Provisions
V of 1801 • Census; reapportionment of assembly.
APPROVED
The Text
1801 Constitutional Amendment II [Apportionment of new assembly.]:
That the legislature, at their next session, shall apportion the said one hundred members of the assembly among the several counties of the state, as nearly as may be, according to the number of electors which shall be found to be in each county by the census directed to be taken in the present year.
1801 Constitutional Amendment IV [Future apportionments of legislature.]:
That from the first Monday in July next, and on the return of every census thereafter, the number of the assembly shall be increased at the rate of two members for every year, until the whole number shall amount to one hundred and fifty; and that upon the return of every such census, the legislature shall apportion the senators and members of the assembly amongst the great districts and counties of this state, as nearly as may be, according to the number of their respective electors; Provided, that the legislature shall not be prohibited by anything herein contained, from allowing one member of assembly to each county, heretofore erected within this state.
The full provision includes both the amendment and the text it amends – NY Constitution 1777, Article V:
That as soon as the expiration of seven years, subsequent to the termination of the present war, as may be, a census of the electors and inhabitants in this state shall be taken, under the direction of the legislature. And if, on such census, it shall appear that the number of representatives in assembly from the said counties is not justly proportioned to the number of electors in the said counties respectively, that the legislature do adjust and apportion the same by that rule. And further, that once in every seven years, after the taking of the said first census, a just account of the electors resident in each county shall be taken; and if it shall thereupon appear that the number of electors in any county shall have increased or diminished one or more seventieth parts of the whole number of electors, which, on the said first census, shall be found in this state, the number of representatives for such county shall be increased or diminished accordingly; that is to say, one representative for every seventieth part, as aforesaid.
A Few Facts
• Joined the Constitution in 1801
• In Article V:
• Has 381 words
• Was proposed by the Constitutional Convention
• Was adopted without a vote
• Changed the text of a previously existing provision
• Amends or builds on:
◦ 1777-V
Credits
We did lots of research to publish this data, and we're updating the records to let you know where we got it. Check back soon for our sources!