77th New York State Legislature


The 77th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 3 to April 17, 1854, during the second year of Horatio Seymour's governorship, in Albany.

Background

Under the provisions of the New York Constitution of 1846, 32 Senators were elected in single-seat senatorial districts for a two-year term, the whole Senate being renewed biennially. The senatorial districts were made up of entire counties. 128 Assemblymen were elected in single-seat districts to a one-year term, the whole Assembly being renewed annually. The Assembly districts were made up of entire towns, or city wards, forming a contiguous area, all in the same county. The City and County of New York was divided into four senatorial districts, and 16 Assembly districts.
At this time there were two major political parties: the Democratic Party and the Whig Party.
The Democratic Party was split into two factions: the Hard-Shells and the Soft-Shells. In 1848, the Democratic Party had been split into Barnburners and Hunkers. The Barnburners left the party, and ran as the Free Soil Party, with presidential candidate Martin Van Buren. Afterwards the larger part of the Free Soilers re-joined the Democratic Party. During the following years, the Hunkers split over the question of reconciliation with the Barnburners. The Hards were against it, denying the Barnburners to gain influence in the Party. The Softs favored reconciliation with the intention of maintaining enough strength to win the elections. Both Hards and Softs favored a compromise on the slavery question: to maintain the status quo and to leave the decision to the local population in new Territories or States if they want slavery or not, as expressed in the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The Barnburners were against the permission of slavery in new Territories or States, but were now the minority in the party. The small faction of the Free Soil Party which advocated abolition of slavery, ran their own State ticket as the "Free Democratic Party".
About this time the Temperance movement began to enter politics to advocate legal and/or political measures to prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages, and endorsed candidates of the major parties who favored prohibition.

Elections

The New York state election, 1853 was held on November 8. Due to the Democratic split, of the ten statewide elective offices up for election, eight were carried by the Whigs, and two by the Democrats. The approximate statewide party strength, as shown by the vote for Secretary of State, was: Whig 160,000; Hard 99,000; Soft 96,000; and Free Democrats 14,000.

Sessions

The Legislature met for the regular session at the Old State Capitol in Albany on January 3, 1854; and adjourned on April 17.
Robert H. Pruyn was elected Speaker with 74 votes against 24 for George De Witt Clinton and 17 for Jonathan C. Collins.
On January 20, the Legislature passed "An Act to perfect an amendment of the Constitution, providing means for the completion of the canals of this State".
On January 30, Andrew B. Dickinson was elected President pro tempore of the State Senate.
On February 15, a special election was held at which the Canal Amendment was ratified by the voters with 185,771 votes For; and 60,526 votes Against the proposed amendment.
On April 4, the Legislature elected Victor M. Rice as the first State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

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. James H. Hutchins changed from the Assembly to the Senate.
DistrictSenatorPartyNotes
1stHugh HalseyDem.-Hard/Temp.
2ndJames H. Hutchins*Dem.-Hard
3rdThomas J. BarrDem.-Hard
4thThomas R. WhitneyWhigon November 7, 1854, elected to the 34th U.S. Congress
5thMark SpencerDem.-Soft
6thErastus BrooksWhig
7thWilliam H. RobertsonWhig
8thRobert A. BarnardWhig
9thJohn D. WatkinsDem
10thEliakim SherrillWhig
11thClarkson F. CrosbyWhig
12thElisha N. PrattWhig
13thJames C. HopkinsWhigalso Postmaster of Granville
14thGeorge RichardsWhig
15thZenas ClarkDem.-Soft
16thGeorge YostWhig
17thPeter S. DanforthDem.-Hard
18thEbenezer BlakelyWhigcontested; vacated on March 14
18thAdam StoringDemocratseated on March 14
19thDaniel G. DorranceWhig
20thSimon C. HitchcockDemocrat
21stRobert LansingDemocrat
22ndJames Munroe*Whig
23rdGeorge W. BradfordWhig
24thWilliam ClarkWhig
25thJosiah B. Williams*Whig
26thAndrew B. DickinsonWhigon January 30, elected President pro tempore
27thWilliam S. BishopWhig
28thBen FieldWhig
29thMyron H. Clark*Whigon November 7, 1854, elected Governor of New York
30thMartin ButtsWhig
31stJames O. PutnamWhig
32ndAlvah H. WalkerWhig

Employees

Assemblymen

The asterisk denotes members of the previous Legislature who continued as members of this Legislature.
Party affiliations follow the vote on Speaker.

Employees