from 1786 to 1788. During his term as a member of the New York State Assembly, he was Speaker during the sessions of 1787 and 1788. Varick was appointed the New York State Attorney General from 1788 to 1789. Remarkably, due to the elitist nature of the New York State Constitution of 1777, almost all government positions in the city and state of New York were appointed by the Council of Appointment. Few, if any, general elections or other democratic functions would exist until 1802. Thus, in the year 1788, Varick was simultaneously the Recorder of New York City, a State Assemblyman representing New York City, the Speaker of the House of the State of New York, and the Attorney General of the State of New York. Though Varick is on record protesting the egregious nature of his occupying multiple offices, it was rationalized at the time that as both an expert administrator and lawyer, he was an ideal choice to fill these myriad offices and to build swiftly the various mechanisms of government. And, that the subsequent laws were codified quickly in the nascent days of an independent New York City and State to ensure the function, and growth, of both entities. Mayor of New York City (1789 - 1801) Varick would peak politically as the Mayor of New York City for twelve years during the formative post-Independence era from 1789 to 1801. While Mayor, he would continue his establishment of the technocratic structure that would ensure New York City’s place as the commercial capital of the United States, despite the political capital moving to Philadelphia, then Washington D.C. At this time in history, there was no precedent of commercial and political leadership split between two cities. In 1791, the major financial crisis would hit the United States in New York due to a scheme to manipulate the financial markets, which had no formal structure of any kind. Varick would have to increase officers to protect the guilty parties from mobs gathering outside the prison. This would lead to a group of merchants making the "Buttonwood Agreement” in 1792 which was the seed of the New York Stock Exchange. In the summer of 1793 a yellow fever epidemic sent New Yorkers "fleeing north" to nearby healthful Greenwich Village. This epidemic would lead to the creation of what would become the New York City Department of Health. This was timely