Report on the Address of the Committee of Canvassers to John Jay and his Reply, with a Copy of the Certificate of his Election, 8 June 1795
Report on the Address of the Committee of Canvassers to John Jay and his Reply, with a Copy of the Certificate of his Election
[New York, 8 June 1795]
On Saturday at noon the joint Committee of Canvassers assembled at the office of the Secretary of State, and from thence accompanied by the Secretary, proceeded to the house of Mr. Jay; when Mr. Hoffman, in behalf of the committee, presented to Mr. Jay the certificate of his election to the Office of Governor: preceding it by an Address which (as nearly as the noise attending the large and respectable assemblage of citizens would enable us to hear) was as follows—
“That he was assigned by the committee appointed to canvas the votes taken at the last election for Governor, Lt. Governor, and Senators, to deliver him the Certificate of his election; in doing which he felt real pleasure. That by it, the people of the State of New-York called him to the chair of Government.[”]
“That, selected as the organ of their voice, the committee united in the most unbounded confidence in his virtue and patriotism; and trusted that under his administration the welfare of the State would be promoted, and the people live united, happy and free.”
Mr. Jay replied by expressing to the Committee “his gratitude for this proof of the confidence of his fellow citizens as intimated in the certificate which he had then the honor to receive:— That he should endeavor by his continual exertions to answer as far as in his power the hopes which the committee had been pleased to express of his administration; and no pains should be spared to promote the public good and to advance the prosperity and harmony of the people of this state— That the general satisfaction he saw prevail on the fair and impartial conduct of the committee in their canvas, while it reflected honor on them, would furnish an example deserving of imitation.”
A very numerous body of Citizens then presented their congratulations to Mr. JAY on his election.
On the arrival of the committee at Mr. JAY’s, a Federal salute was fired from the Battery, and in the afternoon the committee dined with Mr. JAY at his house.
The following is a true copy of the Certificate, taken from the Original:
State of New-York, to wit.
WE the subscribers being the joint committee appointed by the Senate and Assembly, in pursuance of the act entitled “an act for regulating elections,”1 to canvas and estimate the votes taken at the last election for Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Senators, having met for that purpose, at the office of the Secretary of State, on the 1st Tuesday of May last, and there on that day, and on the ten next succeeding days (Sunday excepted) canvassed and estimated the votes taken for Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Senators, at the said last election; Do upon said canvas and estimate, determine and declare that JOHN JAY, was by the greatest number of votes at the said election chosen Governor of this State, and that STEPHEN VAN RENSELAER, was by the greatest number of votes at the said election, chosen Lieutenant Governor of this State: and that Samuel Jones, Joshua Sands, and Philip Livingston, were severally and respectively by the greatest number of votes, at the said election, in the Southern District of this State, chosen Senators in the said Southern District; the said Philip Livingston being chosen in the room of Matthew Clarkson, and that Thomas Tillotson, and Abraham Schenck, were severally and respectively, by the greatest number of votes at said election, in the Middle District of this State, chosen Senators in the said Middle District: and that Ebenezer Russell and Ambrose Spencer, were severally and respectively chosen by the greatest number of votes, at the said election, in the Eastern District of this State, chosen Senators in the said Eastern District: the said Ambrose Spencer, being chosen in the room of John Williams, and that Philip Schuyler, was by the greatest number of votes, at the said election, in the Western District of this State, chosen a Senator in said Western District.2
Given under our hands at said office of the Secretary of this State in the City of New-York, the sixth day of June, in the nineteenth year of the Independence of this State, and in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety-five.
| Signed | |
| Peter Vandervoort | Selah Strong |
| Jacob Radclift | John Schenck |
| Hosea Moffit | J. Van Schoonhoven |
| Jos. Ogden Hoffman | Michael Myers |
| Matthew Scott | Reuben Hopkins |
| Abel Smith | John D. Coe3 |
PtD, Daily Advertiser (New York), 8 June 1795. Reprinted: Gazette of the United States (Philadelphia), 9 June; Dunlap’s American Daily Advertiser (Philadelphia), 10 June; Wood’s Newark Gazette (E), 10 June; Greenleaf’s New York Journal (E), 10 June; Connecticut Courant (Hartford), 15 June; Mohawk Mercury (Schenectady), 16 June; Columbian Centinel (Boston), 17 June; Political Gazette (Newburyport), 18 June; United States Chronicle (Providence) (E), 18 June; Albany Gazette, 19 June; Oracle of the Day (Portsmouth), 20 June; Washington Patrol (Salem, N.Y.) (E), 24 June; New-Hampshire Gazette (Portsmouth), 30 June; and American Minerva (Cooperstown), 1 July 1795.
1. An act for regulating elections. Together with an act for regulating town-meetings. Passed by the representatives of the people of the state of New-York, at their tenth session. 1787 (New York, [1787]; , series 1, no. 20572); N.Y. State Laws, (1777–97) 1: 316–31.
2. Elected to the 1795 New York State Senate were Federalist Samuel Jones who received 2,766 votes; Federalist Joshua Sands (1757–1835), state senator, 1792–97, collector for the Port of New York, 1797–1801, and congressman 1803–5, 1825–27, who received 2,856 votes; Federalist Philip Livingston who received 2,584 votes; Republican Thomas Tillotson, state senator from 1791 to 1799, who received 2,739 votes; Abraham Schenck of Fishkill, state senator from 1796 to 1799, who received 2,701 votes; Federalist Ebenezer Russell of Washington County, state senator from 1796 to 1803, received 4,752 votes; Ambrose Spencer (1765–1848), assemblyman, 1793–95, and senator, 1795–1804, New York attorney general, 1802–4, associate justice of the Supreme Court of New York, 1804–19, and state Chief Justice, 1819–22, who received 2,734 votes; and Federalist Philip Schuyler who received 4,433 votes. (accessed Aug. 2018).
3. The members of the Committee of Canvassers were state assemblymen Peter Vandervoort of Kings County; Jacob Radclift (Radcliff) (1764–1844), Federalist, Dutchess County; Hosea Moffit (1757–1825), Federalist, Rensselaer County; Josiah Ogden Hoffman, Federalist, New York City and County; Matthew Scott of Columbia County; Abel Smith of Westchester; and state senators Selah Strong (1737–1815) and John Schenck (1740–1831) of the southern district; Jacobus Van Schoonhoven (1744–1814) and Michael Myers (1753–1814) of the western district; and Reuben Hopkins (1748–1822) and John D. Coe (1755–1824), Federalist, of the middle district.