61st New York State Legislature

61st New York State Legislature

The Old State Capitol (1879)
Duration: January 1 – December 31, 1838
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)
Sessions
1st: January 2 – April 18, 1838
<60th 62nd>

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

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

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

Notes

  1. ↑ see Journal of the Assembly (61st Session) (1838; pg. 307ff)

Sources

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