New York gubernatorial election, 1777

The 1777 New York gubernatorial election was held in June 1777 to elect the Governor and the Lieutenant Governor.

History

The election began on June 1, but due to the American Revolution it took some time to collect and count the votes, and the official result was announced on July 9. George Clinton accepted the office of Governor on July 11 and assumed its duties immediately, pending to take the oath as soon as he could safely leave his military command. He took the oath of office on July 30.

There were no parties yet, the Democratic-Republican and Federalist Parties appeared only in 1789, until then the candidacies were personal. Besides, the candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor were not "running mates", all candidates ran independently. The New York Committee of Safety endorsed Philip Schuyler for Governor and George Clinton for Lieutenant Governor.

Result

George Clinton was elected both Governor and Lieutenant Governor. Clinton formally resigned the lieutenant governorship, leaving a vacancy.^[1] State Senator Pierre Van Cortlandt was elected President pro tempore of the State Senate, and acted as Lieutenant Governor until the end of the legislative year. Van Cortlandt was then elected in a special election and took office as Lieutenant Governor on June 30, 1778.^[2]

1777 state election results

Governor	Vote	Lieutenant Governor	Vote
George Clinton	1,828	George Clinton	1,647
Philip Schuyler	1,199	Pierre Van Cortlandt	1,098
John Morin Scott	368	Abraham Ten Broeck	748
John Jay	367
Robert R. Livingston	7
Philip Livingston	5

Notes

1. ^ George Clinton: Yeoman Politician of the New Republic by John P. Kaminski, New York State Commission on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution, University of Wisconsin--Madison Center for the Study of the American Constitution (Rowman & Littlefield, 1993, ISBN 0945612176 , ISBN 9780945612179 , page 24)
2. ^ The New York Civil List compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (page 110; Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858)

See also

• New York gubernatorial elections