New York's four senatorial districts established by the 1777 Constitution and thereafter the boundaries of the districts were frequently amended by legislative acts. The four districts persisted until the second Constitution took effect in 1823. At that time the state was divided into eight numbered Senate districts. Under the 1846 Constitution the state was redistricted into 32 Senate districts. Today there are 61 Senate districts.

A convenient listing of the counties included in the original four senatorial districts (southern, middle, eastern, and western) is found in Edgar A. Werner, Civil List and Constitutional History of the State of New York  (Albany: 1884), p. 275. (Page numbering varies in other editions.) Because the boundaries of the four districts changed so often, I will not retype here the lengthy text in Werner.

Jim Folts
Head, Reference Services
New York State Archives

>>> [log in to unmask] 02/12/02 12:13PM >>>
Can anyone tell me (or direct me to a listing of) the composition of the
state's districts (Western, Southern, Eastern, Middle) by county during
the first two decades of the 1800s; that is, which counties were in
which districts?

Gerard Koeppel
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