Research

The Eastern New York Reformatory was established by a law of 1892 (Chapter 336). The reformatory was to be located in Ulster County and to provide for the custody, care, and reform of male convicts. The governor was to appoint three commissioners to choose a site for the reformatory. In 1894 (Chapter 299), the governor appointed three building commissioners to acquire the land chosen for the reformatory and to obtain building plans and estimates. When the State Board of Charities approved the plans, construction could begin.

The Department of Charities was established by the Laws of 1926 (Chapter 651), following the constitutional reorganization of State government. The administrative head of the department was the State Board of Charities, originally established in 1867. The department implemented the public-assistance policies and programs of the Board of Charities and assumed administrative control of institutions for dependents from the local boards of managers.

The department traces its origin to 1625 when Dutch colonial authorities appointed a schout-fiscal to examine the accounts of New Amsterdam. In 1658, a Board of Audit consisting of a director general, receiver general, and a council member assumed auditing responsibilities. After the English took control of the colony in 1664, the auditing function was carried out by a royally appointed auditor general.

State banking policy began with an act in 1782 prohibiting the operation of any bank within the State except for the Federal Bank of North America. In 1791, the legislature authorized a charter for the first State bank, the Bank of New York, and thereafter chartered other banks by special acts. A law in 1829 (Chapter 94) set up the Bank Fund, later renamed the Safety Fund, to guarantee the payment of debts of insolvent banks. All State-chartered banks were required to make an annual contribution to the fund, which was managed by the State treasurer.

From the opening of the first State prison in 1797 until the present day, New York State's correctional system has had a wide influence on the direction of criminology and penology in the United States. Among the important early institutions established in New York State were: Newgate Prison (1797), Auburn Prison (1818), New York House of Refuge (1824), Sing Sing Prison (1828), Dannemora Prison (1845), Western House of Refuge (1849), Elmira Reformatory (1876), and Bedford Hills Reformatory for Women (1901).

New York's first constitution in 1777 established the office of lieutenant governor. The constitutional powers and duties of the office have remained unchanged except for the alteration of the term of office from three to two years under the second (1821) constitution, back to three years by an amendment in 1876 to the third (1846) constitution, back to two years under the fourth (1894) constitution, and finally to its present four years by an amendment in 1937.

The first state-sponsored program using visual aids for educational purposes was funded by the New York State Legislature in 1886. At this time, the Superintendent of Public Instruction contracted with the American Museum of Natural History to provide free illustrated lectures on scientific subjects such as anatomy, physiology, zoology, and physical geography. At first, these lectures were only given in New York City and were attended by teachers and the general public. Soon after, lecture materials were provided to normal schools throughout the state.

The origins of this agency can be traced back to the founding of an association on January 7, 1862 whose purpose was to afford relief to sick, wounded, and destitute New York State soldiers stationed in the Washington, D.C. area. Recognizing the usefulness of such an organization, the state legislature appropriated $30,000 for transportation, care, and hospital supplies for sick and wounded New York State soldiers. Under authority of this act (Chapter 458, Laws of 1862) Governor Edwin D. Morgan appointed S. H. Swetland agent in charge of disbursing these funds.

Petitions to the legislature from voters in twenty-four counties in 1844 asked for legislation authorizing the people to vote on the question of calling a Constitutional Convention. The legislature responded by passing such an act on May 13, 1845. The voters approved the Constitutional Convention at the polls that November. Delegates to the convention produced a major reorganization of the judiciary article of the constitution.

A court of chancery existed in New York from 1683 to 1847. Patterned after the English Court of Chancery, which traced its origins back to medieval jurisprudence, the Chancery court dealt with matters of equity rather than law. The English system of equity emerged during the late Middle Ages in response to several defects in the rigidly prescriptive English common law. Litigants sought to redress the defects in the common law through the Chancellor, the King's chief legal advisor and head of the Chancery (the government's writing office).