democrat | |
| Volney Owen | |||
| Jefferson | Charles B. Hoard | Democrat | also Postmaster of Antwerp |
| Richard Hulbert* | Democrat | ||
| Daniel Wardwell | Democrat | ||
| Kings | Cornelius Bergen | Whig | |
| Benjamin D. Silliman | Whig | ||
| Lewis | William Dominick | Democrat | |
| Livingston | George W. Patterson* | Whig | |
| William Scott* | Whig | ||
| Madison | William F. Bostwick | Democrat | |
| William Lord | Democrat | ||
| Onesimus Mead | Democrat | ||
| Monroe | John P. Patterson | Whig | |
| Ezra Sheldon Jr. | Whig | ||
| Derick Sibley* | Whig | ||
| New York | Alfred Carhart | Whig | |
| Adoniram Chandler | |||
| Heman W. Childs | Whig | ||
| Evan Griffith | Whig | ||
| Willis Hall | Whig | ||
| William Harsell | |||
| John I. Labagh* | Whig | ||
| David B. Ogden | Whig | ||
| Samuel B. Ruggles | Whig | ||
| John B. Scoles | Whig | ||
| Garret H. Stryker | Whig | ||
| Anson Willis* | Whig | ||
| George Zabriskie* | Whig | ||
| Niagara | Davis Hurd* | Whig | |
| Peter B. Porter, Jr. | Whig | ||
| Oneida | Russel Fuller | Whig | |
| Henry Hearsey | Whig | ||
| James S. T. Stranahan | |||
| Fortune C. White | Whig | ||
| Onondaga | Victory Birdseye | Whig | |
| Phares Gould | Whig | ||
| James R. Lawrence | Whig | ||
| Azariah Smith | Whig | ||
| Ontario | Jonathan Buell | Whig | |
| David Hudson | Whig | ||
| Henry W. Taylor* | Whig | ||
| Orange | Goldsmith Denniston | Whig | |
| Stephen W. Fullerton | Whig | ||
| Hudson McFarlan | Whig | ||
| Orleans | Horatio Reed | Whig | |
| Oswego | Arvin Rice | Whig | |
| John M. Richardson | Whig | ||
| Otsego | Samuel Betts Jr. | Democrat | |
| John Drake | Democrat | ||
| Jacob K. Lull | Democrat | ||
| Putnam | Saxton Smith | Democrat | |
| Queens | John A. King | Whig | |
| Rensselaer | Hezekiah Hull | Whig | |
| Jacob A. Ten Eyck | Whig | ||
| James Wallace | Whig | ||
| Richmond | Israel Oakley | ||
| Rockland | David Clark | Democrat | |
| St. Lawrence | Preston King* | Democrat | |
| Myron G. Peck | Democrat | ||
| Saratoga | Walter Van Veghten | Whig | |
| Calvin Wheeler | Whig | ||
| Schenectady | Silas H. Marsh | Whig | |
| Schoharie | Jedediah Miller | ||
| Mitchell Sanford | Whig | ||
| Seneca | Nathan Wakeman | Democrat | |
| Steuben | Samuel Griggs | Democrat | |
| David Hall | Democrat | ||
| Manning Kelly | Democrat | ||
| Suffolk | Charles A. Floyd | Democrat | |
| Sidney L. Griffin | Democrat | ||
| Sullivan | John H. Bowers | Democrat | |
| Tioga | John Coryell | Whig | |
| Tompkins | Elbert Curtis | ||
| Robert Swartwout | Whig | ||
| Ulster | Benjamin R. Bevier | Whig | |
| James N. Mitchell | Whig | ||
| Warren | Thomas A. Leggett | Democrat | |
| Washington | Erastus D. Culver | Whig | |
| Leonard Gibbs | Whig | ||
| Wayne | Esbon Blackmar | Whig | |
| John M. Holley | Whig | ||
| Westchester | Francis Barretto | ||
| Nicholas Cruger | |||
| Yates | Miles Benham | Whig | |
Employees
- Clerk: Jarvis N. Lake
- Sergeant-at-Arms: Harley R. Luddington
- Doorkeeper: William C. Bloss
- Assistant Doorkeeper: Frederick Lamb
Notes
- ↑ see Journal of the Assembly (61st Session) (1838; pg. 307ff)
Sources
- The New York Civil List compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858) [pg. 109 and 441 for Senate districts; pg. 131f for senators; pg. 148f for Assembly districts; pg. 220f 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. 479 to 486)
