The 25th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 26 to April 5, 1802, during the first year of George Clinton's second tenure as Governor of New York, in Albany.
Background Under the provisions of the New York Constitution of 1777, amended by the re-apportionment of March 4, 1796, Senators were elected on general tickets in the senatorial districts for four-year terms. They were divided into four classes, and every year about one fourth of the Senate seats came up for election. Assemblymen were elected countywide on general tickets to a one-year term, the whole assembly being renewed annually.
In 1797, Albany was declared the State capital, and all subsequent legislatures have been meeting there ever since. In 1799, the legislature enacted that future legislatures meet on the last Tuesday of January of each year unless called earlier by the governor.
On November 11, 1801, State Senator Moses Vail was appointed Sheriff of Rensselaer County, leaving a vacancy in the Eastern District.
At this time the politicians were divided into two opposing political parties: the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans.The Anti-Federalists 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.
Elections The State election was held from April 28 to 30, 1801. Ex-Governor George Clinton (in office 1777-1795) was elected to a seventh term, and Jeremiah Van Rensselaer was elected Lieutenant Governor of New York, both were Democratic-Republicans
Senators Ezra L'Hommedieu (Southern D.), Jacobus S. Bruyn, James G. Graham (both Middle D.), Ebenezer Clark, Jacobus Van Schoonhoven and Abraham Van Vechten (all three Eastern D.) were re-elected. Peter A. Van Bergen (Middle D.), Christopher Hutton (Eastern D.), John Meyer, Isaac Foote (both Western D.) and Assemblyman Lemuel Chipman (Western D.) were also elected to the Senate. Assemblyman Edward Savage (Eastern D.) was elected to fill the vacancy. L'Hommedieu, Bruyn, Graham, Van Bergen and Savage were Democratic-Republicans, Hutton ran on both tickets, the others were Federalists.
Constitutional Convention On April 6, 1801, the legislature had passed an "Act Recommending a Convention" which called for the election of delegates to a convention to amend the State Constitution concerning the right to nominate appointees in the Council of Appointment, and the apportionment of the state legislature. The delegates were elected from August 25 to 27, mirroring the apportionment of the Assembly. The convention met from October 13 to 27, and had a large Democratic-Republican majority. U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr presided.
The Constitutional Convention gave the governor and all four councillors concurrently the right to nominate appointees. The convention also changed the composition of the state legislature: the number of state senators was fixed permanently at 32; the number of assemblymen was set at 100, but could increase at a rate of two per year until reaching 150.
Sessions The legislature met at the Old City Hall in Albany on January 26, 1802; and adjourned on April 5.
Dem.-Rep. Thomas Storm was elected Speaker unanimously.
On February 5, 1802, U.S. Senator John Armstrong (Dem.-Rep.) resigned, and on February 9, 1802, the Legislature elected State Senator DeWitt Clinton (Dem.-Rep.) to fill the vacancy.
On March 31, 1802, the Legislature re-apportioned the Assembly seats, according to the provisions of the Constitutional Convention.
State Senate Districts The Southern District (9 seats) consisted of Kings, New York, Queens, Richmond, Suffolk and Westchester counties. The Middle District (12 seats) consisted of Dutchess, Orange, Ulster, Columbia, Delaware, Rockland and Greene counties. The Eastern District (12 seats) consisted of Washington, Clinton, Rensselaer, Albany, Saratoga and Essex counties. The Western District (11 seats) consisted of Montgomery, Herkimer, Ontario, Otsego, Tioga, Onondaga, Schoharie, Steuben, Chenango, Oneida and Cayuga 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. Edward Savage and Lemuel Chipman changed from the Assembly to the Senate.
To reduce the number of senators from 43 to 32, as enacted by the Constitutional Convention, 19 members left the Senate at the end of this session: the eleven members who finished their term this year (marked "term left 1 year"); and eight senators who had their term cut short (marked "legislated out of office"). Eight new senators were elected to arrive at 32.For the exact instructions how to reduce the number of senators, see the Amendment at Reports of the Proceedings and Debates of the Convention of 1821. This shows that there was no additional senator in the Legislature, the number of seats being 43.
District Senators Term left Party Notes SouthernDeWitt Clinton*1 year Dem.-Rep.elected on February 9, 1802, to the U.S. Senate, and took his seat on February 27, thus vacating his seat in the State Senate(David Gelston*)1 year Dem.-Rep.vacated his seat upon appointment as Collector of the Port of New York on July 9, 1801John Schenck*1 year Dem.-Rep.John B. Coles*2 years Federalistlegislated out of officeRichard Hatfield*2 years FederalistWilliam Denning*3 years Dem.-Rep.Benjamin Huntting*3 years Dem.-Rep.elected to the Council of AppointmentEbenezer Purdy*3 years Dem.-Rep.Ezra L'Hommedieu*4 years Dem.-Rep. MiddleEbenezer Foote*1 year FederalistAmbrose Spencer*1 year Dem.-Rep.from February 3, 1802, also New York Attorney GeneralIsaac Bloom*2 years Dem.-Rep.elected in April 1802 to the 8th United States Congress; legislated out of officeJohn Hathorn*2 years Dem.-Rep.John Suffern*2 years Dem.-Rep.John C. Hogeboom*3 years Dem.-Rep.Solomon Sutherland*3 years Dem.-Rep.legislated out of officeDavid Van Ness*3 years Dem.-Rep.legislated out of officeJames W. Wilkin*3 years Dem.-Rep.elected to the Council of AppointmentJacobus S. Bruyn*4 years Dem.-Rep.Peter A. Van Bergen4 years Dem.-Rep.James G. Graham*4 years Dem.-Rep.legislated out of office EasternLeonard Gansevoort*1 year FederalistJohn Sanders*1 year FederalistZina Hitchcock*2 years FederalistEbenezer Russell*2 years FederalistEdward Savage*2 years Dem.-Rep.elected to fill vacancy, in place of Moses Vail; elected to the Council of AppointmentJames Gordon*3 years FederalistStephen Lush3 years Federalistlegislated out of officeEbenezer Clark*4 years Federalistlegislated out of officeChristopher Hutton4 years Dem.-Rep./Fed.Hutton ran on both tickets Jacobus Van Schoonhoven*4 years FederalistAbraham Van Vechten*4 years Federalistalso Recorder of the City of Albany WesternWilliam Beekman*1 year FederalistJohn Frey*1 year FederalistFrederick Gettman*1 year FederalistThomas R. Gold*1 year FederalistVincent Mathews*2 years FederalistMoss Kent*2 years FederalistRobert Roseboom*3 years Dem.-Rep.Jedediah Sanger*3 years Federalistalso First Judge of the Oneida County CourtLemuel Chipman*4 years Federalistelected to the Council of AppointmentJohn Meyer4 years Federalistalso First Judge of the Herkimer County Court; legislated out of officeIsaac Foote4 years Federalist
Employees Clerk: Abraham B. Bancker Henry I. Bleecker from April 5, 1802
State Assembly Districts
Albany County (8 seats) Cayuga County (1 seat) Chenango County (2 seats) Clinton and Essex counties (1 seat) Columbia County (6 seats) Delaware County (2 seats) Dutchess County (10 seats) Greene County (2 seats) Herkimer County (3 seats) Kings County (1 seat) Montgomery County (6 seats) The City and County of New York (13 seats) Oneida County (3 seats) Onondaga County (1 seat) Ontario and Steuben counties (2 seats) Orange County (5 seats) Otsego County (4 seats) Queens County (4 seats) Rensselaer County (6 seats) Richmond County (1 seat) Rockland County (1 seat) Saratoga County (5 seats) Schoharie County (1 seat) Suffolk County (4 seats) Tioga County (1 seat) Ulster County (4 seats) Washington County (6 seats) Westchester County (5 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 The asterisk (*) denotes members of the previous Legislature who continued as members of this Legislature.