11th New York State Legislature

The 11th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 9 to March 22, 1788, during the eleventh year of George Clinton's governorship, in Poughkeepsie.

11th New York State Legislature
←10th 12th→
Clinton House, one of the buildings used by the State government during sessions at Poughkeepsie (2007)
Overview
Legislative bodyNew York State Legislature
JurisdictionNew York, United States
TermJuly 1, 1787 – June 30, 1788
Senate
Members24
PresidentLt. Gov. Pierre Van Cortlandt
Assembly
Members70 (de facto 65)
SpeakerRichard Varick
Sessions
1stJanuary 9, 1788 – March 22, 1788

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.

In 1786, Columbia County was partitioned from Albany County, and 3 of Albany's Assembly seats were apportioned to Columbia.

Elections

The State election was held from April 24 to 26, 1787. Senators Samuel Townsend (Southern D.) and Jacobus Swartwout (Middle D.) were re-elected; and James Duane, John Laurance (both Southern D.), Anthony Hoffman (Middle D.) and Jellis Fonda (Western D.) were also elected to the Senate.

Sessions

The State Legislature was to meet on January 1, 1788, at Poughkeepsie, but the Assembly first had a quorum on January 9, the Senate on January 11; both Houses adjourned on March 22, 1788.

On February 1, 1788, the Legislature passed a resolution for the election of delegates to a Convention to deliberate upon the adoption of the U.S. Constitution. The Convention met from June 17 to July 26, 1788, at Poughkeepsie and ratified the Constitution by a vote of 30 to 27. From this time, the politicians were divided in two political parties: those who voted for the Constitution were henceforth known as Federalists, those who voted against it as Anti-Federalists, or Democratic-Republicans.[1]

State Senate

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.

Members

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

District Senators Term left Notes
Southern William Floyd* 1 year
Ezra L'Hommedieu* 1 year
vacant 1 year Alexander McDougall died on June 9, 1786.
It is unclear if a special election was held, but nobody claimed the seat.
Thomas Tredwell* 2 years
Lewis Morris* 3 years
John Vanderbilt* 3 years elected to the Council of Appointment
James Duane 4 years
John Laurance 4 years
Samuel Townsend* 4 years
Middle Arthur Parks* 1 year
John Haring* 2 years
Cornelius Humfrey* 2 years
John Hathorn* 3 years
Anthony Hoffman 4 years elected to the Council of Appointment
Jacobus Swartwout* 4 years
Eastern Ebenezer Russell* 1 year
David Hopkins* 2 years elected to the Council of Appointment
John Williams* 3 years
Western Peter Van Ness* 1 year
Volkert P. Douw* 2 years
Philip Schuyler* 2 years elected to the Council of Appointment
Peter Schuyler* 3 years
Abraham Yates Jr.* 3 years
(Jellis Fonda) 4 years did not attend

Employees
  • Clerk: Abraham B. Bancker

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.

County Assemblymen Notes
Albany Leonard Gansevoort
James Gordon*
Thomas Sickles*
John De Peyster Ten Eyck
Dirck Van Ingen
Hezekiah Van Orden
John Younglove
Columbia John Livingston*[2] previously a member from Albany Co.
William Powers* previously a member from Albany Co.
Peter Silvester
Cumberland none No election returns from these counties[3]
Gloucester
Dutchess Egbert Benson also New York Attorney General
Isaac Bloom
Peter Cantine Jr.
John DeWitt Jr.*
Morris Graham
Matthew Patterson*
Thomas Tillotson
Kings Charles Doughty*
Cornelius Wyckoff*
Montgomery Abraham Arndt
John Frey*
James Livingston*
Isaac Paris
Volkert Veeder
John Winn
New York Evert Bancker*
Nicholas Bayard*
David Brooks*
Richard Harison
Nicholas Low
Daniel Nivin
Comfort Sands
Richard Varick re-elected Speaker;
also Recorder of New York City
Gulian Verplanck
Orange Jeremiah Clark*
Peter Taulman*
William Thompson
Henry Wisner Jr.
Queens Stephen Carman
Whitehead Cornwell
Samuel Jones*
Francis Lewis Jr.
Richmond John C. Dongan*
Peter Winant
Suffolk Jonathan N. Havens*
David Hedges*
Daniel Osborn*
John Smith*
vacant
Ulster James Bruyn
John Cantine*
James Clinton
(Charles DeWitt) died on August 27, 1787
Cornelius C. Schoonmaker*
Nathan Smith*
Washington Albert Baker
Edward Savage*
Peter B. Tearse*
Alexander Webster
Westchester Samuel Drake
Abijah Gilbert
Ebenezer Lockwood*
Joseph Strang*
Thomas Thomas*
Jonathan G. Tompkins*

Employees
  • Clerk: John McKesson

Notes
  1. The Anti-Federalists soon 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. John Livingston, fifth son of Robert Livingston (1708–1790), 3rd Lord of the Manor
  3. Cumberland and Gloucester counties seceded from the Province of New York in January 1777, and became part of the Vermont Republic, while the Constitutional Convention was still debating the new Constitution. The New York Constitution was approved in April 1777, not recognizing the secession. Neither county did file any election returns with the Secretary of State of New York in 1787.

Sources
  • The New York Civil List compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858) [see pg. 108 for Senate districts; pg. 113 for senators; pg. 148f for Assembly districts; pg. 164 for assemblymen; pg. 54f for U.S. Constitution ratifying convention]
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