United States Senate election in New York, 1857

The 1857 United States Senate election in New York was held on February 3, 1857, by the New York State Legislature to elect a U.S. Senator (Class 1) to represent the State of New York in the United States Senate.

Background

Whig Hamilton Fish had been elected in 1851 to this seat, and his term would expire on March 3, 1857.

In 1855, the Whig Party and the Anti-Nebraska Party merged in New York to form the Republican Party.

At the State election in November 1855, 16 Republicans, 11 Americans, 4 Democrats and 1 Temperance man were elected for a two-year term (1856-1857) in the State Senate. At the State election in November 1856, 81 Republicans, 31 Democrats and 8 Americans were elected to the Assembly for the session of 1857. The 80th New York State Legislature met from January 6 to April 18, 1857, at Albany, New York.

Candidates

Preston King was nominated by a caucus of Republican State legislators. King had been a Democratic congressman from 1843 to 1847, a Free Soil congressman from 1849 to 1853, and had joined the Republican Party upon its foundation at the State convention in September 1855. The convention nominated King for Secretary of State, but he was defeated by Joel T. Headley in a four-way race.

Secretary of State Joel T. Headley was the candidate of the American Party.

State Senator Daniel E. Sickles was the candidate of the Democratic Party.

Election

In the Assembly the vote confirmed the party caucus selections. When State Senator Sickles received votes, the same objection to his eligibility was raised as was in 1833 regarding Nathaniel P. Tallmadge. This time, Speaker DeWitt C. Littlejohn ruled that the objection was "partially tenable and partially not so." However, the Speaker held that any member could vote for anybody, and only if the candidate received sufficient votes to win the election, a decision would be required. Otherwise, like in this case, the eligibility of an also-ran was irrelevant.

In the State Senate, only 24 votes were given. Zenas Clark (Rep.) and John B. Halsted (Rep.) were sick at home. Eaton J. Richardson (Rep.) paired with Sidney Sweet (Am.). Joseph H. Petty (Am.) was absent. William Kelly (Dem.), Mark Spencer (Dem.), and the Democratic candidate Sickles himself, declined to vote.

State Senator Justin A. Smith (Am.) raised the question if the vote for Sickles could be counted. A new State Constitution had been adopted in 1846, which had clarified the question of eligibility of State legislators. Smith quoted from the State Constitution: "No member of the Legislature shall receive any civil appointment within thios State, or to the Senate of the United States, from the Governor, the Governor and Senate, or from the Legislature, during the term for which he shall have been elected; and all votes given for any such member, for any such office or appointment, shall be void." Lt. Gov. Henry R. Selden (later a judge of the New York Court of Appeals) decided to count the vote, holding that the United States Constitution described the eligibility for the office and devolved on the State legislatures only the power to prescribe the "times, places and manners of holding the elections for that office", thus not implying a right for the State governments to exclude any person who would be eligible under the U.S. Constitution.^[1]

Result

Preston King was the choice of both the Assembly and the Senate, and was declared elected.

**1857 United States Senator election result**
Office	House	Republican		Democrat		American
U.S. Senator	State Senate (32 members)	Preston King	14	Daniel E. Sickles	1	Joel T. Headley	9
	State Assembly (128 members)	Preston King	77	Daniel E. Sickles	33	Joel T. Headley	6

Aftermath

King served one term, and remained in office until March 3, 1863.

Notes

↑ Journal of the Senate of the State of New York (80th Session) (pages 171f)

Sources

The New York Civil List compiled in 1858 (see: pg. 63 for U.S. Senators [gives wrong date "February 6"]; pg. 137 for State Senators 1857; pg. 252ff for Members of Assembly 1857)
STATE AFFAIRS.; The Election of Preston King as United States Senator in NYT on February 4, 1857
Result Senate: Journal of the Senate (80th Session) (1857; pg. 171)
Result Assembly: Journal of the Assembly (80th Session) (1857; pg. 245f)

Elections in New York

General	1844 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1900 1902 1903 1904 1906 1907 1908 1910 1912 1913 1914 1916 1917 1918 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1926 1927 1928 1930 1932 1933 1934 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1942 1943 1944 1946 1949 1950 1952 1953 1954 1956 1958 1959 1960 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1972 1973 1974 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014

NY State Senate	1984 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014

NY State Assembly	1984 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014

NY Governor	1777 1780 1783 1786 1789 1792 1795 1798 1801 1804 1807 1810 1811 1813 1816 1817 1820 1822 1824 1826 1828 1830 1832 1834 1836 1838 1840 1842 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018

NY Attorney General	1998 2002 2006 2010 2014

NY Comptroller	1998 2002 2006 2010 2014

NY Judicial	1847 S 1870 S 1959 1960 1969

U.S. President	1792 1796 1800 1804 1808 1812 1816 1820 1824 1828 1832 1836 1840 1844 1848 1852 1856 1860 1864 1868 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016

U.S. Senate	Class 1: 1789 1791 1797 1798 S1 1798 S2 1800 S1 1803 1804 S2 1809 1815 1821 1827 1829 S 1833 1839–40 1845 1851 1857 1863 1869 1875 1881 1881 S 1887 1893 1899 1905 1911 1916 1922 1928 1934 1938 S 1940 1946 1952 1958 1964 1970 1976 1982 1988 1994 2000 2006 2010 S 2012 Class 3: 1789 1795 1796 S 1800 S2 1801 1802 S 1804 S1 1807 1813 1819–20 1825–26 1831 1833 S 1837 1843 1845 S 1849 1855 1861 1867 1873 1879 1881 S 1885 1891 1897 1903 1909 1914 1920 1926 1932 1938 1944 1949 S 1950 1956 1962 1968 1974 1980 1986 1992 1998 2004 2010 2016

U.S. House	1789 1790 1793 1794 1796 1798 1800 1802 1804 1806 1808 1810 1812 1814 1816 1818 1821 1822 1824 1826 1828 1830 1832 1834 1836 1838 1840 1842 1844 1846 1848 1850 1852 1854 1856 1858 1860 1862 1864 1866 1868 1870 1872 1874 1876 1878 1880 1882 1884 1886 1888 1890 1892 1894 1896 1898 1900 1902 1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1918 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940 1942 1944 1946 1948 1950 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 (6th S) 2000 2002 2004 2006 (13th, 20th, 29th) 2008 (19th, 20th, 25th, 26th, 29th) 2009 (20th S, 23rd S) 2010 (29th) 2011 (9th S, 26th S) 2012 2014 2016 Special

'S,' 'S1,' and 'S2' denote special election See also: Political party strength in New York

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/26/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.