# 12th New York State Legislature

The 12th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from December 11, 1788, to March 3, 1789, during the twelfth year of George Clinton's governorship, in Albany.

## 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.

## Elections

The State election was held from April 29 to May 1, 1788. Senators Ezra L'Hommedieu (Southern D.) and Peter Van Ness (Western D.) were re-elected; and Paul Micheau, Isaac Roosevelt (both Southern D.), and Assemblyman James Clinton (Middle D.) were also elected to the Senate. Assemblyman Edward Savage (Eastern D.) may have been elected at the same time to the State Senate (Eastern D.) and to the Assembly (Washington Co.) but was seated in the Assembly; the Senate seat vacated by the expiration of Ebenezer Russell's term remained vacant.
At the same time, delegates to a Convention to deliberate upon the adoption of the U.S. Constitution were elected. This was the first time that the politicians were divided into two opposing political parties: those who advocated the creation of a stronger federal government and the adoption of the US Constitution, as drafted, were henceforth known as Federalists, those who advocated stronger State governments and demanded many changes to the proposed Constitution as Anti-Federalists, or Democratic-Republicans.

## Sessions

The Convention met from June 17 to July 26, 1788, at Poughkeepsie, and ratified the U.S. Constitution by a vote of 30 to 27.
The State Legislature met on December 11, 1788, at the Old City Hall in Albany; and adjourned on March 3, 1789.
On January 27, 1789, the Legislature divided the State of New York into six congressional districts, and the first congressional elections in New York were held on March 3 and 4, 1789.
In February and March 1789, the Legislature debated at length "An act for prescribing the times, places and manner of holding elections for Senators of the United States of America, to be chosen in this State" but the Anti-Federalist Assembly majority and the Federalist Senate majority could not agree, and they adjourned without having elected U.S. Senators. Both parties hoped to win the next State election, to be held in April 1789, and agreed to adjourn earlier than usual, leaving it to the new members to find a way out of the deadlock.

## State Senate
### Districts

* 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, Cumberland and Gloucester counties.
* The Western District (6 seats) consisted of Albany, Columbia 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

The asterisk (*) denotes members of the previous Legislature who continued in office as members of this Legislature. James Clinton changed from the Assembly to the Senate. The vote of the members of this Legislature who had been delegates to the US Constitution ratifying convention is marked either "For ratification" or "Against ratification".
| District | Senators | Term left | Party | Notes |
| Southern | Thomas Tredwell* | 1 year | Anti-Fed. | Against ratification |
| Southern | Lewis Morris* | 2 years | Federalist | For ratification |
| Southern | John Vanderbilt* | 2 years | Federalist | |
| Southern | James Duane* | 3 years | Federalist | For ratification |
| Southern | John Laurance* | 3 years | Federalist | elected on March 3–4, 1789, to the 1st United States Congress |
| Southern | Samuel Townsend* | 3 years | Anti-Fed. | elected to the Council of Appointment |
| Southern | Ezra L'Hommedieu* | 4 years | Fed./Anti-Fed. | L'Hommedieu ran on both tickets for re-election, but was at this time "clearly a Federalist" |
| Southern | Paul Micheau | 4 years | Federalist | |
| Southern | Isaac Roosevelt | 4 years | Federalist | For ratification |
| Middle | John Haring* | 1 year | Anti-Fed. | Against ratification |
| Middle | Cornelius Humfrey* | 1 year | | |
| Middle | John Hathorn* | 2 years | Anti-Fed. | elected to the Council of Appointment; elected on March 3–4, 1789, to the 1st United States Congress |
| Middle | Anthony Hoffman* | 3 years | Federalist | |
| Middle | Jacobus Swartwout* | 3 years | Anti-Fed. | Against ratification |
| Middle | James Clinton* | 4 years | Anti-Fed. | Against ratification |
| Eastern | David Hopkins* | 1 year | Anti-Fed. | Against ratification |
| Eastern | John Williams* | 2 years | Anti-Fed. | Against ratification; elected to the Council of Appointment |
| Eastern | vacant | 4 years | | Edward Savage is listed in the Civil List of 1858, but he was seated in the Assembly during this session. |
| Western | Volkert P. Douw* | 1 year | | |
| Western | Philip Schuyler* | 1 year | Federalist | |
| Western | Peter Schuyler* | 2 years | Federalist | |
| Western | Abraham Yates Jr.* | 2 years | Anti-Fed. | |
| Western | Jellis Fonda* | 3 years | | |
| Western | Peter Van Ness* | 4 years | Anti-Fed. | Against ratification; elected to the Council of Appointment |

### Employees

* Clerk: Abraham B. Bancker

## State Assembly
### Districts

* 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

The asterisk (*) denotes members of the previous Legislature who continued as members of this Legislature. The vote of the members of this Legislature who had been delegates to the US Constitution ratifying convention is marked either "For ratification" or "Against ratification".
| County | Assemblymen | Party | Notes |
| Albany | John Duncan | Anti-Fed. | |
| Albany | John Lansing Jr. | Anti-Fed. | elected Speaker; also Mayor of Albany; Against ratification |
| Albany | John Thompson | Anti-Fed. | |
| Albany | Cornelius Van Dyck | Anti-Fed. | |
| Albany | Henry K. Van Rensselaer | Anti-Fed. | |
| Albany | Jeremiah Van Rensselaer | Anti-Fed. | |
| Albany | John Younglove* | Fed./Anti-Fed. | Younglove ran on both tickets |
| Columbia | Matthew Adgate | Anti-Fed. | Against ratification |
| Columbia | John Bay | Anti-Fed. | Against ratification; previously a member from Albany Co. |
| Columbia | John Kortz | Anti-Fed. | |
| Cumberland | none | | No election returns from these counties |
| Gloucester | none | | No election returns from these counties |
| Dutchess County | Jonathan Akins | Anti-Fed. | Against ratification |
| Dutchess County | Samuel A. Barker | Fed./Anti-Fed. | Barker ran on both tickets |
| Dutchess County | Isaac Bloom* | Fed./Anti-Fed. | Bloom ran on both tickets |
| Dutchess County | John DeWitt Jr.* | Anti-Fed. | For ratification |
| Dutchess County | Jacob Griffin | Anti-Fed. | |
| Dutchess County | Gilbert Livingston | Federalist | For ratification |
| Dutchess County | Matthew Patterson* | | |
| Kings | Aquila Giles | | |
| Kings | Peter Vandervoort | Federalist | For ratification |
| Montgomery | John Frey* | Anti-Fed. | Against ratification |
| Montgomery | William Harper | Anti-Fed. | Against ratification |
| Montgomery | Henry Staring | Anti-Fed. | Against ratification |
| Montgomery | Volkert Veeder* | Anti-Fed. | Against ratification |
| Montgomery | John Winn* | Anti-Fed. | Against ratification |
| Montgomery | Christopher P. Yates | Anti-Fed. | |
| New York | William W. Gilbert | | |
| New York | Richard Harison* | Federalist | |
| New York | Nicholas Hoffman | Federalist | |
| New York | Henry Brockholst Livingston | | |
| New York | Nicholas Low* | Federalist | |
| New York | Alexander Macomb | | |
| New York | Comfort Sands* | Federalist | |
| New York | Gulian Verplanck* | Federalist | |
| New York | John Watts Jr. | Federalist | |
| Orange | John Carpenter | Anti-Fed. | |
| Orange | Jeremiah Clark* | Anti-Fed. | |
| Orange | Henry Wisner Jr.* | Anti-Fed. | |
| Orange | vacant | | The election was tied in fourth place: the incumbent Peter Taulman (A.-F.) and James Post (Fed.) received 128 votes each, thus there was "no choice." |
| Queens | Stephen Carman* | Anti-Fed. | For ratification |
| Queens | Whitehead Cornwell* | Anti-Fed. | For ratification |
| Queens | Samuel Jones* | Anti-Fed. | For ratification |
| Queens | John Schenck | Anti-Fed. | For ratification |
| Richmond | Abraham Bancker | Federalist | For ratification |
| Richmond | John C. Dongan* | Anti-Fed. | |
| Suffolk | Nathaniel Gardiner | Federalist | |
| Suffolk | Jonathan N. Havens* | Anti-Fed. | For ratification |
| Suffolk | David Hedges* | Anti-Fed. | |
| Suffolk | Henry Scudder | Anti-Fed. | For ratification |
| Suffolk | John Smith* | Anti-Fed. | For ratification |
| Ulster | John Cantine* | Anti-Fed. | Against ratification |
| Ulster | Ebenezer Clark | Anti-Fed. | Against ratification |
| Ulster | Johannes G. Hardenbergh | Anti-Fed. | |
| Ulster | Cornelius C. Schoonmaker* | Anti-Fed. | Against ratification |
| Ulster | Nathan Smith* | Anti-Fed. | |
| Ulster | Christopher Tappen | Anti-Fed. | |
| Washington | Joseph McCracken | Anti-Fed. | |
| Washington | Edward Savage* | Anti-Fed. | |
| Washington | Peter B. Tearse* | Anti-Fed. | |
| Washington | Alexander Webster* | Anti-Fed. | |
| Westchester | Thaddeus Crane | Federalist | For ratification |
| Westchester | Jonathan Horton | Federalist | |
| Westchester | Philip Livingston | Federalist | For ratification |
| Westchester | Nathan Rockwell | Federalist | |
| Westchester | Walter Seaman | Federalist | |
| Westchester | Philip Van Cortlandt | Federalist | For ratification |

### Employees

* Clerk: John McKesson