Under the provisions of the New York Constitution of 1777, the State Senators were elected on general tickets in the senatorial districts, and were then divided into four classes.

Assemblymen were elected countywide on general tickets to a one-year term, the whole assembly being renewed annually.

On May 8, 1777, the Constitutional Convention had appointed the senators from the Southern District, and the assemblymen from Kings, New York, Queens, Richmond and Suffolk counties—the area which was under British control—and determined that these appointees serve in the Legislature until elections could be held in those areas, presumably after the end of the American Revolutionary War.

Under the determination by the Constitutional Convention, senators Isaac Roosevelt and John Morin Scott, whose seats were up for election, continued in office, as well as the assemblymen from Kings, New York, Queens, Richmond and Suffolk counties.

Two members who had been expelled previously were elected again to the Senate: Ephraim Paine (Middle D., to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Levi Pawling) and Assemblyman John Williams (Eastern D.) The State Legislature met in Poughkeepsie, the seat of Dutchess County.