United States Senate election in New York, 1839/1840

The 1839/1840 United States Senate election in New York was held on February 5, 1839, and January 14, 1840, 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

Nathaniel P. Tallmadge had been elected as a Jacksonian Democrat in 1833 to this seat, and his term would expire on March 3, 1839.

After the Panic of 1837, the Whigs managed to wrest the power from the Democrats. At the State election in November 1837, 101 Whigs and 27 Democrats were elected to the Assembly, and 6 Whigs and 2 Democrats were elected to the State Senate.

In 1838, the Whigs nominated William H. Seward for Governor, the Democrats re-nominated Governor Marcy. A faction of former Democrats met on October 3 at Syracuse, New York under the name of "Conservatives," among them U.S. Senator Nathaniel P. Tallmadge, and endorsed the Whig candidates Seward and Bradish.

At the State election, Seward was elected Governor, 82 Whigs and 46 Democrats were elected to the Assembly, and 5 Whigs and 3 Democrats to the State Senate. This added up to 18 Democrats and 14 Whigs in the Senate. The 62nd New York State Legislature met from January 1 to May 7, 1839, at Albany, New York.

Candidates

The Whig State legislators met in caucus on January 31, 1839, to nominate candidates for State offices. The terms of Secretary of State John Adams Dix, State Comptroller Azariah C. Flagg, Attorney General Samuel Beardsley and State Treasurer Gamaliel H. Barstow would expire early in February, and the term of Nathaniel P. Tallmadge in the U.S. Senate early in March. Dix, Flagg and Beardsley were Democrats, and John C. Spencer, Bates Cooke and Willis Hall were nominated to succeed them. Dr. Barstow was a Whig but declined to continue in office, and Jacob Haight was nominated for Treasurer. Tallmadge, a former Democrat, was now a member of the Conservative faction, and having endorsed the Whig ticket at the last State election, had considerable support but also met some rejection. He was nominated by a "strong vote." (see Hammond, page 511).

Result 1839, no choice

On February 4, 1839, the State Legislature elected on joint ballot Spencer, Cooke, Hall and Haight to the offices they were nominated for, but on the next day they could not agree on a U.S. Senator.

The Assembly nominated Nathaniel P. Tallmadge "by the votes of all the Whig members." (see Hammond, page 512)

Although the Democratic State Senate majority did not object to be outvoted on joint ballot for the election of Whigs to State offices, they rejected the idea of electing a renegade Democrat to the U.S. Senate, and took refuge to the only means to defeat Tallmadge: They did not nominate anybody, following the precedents of 1819-1820 and 1825-1826, so that a joint ballot could not be held. On the first ballot, Tallmadge received 13 votes out of 31 cast, all Whigs.^[1] The Democratic vote was scattered among many men, nobody receiving more than 2. Four more ballots were held with a similar result.^[2] On the sixth ballot, all Whigs and two Democrats voted for Samuel Beardsley, who received 16 votes, one short of the necessary number for a nomination. The Democrats then abandoned further balloting, fearing that the Whigs would vote for anybody who received by chance three Democratic votes, just to force any nomination, thus enabling the Legislature to proceed to the joint ballot.

**1839 United States Senator election result**
Office	Candidate	Party	Senate (32 members) (first ballot)	Senate (32 members) (fourth ballot)	Senate (32 members) (fifth ballot)	Senate (32 members) (sixth ballot)	Assembly (128 members)
U.S. Senator	Nathaniel P. Tallmadge	Whig	13	13	13		82
	Samuel Nelson	Democrat	2
	Samuel Beardsley	Democrat	1	2	2	16
	William C. Bouck	Democrat	1	1	1	1
	Churchill C. Cambreleng	Democrat	1	1	1	1
	Hiram Denio	Democrat	1	1	1	1
	John A. Dix	Democrat	1	1	1	1
	Charles E. Dudley	Democrat	1	1	1	1
	Azariah C. Flagg	Democrat	1	1	1	1
	Freeborn G. Jewett	Democrat	1	1	1	1
	Ebenezer Mack	Democrat	1	1	1	1
	Charles McVean	Democrat	1	1	1	1
	Joseph D. Monell	Democrat	1	1	1	1
	John Savage	Democrat	1	1	1	1
	Jacob Sutherland	Democrat	1	1	1	1
	John Tracy	Democrat	1	1	1	1
	Greene C. Bronson	Democrat	1
	Reuben H. Walworth	Democrat	1
	Levi Beardsley	Democrat		1	1	1
	Benjamin F. Butler	Democrat		1	1	1
	Abijah Mann Jr.	Democrat		1	1	1

No further action was taken by this Legislature, and the seat became vacant on March 4, 1839.

At the State election in November 1839, 7 Whigs and 3 Democrats were elected to the State Senate, which gave the Whigs a majority, the first anti-Bucktails/Jacksonian/Democratic majority in 20 years. The 63rd New York State Legislature met from January 7 to May 14, 1840, at Albany, New York. The strength of the parties in the Assembly, as shown by the vote for Speaker, was: 68 for Whig George Washington Patterson and 56 for Democrat Levi S. Chatfield.

Result, 1840

Nathaniel P. Tallmadge received a majority in both the Assembly and the Senate, and was declared elected.

**1840 United States Senator election result**
Office	Candidate	Party	Senate (32 members)
U.S. Senator	Nathaniel P. Tallmadge	Whig	19
	Samuel Beardsley	Democrat	2
	Levi Beardsley	Democrat	1
	William C. Bouck	Democrat	1
	Benjamin F. Butler	Democrat	1
	Churchill C. Cambreleng	Democrat	1
	Hiram Denio	Democrat	1
	John A. Dix	Democrat	1
	Azariah C. Flagg	Democrat	1
	John Savage	Democrat	1
	John Tracy	Democrat	1

Aftermath

Tallmadge re-took his seat on January 27, 1840,^[3] and remained in office until June 17, 1844, when he resigned to be appointed Governor of Wisconsin Territory. Daniel S. Dickinson was appointed to fill the vacancy temporarily, and subsequently elected by the State Legislature to succeed Tallmadge.

Notes

↑ Whig John Maynard did not vote on the first five ballots.
↑ The on-line copy of the Senate journal omits the pages with the second and third ballot.
↑ Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856: Dec. 16, 1839-March 3, 1841 (page 50)

Sources

The New York Civil List compiled in 1858 (see: pg. 63 for U.S. Senators; pg. 132 for State Senators 1839 and 1840; pg. 221f for Members of Assembly 1839; pg. 223f for Members of Assembly 1840;)
Members of the 26th United States Congress (omits date on which Tallmadge took his seat)
Members of the 28th United States Congress
History of Political Parties in the State of New-York, Vol. II by Jabez Delano Hammond (State election, 1839: pg. 486; U.S. Senate election 1839: pg. 512; State election, 1839: page 517; Speaker election, 1840: pg. 519; U.S. Senate election 1840: pg. 523)
The Tribune Almanac and Political Register for 1838 published by the New York Tribune, edited by Horace Greeley (State election result 1837: page 10)
Journal of the Senate (62nd Session) (1839; pg. 107–113)
Journal of the Senate (63rd Session) (1839; pg. 86)

Elections in New York

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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

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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

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