The 30th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 27 to April 7, 1807, during the third year of Morgan Lewis's governorship, in Albany.
Background Under the provisions of the New York Constitution of 1777, amended by the Constitutional Convention of 1801, 32 Senators were elected on general tickets in the four 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.
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.
State Senator Ebenezer Purdy resigned on March 16, 1806, to avoid being expelled for bribery, leaving a vacancy in the Southern District.
In 1806, three new counties were created: Allegany County was split from Genesee County, but remained with Genesee and Ontario County in one Assembly district. Broome County was split from Tioga County, but remained with Tioga in one Assembly district. Madison County was split from Chenango County, and was apportioned two seats in the Assembly, taken from Chenango.
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.
In 1805, the 28th Legislature had chartered the Merchant's Bank of New York which had been founded by Federalists in competition to the Democratic-Republican Bank of the Manhattan Company. The Democratic-Republican majority of the 27th Legislature had not only refused to grant a charter, but actually ordered the Merchant's Bank to shut down by May 1805. During the next session, the bank bribed enough legislators to have the charter approved, although the Democratic-Republican leaders advocated strongly against it. Gov. Morgan Lewis spoke out in favor of granting the charterLewis put thus his personal opinion above party discipline. He had been Chief Justice and was wealthy beyond corruptibility—nobody ever accused him of taking a bribe—and formed his opinion on legal and technical grounds. On the other side, he had been elected governor with the help of a minority of Federalists against his party-splitting opponent Aaron Burr. what was resented by the party leaders DeWitt Clinton and Ambrose Spencer, and soon led to the split of the party into "Lewisites" and "Clintonians".see Hammond, pg. 219f
Elections The State election was held from April 29 to May 1, 1806. Senators James Burt (Middle D.) and Jacob Snell (Eastern D.) were re-elected. Jonathan Ward (Southern D.), Elisha Barlow (Middle D.), John Ballard, Salmon Buell, Jacob Gebhard and Nathan Smith (all four Western D.) were also elected to the Senate. Assemblyman Benjamin Coe (Southern D.) was elected to fill the vacancy. Burt, Barlow and Snell were Lewisites, the other six were Clintonians.
Sessions The Legislature met at the Old City Hall in Albany on January 27, 1807; and adjourned on April 7.
Lewisite Andrew McCord was elected Speaker with the help of the Federalists, with 53 votes against 40 for Clintonian Alexander Sheldon, the Speaker of the previous session.Hammond says McCord was elected with a majority of 11, see pg. 237. Two votes were lost because McCord's name was misspelled, so that on the opening day the majority was actually 55 to 40. Later, at the election for the Council of Appointment, the majorities varied from 54-41 to 51-44. Lewisite Gerrit Y. Lansing was elected Clerk of the Assembly, defeating the Clintonian incumbent Solomon Southwick by a majority of 6 votes.see Hammond, pg. 237 On February 2, Southwick was elected Clerk of the Senate.
On February 3, 1807, the Legislature re-elected John Smith (Dem.-Rep.) to a full term in the U.S. Senate.
State Senate Districts The Southern District (6 seats) consisted of Kings, New York, Queens, Richmond, Suffolk and Westchester counties. The Middle District (8 seats) consisted of Dutchess, Orange, Ulster, Columbia, Delaware, Rockland and Greene counties. The Eastern District (9 seats) consisted of Washington, Clinton, Rensselaer, Albany, Saratoga, Essex and Montgomery counties. The Western District (9 seats) consisted of Herkimer, Ontario, Otsego, Tioga, Onondaga, Schoharie, Steuben, Chenango, Oneida, Cayuga, Genesee, Seneca, Jefferson, Lewis, St. Lawrence, Allegany, Broome and Madison 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. Benjamin Coe changed from the Assembly to the Senate.
District Senators Term left Party Notes SouthernDeWitt Clinton*1 year Dem.-Rep./Clintonianuntil February 1807, also Mayor of New York CityWilliam Denning*2 years Dem.-Rep./LewisiteBenjamin Coe*2 years Dem.-Rep./Clintonianelected to fill vacancy, in place of Ebenezer PurdyThomas Thomas*2 years Dem.-Rep./Lewisiteelected to the Council of AppointmentEzra L'Hommedieu*3 years Dem.-Rep./ClintonianJonathan Ward4 years Dem.-Rep./Clintonian MiddleJoshua H. Brett*1 year Dem.-Rep./LewisiteRobert Johnston*1 year Dem.-Rep./ClintonianSamuel Brewster*2 years Dem.-Rep.Stephen Hogeboom*2 years Dem.-Rep.Peter C. Adams*3 years Dem.-Rep./ClintonianJames G. Graham*3 years Dem.-Rep./LewisiteElisha Barlow4 years Dem.-Rep./LewisiteJames Burt*4 years Dem.-Rep./Lewisiteelected to the Council of Appointment EasternEdward Savage*1 year Dem.-Rep./Lewisiteelected to the Council of AppointmentJohn Tayler*1 year Dem.-Rep.Thomas Tredwell*1 year Dem.-Rep.John Woodworth*1 year Dem.-Rep./Lewisitealso New York Attorney GeneralStephen Thorn*2 years Dem.-Rep./ClintonianAdam Comstock*3 years Dem.-Rep./ClintonianJohn Veeder*3 years Dem.-Rep./ClintonianJoseph C. Yates*3 years Dem.-Rep./ClintonianJacob Snell*4 years Dem.-Rep./Lewisite WesternCaleb Hyde*1 year Dem.-Rep.Henry Huntington*2 years Dem.-Rep./ClintonianJedediah Peck*2 years Dem.-Rep.Nathaniel Locke*3 years Dem.-Rep.John Nicholas*3 years Dem.-Rep./Lewisiteelected to the Council of AppointmentJohn Ballard4 years Dem.-Rep./ClintonianSalmon Buell4 years Dem.-Rep./ClintonianJacob Gebhard4 years Dem.-Rep./ClintonianNathan SmithNathan Smith (ca. 1769-1836), of Fairfield, First Judge of the Herkimer County Court 1814-1821; see bio in A History of Herkimer County by Nathaniel S. Benton (pages 357ff)4 years Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Employees Clerk: Henry I. Bleecker Solomon Southwick, from February 2, 1807
State Assembly Districts
Albany County (6 seats) Allegany, Genesee and Ontario counties (3 seats) Broome and Tioga counties (1 seat) Cayuga County (2 seats) Chenango County (2 seats) Clinton County (1 seat) Columbia County (4 seats) Delaware County (2 seats) Dutchess County (7 seats) Essex County (1 seat) Greene County (2 seats) Herkimer County (3 seats) Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties (1 seat) Kings County (1 seat) Madison County (2 seats) Montgomery County (5 seats) The City and County of New York (9 seats) Oneida County (3 seats) Onondaga County (2 seats) Orange County (4 seats) Otsego County (4 seats) Queens County (3 seats) Rensselaer County (5 seats) Richmond County (1 seat) Rockland County (1 seat) Saratoga County (4 seats) Schoharie County (2 seats) Seneca County (1 seat) Steuben County (1 seat) Suffolk County (3 seats) Ulster County (4 seats) Washington County (6 seats) Westchester County (4 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.