46 The First Constitution of Neio York. 



it was a sign of the crude state of the science of self-government, for 

 it merged the judicial and legislative departments of government into 

 one. No evil ever resulted from the anomaly; but it was an anomaly 

 none the less, and as such it was deplored by the next generation of 

 statesmen, and by the judges most of all. In 1821 the demand for a 

 revision of the Constitution called into existence a popular convention 

 for that purpose. Its first act was to abolish the council of revision 

 by a unanimous vote. The advantage of reposing the veto power in 

 the governor, empowering two-thirds of the legislature to over-ride it, 

 has never since been questioned. 



An even more striking evidence of this joint distrust of a supreme 

 governor and a supreme people, was the method devised in this Con- 

 stitution for the appointment of the minor officers of government. 

 The people were intrusted only with the election of governor and 

 legislature— all the other officers, high and low, were either selected 

 by the legislature or by a " council of appointment," consisting of the 

 governor and four State senators, selected for that purpose by the as- 

 sembly. This council was a device unique in the New York Consti- 

 tution. The result of the patient study of disinterested statesmen, 

 intent only upon insuring administrative purity, it nevertheless proved 

 a pitfall, deep and wide and dirty. It was complete centralization, 

 without that personal responsibility which can alone prevent the abuse 

 of great power, and in attaining which the present Constitution of New 

 York achieves its chief superiority over that of 1777. The officers 

 whose appointment was thus centralized were the sheriffs, county 

 clerks, justices of the peace, mayors of cities, and all the officers of 

 the militia. Two thousand of these local officers were thus commis- 

 sioned when the machinery of the State government was set in motion. 

 By 1821, the number of these officers had increased to eight thousand 

 military, and nearly seven thousand civil officers. It was a vast pat- 

 ronage, centralizing at the State capital the control of the appointment 

 and tenure of officers whose functions concerned the people hundreds 

 of miles away and concerned no one else. So soon as the clouds of 

 war rolled by, and the people settled down to peaceful vocations, the 

 council of appointment became the objective point of faction and in- 

 trigue. The politicians began a fierce struggle for the control of this 

 patronage. Early in his illustrious administration of eighteen years, 

 George Clinton was confronted with the doctrine that each member of 

 this council had a right, co-ordinate with that of the governor, in 

 originating nominations. In vain he protested against the encroach- 

 ment. When John Jay vacated the office of chief justice, to succeed 



