The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1892-06-12
REPRESENTATION.
CHANGES nv APPoRJIONMEST SINCE
THE SESSION OF 1921.

Seventeen Members who Served for rs
Cents n Day-Tho Decline OF the Rural
Countics and Steady Growth ofthe CITIES.
In the next Assembly New York city will
have thirty Of the 12S members. more than
seven times as many as 1t had in the first gem
eral provincial Assembly. which met on April
81. 1891. At that time there were only ten
counties In the State instead OF sixty. and
Ulster and Duchess countlos elected their As
semblymen together, as milton and Hamilton
do now
1t shows the growth of the cities Of the State
and how out Of all proportion to the rest of the
state they have increased in population. to
trace tho representation of the cities and the
counties In the different Assemblies that have
Just completed the second century of their
sessions In the first npportionment after the
Declaration OF Independence. In April. 1777.
Albany had more representatives than New
York and Duchess and Wcstchester had al
most as many. while the counties OF Kings
and Richmond had the smallest number in
the State Richmonds representation since
that time has fallen from two to one. while
Kings has increased from two to eighteen.
The size OF tho county has not. in many cases.
continued the same. and it is somewhat dilfl-
cult to make exact comparisons for that rea-
son. but almost all the counties were estab-
lishcd before 1926, and it is almost fifty years
since a new county has been created
The first Assembly was established under
Gov. Slaughter in the time OF William and
Mary. Before that there had been various
Councils and legislative bodies. but their OK
istcnce was so broken into and INTERRUPTED
that the Assembly Of New York may be said
really to date from its meeting on the 9th OF
April. 1891 as that is the time at which the
compilers Of the laws begin. There Is no OK
act record OF tho names Of the members and
proceedings of earlier Assemblies. though
there are records of n meeting in New York at
Fort James OH Oct II. 1873. and Of meetings
Of various Councils prior to this.
The old colonial Assembly. which was
started in the time of William and Mary, lasted
for nncty-two years. and adjourned finally in
l715. at the beginning of the Revolutionary
war. At first the colonial Assembly was
elected about every two years. though it was
sometimes dissolved earlier by the Governor
appointed by the Crown Of England. The AS
semby elected in 1917 continued for ten
years. one OF the longest terms that any legis.
lative body in the United States has existed.
The Assembly had som ewhat the place in New
York that the Hause of Commons has in Eng
land. though the old colonial Governors eXer-
cised more OF their rights and prerogatives
than the Queen OF England would ever think
OF trying to use now. They would dissolve the
Assembly from time to time and have a new
election when things were not going to please
them. and they exercised the veto power
whenever they felt like it.
This Assembly Of the province OF New York
opened with seventeen memhcrs. but was in
creased some time after to twenty seven. James
Graham OF New York city was the first Speaker.
The first Assembly was much more English
than Dutch. the Dutch representation increas-
ing afterward us the interference of the Eng
lish Governors decreased The New York del
egation was divided evenly between the Eng
fish and tho Dutch-.Iames Graham and Will
liam M"rrett. English and Jacobus Van Cort-
landt anu Johannis kipp. Dutch. The delega-
tons from the three Long Island counties and
Richmond and Westchester were all English:
Ulster and Duchess sent one Dutch
man and Il HuGuenot Albany sent two
Dutchmen. and Rensselaer, manor sent
Kilian Van Rensselaer,. New York reelected
its delegation Of four to the next Assembly.
The men first elected from Queens county.
John Bound and Nathaniel Pearsall. were
Quakers. and as they refused to take the oath
of Office they wero dismissed. Another mem.
ber in 1897. was excluded because he refused
to attend before he was paid. The Quakers
persisted in trying to get their seats without
taking the OATH and the records Of the early
Assemblies show that they We're regularly dis
missed after they had filed their credentials
and offered to make "A simple Affirmation.
The term Of office OF the colonial Assembly
man was increased to three years by the AS
sembly OF 1877. but the King the next year re-
pealed tho tricnnial election act, although it
had already been sanctioned by the Lieutenant
Governor. The next Assembly lasted for four
years. In 743 the House limited its term of
81,
solved by the King or IN the Kings name.
The Governor with the consent of his Council.
could call the Assembly together. send them
homo on compulsory vacation. or dissolve
them. as he pleased.
The Assembly sat in Now York. tcould pass
laws. which stood unless the King vetoed them:
the Assembly had no power to override his
veto The Assembly did not allow amend
ments to be made 10 lis money bills by the
Council. following the precedent OF the House
of Commons. which has been followed only In
part BY tho Assembly and the Senate OF the
State.
Their constituents paid the members less
than street car drivers wages. Tho New
York city Assemblymen got - cents day. the
Suffolk Assemblymen nine shllings, or Sl.l2l4
day. and the Albany and Rensselaer, Assem-
blymen ten shillngs or 10 cents more than
can hardly be said that there was Brooklyn
in those days
There Is gap Of month between tho
colonial Assembly and the provincial COP
gres- which assembled on May Do. lI1o. New
York at first had four members. Albany three.
and the other counties two apiece. except
Gloucester which had only one Gloucester
and Cumberland are two counties which New
York used to nave. which are now in YER
mont. The old Gloucester county, New York.
is now Ave counties in Vermont. and Cumber-
land county is two counties In Vermont. Tho
eastern as well as the western shore OF Lake
Cham plain used to be in New York.
There were four provincial Congresses as the
legislative body for New York in 1857.
until tho Assembly met in September. l71L
The provincial Congress had hard time OF II.
as 1t had to shift around from place to place to
keep from capture by the British. meeting in
New York. White Plains, Harlem. Fishkill. and
Kingston: at last having to leave Kingston on
account OF the approach OF the English ships.
After the adoption Of the Declaration Of hide;
pcndenre. the provincial Congress WAS changed
to the Convention OF the Representatives OF
= ~. hiph IN llslla "a