11th New York State Legislature

New York state legislative session

11th New York State Legislature

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Clinton House, one of the buildings used by the State government during sessions at Poughkeepsie (2007)

Overview
Legislative body| New York State Legislature
Jurisdiction| New York, United States
Term| July 1, 1787 – June 30, 1788
Senate
Members| 24
President| Lt. Gov. Pierre Van Cortlandt
Assembly
Members| 70 (de facto 65)
Speaker| Richard Varick
Sessions
| 1st| January 9, 1788 – March 22, 1788

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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.

## Background

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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

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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

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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

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### Districts

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* The Southern District (9 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 (3 seats) consisted of Washington, Columbia, Cumberland and Gloucester counties.
* The Western District (6 seats) consisted of Albany and Montgomery 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

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

District  | Senators  | Term left  | Notes

|
|
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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

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* Clerk: Abraham B. Bancker

## State Assembly

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### Districts

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* The City and County of Albany (7 seats)
* Columbia County (3 seats)
* Cumberland County (3 seats)
* Dutchess County (7 seats)
* Gloucester County (2 seats)
* Kings County (2 seats)
* Montgomery County) (6 seats)
* The City and County of New York (9 seats)
* Orange County (4 seats)
* Queens County (4 seats)
* Richmond County (2 seats)
* Suffolk County (5 seats)
* Ulster County (6 seats)
* Washington County (4 seats)
* Westchester County (6 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

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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

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* Clerk: John McKesson

## Notes

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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

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* 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]

* v
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New York State Legislatures by year convened

* 1 (1777)
* 2 (1778)
* 3 (1779)
* 4 (1780)
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* 6 (1782)
* 7 (1783)
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