List of speakers of the New York General Assembly

Speaker of the New York General Assembly
Speaker of the New York General Assembly
	Seal of the Province of New York, 1767
Formation	October 14, 1683
First holder	James Graham
Final holder	John Cruger
Abolished	May 1775
Succession	Speaker of the New York State Assembly

The Speaker of the New York General Assembly was the highest official in the New York General Assembly, the first representative governing body in New York from 1683 to 1775 when the assembly disbanded after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War.^[1]

As in most countries with a British heritage, the speaker presides over the lower house of the legislature and was elected from within the ranks of the General Assembly.

New York General Assembly

The New York General Assembly was first convened on October 14, 1683, during the governorship of Thomas Dongan, 2nd Earl of Limerick, which passed an act entitled "A Charter of Liberties" that decreed that the supreme legislative power under the Duke of York shall reside in a governor, council, and the people convened in general assembly; conferred upon the members of the assembly rights and privileges making them a body coequal to and independent of the British Parliament; established town, county, and general courts of justice; solemnly proclaimed the right of religious liberty; and passed acts enunciating certain constitutional liberties, e.g. taxes could be levied only by the people met in general assembly; right of suffrage; and no martial law or quartering of the soldiers without the consent of the inhabitants.^[2]

The General Assembly elected a Speaker from their own ranks, chose their own clerk, and published their own journal.^[3]

List of speakers

The following were elected from the General Assembly to serve as Speaker of the Assembly.^[a]^[3]^[4]

Speaker	District	Took office	Left office	Notes
James Graham	New York County^[b]	April 9, 1691 October 26, 1692 September 3, 1693	September 13, 1692 July 27, 1693 November 16, 1693	Three terms
Henry Pierson	Suffolk County	March 2, 1694	April 20, 1695
James Graham	New York County	June 20, 1695	April 2, 1698
Philip French	New York County	May 19, 1698	June 14, 1698
James Graham	New York County	March 2, 1699	May 15, 1699^[c]
Abraham Gouverneur	New York County	May 15, 1699 August 19, 1701	June 1, 1701 May 3, 1702
William Nicoll	Suffolk County	October 20, 1702 June 7, 1705 August 18, 1708 April 5, 1709 September 1, 1710 July 2, 1711 May 27, 1713 May 3, 1715 June 5, 1716	November 6, 1704 May 5, 1707 January 5, 1709 November 12, 1709 April 20, 1711 March 3, 1713 September 9, 1714^[d] August 11, 1715 May 27, 1718^[e]	A son of 6th New York City mayor Matthias Nicoll, and the father of the man who served as Speaker between 1759 and 1768.
Robert Livingston Jr.	Livingston Manor^[f]	May 27, 1718	July 24, 1724	An uncle of the below-named Philip Livingston
Adolph Philipse	New York County	August 6, 1725^[g] September 27, 1726 September 30, 1727 July 28, 1728	August 10, 1726 August 21, 1727^[h] November 25, 1727 May 30, 1737
Lewis Morris Jr.	Westchester County^[i]	June 15, 1737	October 20, 1738	Father of Lewis Morris
Adolph Philipse	New York County	March 27, 1739 November 8, 1743	December 27, 1743 May 14, 1745
David Jones	Queens County^[j]	June 25, 1745 February 12, 1747 September 4, 1750 October 24, 1752	November 25, 1747 July 20, 1750 November 25, 1751 December 17, 1758
William Nicoll	Suffolk County	January 31, 1759 March 10, 1761	March 2, 1761^[k] February 6, 1768	A son of the man who served as Speaker between 1702 and 1718
Philip Livingston	New York County	October 27, 1768	January 2, 1769	A nephew of the above-named Robert Livingston
John Cruger	New York County	April 4, 1769	April 8, 1775

References

Notes

^ No journals or records of names of members of general assembly, between 1683 and 1691, are preserved.^[3]
^ The current New York County; Manhattan.
^ Graham was replaced by Abraham Gouverneur during the 7th Assembly.
^ The 15th Assembly was dissolved upon the death of Queen Anne which occurred on August 1, 1714.
^ Nicoll resigned May 27, 1718 due to ill health.^[4]
^ Livingston Manor was a 160,000 acre (650 square kilometres (250 sq mi)) tract of land granted to Robert Livingston the Elder and confirmed by royal charter of George I of Great Britain in 1715, creating the manor and lordship of Livingston.^[5] The original patent was obtained in July 1686.^[6]
^ Elected in place of Livingston, who was absent on August 1, 1725.
^ The 18th Assembly was dissolved upon the death of George I which occurred on June 11, 1727.
^ Now, Westchester and Bronx counties.
^ Now, Queens and Nassau counties.
^ The 18th Assembly was dissolved upon the death of George II which occurred on October 25, 1760.