78th New York State Legislature


The 78th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 2 to April 14, 1855, during the first year of Myron H. Clark'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, now known as the "Free Democratic Party", endorsed the Whig nominees Clark and Raymnond.
The Whig Party was in the process of disintegrating. The radical anti-slavery Whigs formed the Anti-Nebraska Party, the moderate anti-slavery wing became the Republican Party in other States, but still retained the Whig label in New York. Most of the Whigs which favored a compromise, or preferred to sidestep the issue, joined the Know Nothing movement which ran as the American 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. At this election, they endorsed the Whig nominees Clark and Raymond.

Elections

The New York state election, 1854 was held on November 7. Due to the Democratic split, the whole Whig ticket was elected. State Senator Myron H. Clark and New York Times publisher Henry J. Raymond were elected Governor and Lieutenant Governor. Clark defeated the incumbent Gov. Horatio Seymour by a plurality of only 309 votes. The approximate party strength at this election, as expressed by the vote on Governor was: Whig/Anti-Nebraska/Temperance/Free Democratic/Anti-Rent fusion 156,800; Soft 156,500; American 122,000, and Hard 34,000.

Sessions

The Legislature met for the regular session at the Old State Capitol in Albany on January 2, 1855; and adjourned on April 14.
DeWitt C. Littlejohn was elected Speaker.
On January 22, Josiah B. Williams was elected President pro tempore of the State Senate.
On February 6, the Legislature re-elected U.S. Senator William H. Seward to a second six-year term, beginning on March 4, 1855.
On March 2, Richard M. Blatchford was elected Speaker pro tempore of the Assembly.
On April 9, the Legislature passed "An Act for the prevention of Intemperance, Pauperism and Crime", thus enacting Prohibition. The law was declared unconstitutional in March 1856 by the New York Court of Appeals, thus repealing Prohibition.

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.
Party affiliations follow the vote on U.S. Senator.
DistrictSenatorPartyNotes
1stHugh Halsey*Dem.-Hard
2ndJames H. Hutchins*Dem.-Hard
3rdThomas J. Barr*Dem.-Hard
4thThomas R. Whitney*Americanon November 7, 1854, elected to the 34th U.S. Congress
5thMark Spencer*Dem.-Soft
6thErastus Brooks*American
7thWilliam H. Robertson*Whig
8thRobert A. Barnard*Whig
9thJohn D. Watkins*Dem.-Hard
10thEliakim Sherrill*Whig
11thClarkson F. Crosby*Whig
12thElisha N. Pratt*Whig
13thJames C. Hopkins*Whigalso Postmaster of Granville
14thGeorge Richards*Whig
15thZenas Clark*Dem.-Soft
16thGeorge Yost*Whig
17thPeter S. Danforth*Dem.-Hard
18thAdam Storing*Democrat
19thDaniel G. Dorrance*Whig
20thSimon C. Hitchcock*Democrat
21stRobert Lansing*Democrat
22ndJames Munroe*Whig
23rdGeorge W. Bradford*Whig
24thWilliam Clark*Whig
25thJosiah B. Williams*Whigon January 22, elected President pro tempore
26thAndrew B. Dickinson*Whig
27thWilliam S. Bishop*Whig
28thBen Field*Whig
29thWilliam H. GoodwinAmericanelected to fill vacancy, in place of Myron H. Clark:
took his seat on February 5
30thMartin Butts*Whig
31stJames O. Putnam*American
32ndAlvah H. Walker*Whig

Employees

Assemblymen

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

Employees