1840 Massachusetts legislature

The 61st Massachusetts General Court, consisting of the Massachusetts Senate and the Massachusetts House of Representatives, met in 1840 during the governorship of Marcus Morton. Daniel P. King served as president of the Senate and Robert Charles Winthrop served as speaker of the House.[4]

61st
Massachusetts General Court
60th (1839) 62nd (1841)
Seal of the General Court of Massachusetts
Overview
Legislative bodyMassachusetts General Court
TermJanuary 1, 1840 (1840-01-01) – January 6, 1841 (1841-01-06)
Senate
Members40
PresidentDaniel P. King
Party controlWhig
House
Members521 [1]
SpeakerRobert Charles Winthrop
Party controlWhig
Sessions
1stJanuary 1, 1840 (1840-01-01) – March 24, 1840 (1840-03-24) [2][3]

On January 22, 1840, the governor gave a speech.[3]

Composition by party edit

Overview of Senate membership by party
  Party
(shading shows control)
Total Vacant
Democratic (D) Whig (W)
Begin (January 1, 1840) 19 21 40 0
Latest voting share 47.50% 52.50%  

Leadership edit

Members edit

Senate edit

The 40 seats are apportioned to each county or counties, based upon population size, to be elected at-large.[5]

Barnstable edit

At-large. Charles Marsten (W)

Berkshire edit

At-large. Russell Brown (D)
At-large. Increase Sumner (D)

Bristol edit

At-large. Foster Hooper (D)
At-large. Horatio Pratt (D)
At-large. Seth Whitmarsh (D)

Dukes and Nantucket edit

At-large. George B. Upton (W)

Essex edit

At-large. Amos Abbott (W)
At-large. David Choate (W)
At-large. Daniel P. King (W)
At-large. Samuel Lane (W)
At-large. Josiah Little (W)
At-large. John S. Williams (W)

Franklin edit

At-large. George T. Davies (W)

Hampden edit

At-large. Matthew Ives, Jr. (D)
At-large. Asa Lincoln (D)

Hampshire edit

At-large. William Bowdoin (W)
At-large. Timothy A. Phelps (W)

Middlesex edit

At-large. Thomas J. Greenwood (D)
At-large. Joseph W. Mansur (D)
At-large. Leonard M. Parker (D)
At-large. James Russell (D)
At-large. Sidney Willard (W)

Norfolk edit

At-large. Lucas Pond (D)
At-large. Bradford L. Wales (D)
At-large. Benjamin P. Williams (D)

Plymouth edit

At-large. Seth Sprague, Jr. (W)
At-large. Jared Whitman (W)

Suffolk edit

At-large. Edmund Dwight (D)
At-large. Isaac Harris (W)
At-large. William J. Hubbard (W)
At-large. George Morey (W)
At-large. Josiah Quincy, Jr. (W)
At-large. James Savage (W)

Worcester edit

At-large. Benjamin Estabrook (D)
At-large. Charles C. P. Hastings (W)
At-large. Jedediah Marcy (D)
At-large. Charles Sibley (D)
At-large. Nathaniel Wood (D)
At-large. Samuel Wood (W)

House of Representatives edit

The members of the House of Representatives are apportioned by incorporated township and therefore the number of representatives in the House of Representatives can vary. Every incorporated township that has at least 150 ratable polls (taxable persons) is given one representative and for every additional 225 ratable polls, another representative is given. Townships can choose not to send a representative to the House each session, therefore the total number of filled seats can fluctuate year-to-year.[6] Only the townships that sent representatives are listed below.

Barnstable edit

Barnstable. Daniel Basset (D)
Barnstable. Nathaniel Hinckley (D)
Barnstable. Thomas B. Lewis (D)
Brewster. Josiah Foster (W)
Chatham. Samuel Doane (D)
Chatham. Henry Gorham (D)
Dennis. Seth Crowell (W)
Dennis. Samuel Rogers (W)
Eastham. Barnabas Freeman (D)
Falmouth. Silas Jones (W)
Falmouth. Elijah Swift (W)
Harwich. Cyrus Weeks (W)
Harwich. Richard Baker, Jr. (W)
Orleans. Luther Snow (W)
Orleans. Nathaniel Freeman (D)
Provincetown. John Atkins (W)
Provincetown. David Cook II (W)
Sandwich. Josiah Bacon (W)
Sandwich. Benjamin Bourne (W)
Sandwich. Charles Nye (W)
Truro. Freeman Atkins (W)
Truro. Jedediah Shed (D)
Wellfleet. Nathaniel P. Wiley (D)
Wellfleet. Solomon R. Hawes (D)
Yarmouth. Silvanus Crowell (W)
Yarmouth. Freeman Taylor (W)

Berkshire edit

Adams. Snell Babbit (W)
Adams. Lorenzo Rice (W)
Adams. Ezra D. Whitaker (W)
Alford. Elijah K. Williams (D)
Cheshire. Noah Y. Bushnell (D)
Dalton. John Chamberlain (D)
Egremont. Rich P. Brown (D)
Great Barrington. Perley D. Whitmore (W)
Great Barrington. Philip Barnes (W)
Hinsdale. William Hinsdale (W)
Lanesborough. Asahel Buck, Jr. (D)
Lee. Eli Bradley (W)
Lee. Leonard Church (W)
Lenox. Henry H. Cook (D)
New Ashford. Phineas Harmon (W)
New Marlborough. George Smith (W)
Otis. Curtis Hunt (D)
Peru. Edward T. Nash (W)
Pittsfield. James Francis (W)
Pittsfield. Jabez Peck (W)
Pittsfield. Comfort B. Platt (W)
Richmond. Seneca Pettee (D)
Sandisfield. David Belden (D)
Savoy. Philip Pierce (D)
Sheffield. Orrin Curtis (D)
Sheffield. Moses Forbes (D)
Stockbridge. John M. Cooper (D)
Stockbridge. Charles Webster (D)
Tyringham. Amos Langdon, Jr. (D)
Washington. John S. Noble (D)
Williamstown. James Corbin (D)
Williamstown. Henry Johnson (D)
Windsor. Moses Ford (D)

Bristol edit

Dukes edit

Chilmark. Daniel Flanders (D)
Edgartown. David Davis (D)
Edgartown. Elihu P. Norton (D)
Tisbury. Bartlett Allen (D)
Tisbury. Asa Johnson (D)

Essex edit

Franklin edit

Hampden edit

Hampshire edit

Middlesex edit

Nantucket edit

Nantucket. George Bradburn (W)
Nantucket. Jonathan C. Briggs (W)
Nantucket. Benjamin Gardner (W)
Nantucket. Samuel H. Jenks (W)
Nantucket. William B. Mitchell (W)
Nantucket. David Joy (W)

Norfolk edit

Plymouth edit

Suffolk edit

Boston. Amos Binney (W)
Boston. George T. Bigelow (W)
Boston. John Boles (W)
Boston. Noah Brooks (W)
Boston. William C. Brown (D)
Boston. Francis Brown (W)
Boston. George T. Curtis (W)
Boston. George Darracott (W)
Boston. Isaac P. Davis (W)
Boston. Thomas A. Davis (W)
Boston. Daniel Denny (W)
Boston. Franklin Dexter (W)
Boston. Frederic Emerson (W)
Boston. David Francis (W)
Boston. John Gardner (W)
Boston. James W. Gates (W)
Boston. John C. Gray (W)
Boston. Samuel Greele (W)
Boston. John Green, Jr. (W)
Boston. Ozias Goodwin (W)
Boston. Frederick Gould (W)
Boston. Nathan Gurney (W)
Boston. Samuel W. Hall (W)
Boston. James Harris (W)
Boston. Eliphalet P. Hartshorn (W)
Boston. John P. Healy (W)
Boston. Robert Hooper, Jr. (W)
Boston. Cranston Howe (W)
Boston. Thomas Hunting (W)
Boston. Robert Keith (W)
Boston. William Lawrence (W)
Boston. Ezekiel W. Leach (W)
Boston. Benson Leavitt (W)
Boston. Joseph Lewis (W)
Boston. Theophilus R. Marvin (W)
Boston. Nahum Mitchell (W)
Boston. Francis J. Oliver (W)
Boston. William W. Parrott (W)
Boston. Theophilus Parsons (W)
Boston. Thomas Patten (W)
Boston. George W. Phillips (W)
Boston. Lewis G. Pray (W)
Boston. Samuel Quincy (W)
Boston. John Raynor (W)
Boston. Joseph W. Revere (W)
Boston. Jeffrey Richardson (W)
Boston. Daniel Safford (W)
Boston. J. Thomas Stevenson (W)
Boston. Woodbridge Strong (W)
Boston. Josiah Vinton, Jr. (W)
Boston. Thomas B. Wales (W)
Boston. John B. Wells (W)
Boston. James M. Whiton (W)
Boston. William Willett (W)
Boston. Horatio M. Willis (W)
Boston. Robert C. Winthrop (W)

Worcester edit

Officers and officials edit

Congressional officers edit

  • Sergeant-at-Arms to the Legislature: Benjamin Stevens
  • Messenger to Governor and Council: William Manning
  • Watchman to State-House: Edmund S. Brigham

Senate officers edit

  • Chaplain: Rev. Daniel M. Lord
  • Clerk: Charles Calhoun
  • Assistant Clerk: W. P. Gregg
  • Doorkeeper to Senate: Milton Hall

House of Representatives officers edit

  • Chaplain: Rev. Joy H. Fairchild
  • Chaplain: Rev. Benjamin Whittemore
  • Clerk: Luther S. Cushing
  • Doorkeeper to the House of Representatives: Elijah W. Cutting
  • Doorkeeper to the House of Representatives: David Murphey
  • Doorkeeper to the House of Representatives: Alexis Pool

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Composition of the State of Massachusetts House of Representatives", Resources on Massachusetts Political Figures in the State Library, Mass.gov, archived from the original on June 6, 2020
  2. ^ "Length of Legislative Sessions". Manual for the Use of the General Court. Boston: Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 2009. p. 348+.
  3. ^ a b S. N. Dickinson, Boston Almanac for the Year 1841, Boston: Thomas Groom, hdl:2027/njp.32101056187543
  4. ^ "Organization of the Legislature Since 1780". Manual for the Use of the General Court. Boston: Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 2009. p. 340+.
  5. ^ "Civil Government of Massachusetts". Massachusetts Register and United States Calendar for 1840 – via HathiTrust.
  6. ^ Chapter I, Section III, Article II of the Constitution of Massachusetts (1780)

External links edit

  • Massachusetts General Court, Bills (Legislative Documents) and Journals: 1840, hdl:2452/738674
  • Massachusetts Acts and Resolves: 1840, hdl:2452/92922