1798 New York gubernatorial election

none January 2025 November 2013 1798 New York gubernatorial election New York 1778 Presidential no 1795 New York gubernatorial election 1795 1801 New York gubernatorial election 1801 April 1798 x150px John Jay (cropped).jpg John Jay Federalist Party (United States) 16,012 54.01% PORTRAIT OF ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON, FIRST SECRETARY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS UNDER THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS (Cropped).jpg Robert R. Livingston Democratic-Republican Party 13,632 45.99% 1798 New York gubernatorial election results map by county.svg 300px County resultsJay: #8da9e2 50–60% #678cd7 60–70% #4170cd 70–80% #3358a2 80–90% #244079 >90% Livingston: #73bc84 50–60% #3fa457 60–70% #008c21 70–80% #006e1a 80–90% Governor John Jay Federalist Party (United States) John Jay Federalist Party (United States) The 1798 New York gubernatorial election was held in April 1798 to elect the Governor and Lieutenant Governor of New York. Incumbent Governor John Jay was elected to a second term in office over Robert Livingston. The election was a referendum on American foreign policy during the French Revolutionary Wars, specifically the 1794 Jay Treaty between the United States and Kingdom of Great Britain, which Jay had negotiated prior to his election in 1795. Amid growing tensions with the French Republic following the XYZ Affair and outbreak of the Quasi-War with France, Jay easily won re-election. Background Governor John Jay was sworn into office on July 1, 1798, but quickly became personally unpopular throughout the country when news of the treaty he negotiated with Great Britain became public in the United States. Public displays of violent opposition to the treaty erupted, including a burning effigy of Governor Jay in Philadelphia. Opposition was so strong that Jay's Federalist Party lost a congressional election in their stronghold of New York City.Jenkins 1846 56 Jay also proposed a bill for the gradual abolition of slavery, but the legislature rejected his proposal in favor of a resolution favoring the rights of property owners.Jenkins 1846 58 The party lost seats in the fall 1796 congressional and spring 1797 state elections, where De Witt Clinton, the nephew of Jay's Republican predecessor George Clinton, was elected to the Assembly from the former stronghold of Manhattan.Jenkins 1846 6063Ellis Frost Syrett Carman 1957 130 The Federalist Party of New York was also divided by the presidential election of 1796, in which most Federalists, including Jay, supported Vice President John Adams, but Alexander Hamilton supported Thomas Pinckney of South Carolina. Qualifications Under Article VII of the New York Constitution of 1777, only certain male freeholders and certain freemen of Albany or New York City could vote:Jenkins 1846 36 VII. That every male inhabitant of full age, who shall have personally resided within one of the counties of this State for six months immediately preceding the day of election, shall, at such election, be entitled to vote for representatives of the said county in assembly; if, during the time aforesaid, he shall have been a freeholder, possessing a freehold of the value of twenty pounds, within the said county, or have rented a tenement therein of the yearly value of forty shillings, and been rated and actually paid taxes to this State: Provided always, That every person who now is a freeman of the city of Albany, or who was made a freeman of the city of New York on or before the fourteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, and shall be actually and usually resident in the said cities, respectively, shall be entitled to vote for representatives in assembly within his said place of residence. General election Candidates John Jay, incumbent Governor since 1795 (Federalist) Robert R. Livingston, Chancellor of New York and former United States Secretary of Foreign Affairs (Republican) Jay was renominated at a legislative caucus of the Federalist Party on March 6.Jenkins 1846 66 Robert Livingston had been one of the most ardent advocates of the United States Constitution at the Poughkeepsie ratifying convention of 1788, but by 1790, his family identified with the Jeffersonian faction in politics, ostensibly over opposition to Alexander Hamilton's plan for the establishment of a national bank and federal assumption of state debts. The Livingstons may also have left the Federalists out of resentment of Hamilton and Jay's authority within the party and of Robert being passed over for Chief Justice of the United States in favor of Jay.Jenkins 1846 6263Ellis Frost Syrett Carman 1957 128 On February 6, 1797, he attended a public anniversary celebration for the Franco-American alliance, at which he made his opposition to the Jay Treaty known.Jenkins 1846 62 Campaign By the time the spring 1798 elections approached, the XYZ Affair and Quasi-War appeared to vindicate the Jay Treaty and the Federalists' opposition to the French Republic, which became unpopular in the state.Ellis Frost Syrett Carman 130–31 1957 Results The election passed uneventfully; Jay was re-elected by an increased majority, though Republicans gained in the legislature.Jenkins 1846 66 1798 New York gubernatorial electionA New Nation Votes, American Election Returns 1787 - 1825 John Jay (incumbent) Federalist Party 16,012 54.01% 0.22 Robert Livingston Democratic-Republican Party 13,632 45.99% 0.22 29,644 100.00% See also New York gubernatorial elections New York state elections References Bibliography Ellis David M. A History of New York State Frost James A. James A. Frost Syrett Harold C. Harold Syrett Carman Harry J. Harry Carman Cornell University Press 1957 2d Ithaca, N.Y. https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_OKQXxWCJ07kC/ History of Political Parties in the State of New-York Jenkins John Stilwell 1846 Alden & Markham Auburn, N.Y. 1798 New York Gubernatorial Category:John Jay