Under the provisions of the New York Constitution of 1846, 32 Senators and 128 assemblymen were elected in single-seat districts; senators for a two-year term, assemblymen for a one-year term. The senatorial districts were made up of entire counties, except New York County (five districts) and Kings County (two districts). The Assembly districts were made up of entire towns, or city wards,[1] forming a contiguous area, all within the same county.
The 1878 New York state election was held on November 5. The only statewide elective office up for election was carried by a Republican. The approximate party strength at this election, as expressed by the vote for Judge of the Court of Appeals, was: Republican 391,000; Democratic 356,000; Greenback 75,000;[2] and Prohibition 4,000.
Sessions
The Legislature met for the regular session at the State Capitol in Albany on January 7, 1879; and adjourned on May 22.
On January 7, senators and assemblymen met at the Old Capitol and then marched together to the New Capitol, taking officially possession of the new accommodations. The New Capitol was then still under construction, being finished only in 1899; and the Senate met for the time being in the Court of Appeals chamber. Due to heavy snowfall, many members had not arrived yet from the Western parts of the State, and the Legislature adjourned.
On April 23, the Legislature re-apportioned the Senate districts; and the Assembly seats per county. Columbia, Delaware, Madison, Oneida, Ontario and Oswego counties lost one seat each; Kings and New York counties gained three seats each.[4]
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.
^Except New York City where the wards were apportioned into election districts, and then some whole wards and some election districts of other wards were gerrymandered together into Assembly districts.
^The large Greenback vote was polled by Ex-Secretary of State Gideon J. Tucker, a Tammany Hall man who ran as a "spoiler candidate" to defeat the regular Democratic nominee. This was orchestrated by Tammany Boss John Kelly who engaged in a fierce struggle against the Democratic majority led by Samuel J. Tilden and Lucius Robinson. The split led to the defeat of Gov. Robinson who ran for re-election the next year, being opposed by Republican Alonzo B. Cornell and Kelly himself who ran as a spoiler candidate.
