57th New York State Legislature
← 56th 58th →
The Old State Capitol (1879)
Overview
Legislative body	New York State Legislature
Jurisdiction	New York, United States
Term	January 1 – December 31, 1834
Senate
Members	32
President	Lt. Gov. John Tracy (J)
Party control	Jacksonian (25-7)
Assembly
Members	128
Speaker	William Baker (J)
Party control	Jacksonian
Sessions
1st January 7 – May 6, 1834

The 57th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 7 to May 6, 1834, during the second year of William L. Marcy's governorship, in Albany.

Background

Under the provisions of the New York Constitution of 1821, 32 Senators were elected on general tickets in eight 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.

At the time of the state election in 1833, there were three political parties: the Jacksonian Democrats, the Anti-Masonic Party, and the National Republican Party. The latter two parties had formed an Anti-Jacksonian bloc at the previous election.

Elections

The State election was held from November 4 to 6, 1833. State Senators Thomas Armstrong (7th D.) and Albert H. Tracy (8th D.) were re-elected. Leonard Maison (2nd D.), John C. Kemble (3rd D.), Isaac W. Bishop (4th D.), Ebenezer Mack (6th D.); and Assembly Speaker Charles L. Livingston (1st D.) and Assembly Clerk Francis Seger (5th D.) were also elected to the Senate. Tracy was an Anti-Jacksonian, the other seven were Jacksonians.

Sessions

The Legislature met for the regular session at the Old State Capitol in Albany on January 7, 1834; and adjourned on May 6.

William Baker (J) was elected Speaker unopposed.

On February 7, the Legislature re-elected State Treasurer Abraham Keyser, Jr.

On January 15, Assemblyman Samuel S. Bowne introduced "An act to abolish capital punishment, and to provide for the punishment of certain crimes". On March 8, the Assembly rejected the bill, after much debate, with a vote of 49 to 37.^[1]

About the time of the New York City election in April 1834, the Anti-Jacksonians assumed the name of Whig Party, and the Jacksonians became the Democratic Party.

The Whig state convention nominated State Senator William H. Seward for governor, and Silas M. Stilwell for lieutenant governor.

The Democratic state convention met on September 10 at Herkimer and nominated Gov. Marcy and Lt. Gov. Tracy for re-election.

State Senate

State Assembly

Notes

Sources

• The New York Civil List compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858) [pg. 109 and 441 for Senate districts; pg. 130 for senators; pg. 148f for Assembly districts; pg. 214ff for assemblymen]
• The History of Political Parties in the State of New-York, from the Ratification of the Federal Constitution to 1840 by Jabez D. Hammond (4th ed., Vol. 2, Phinney & Co., Buffalo, 1850; pg. 435 to 442)