DeWitt Clinton
DeWitt Clinton was an American politician and naturalist. He served as a United States senator, as the mayor of New York City, and as the sixth governor of New York. In the last capacity, he was largely responsible for the construction of the Erie Canal. Clinton was a major candidate for the American presidency in the election of 1812, challenging incumbent James Madison.
A nephew of two-term U.S. vice president and New York governor George Clinton, DeWitt Clinton was his uncle's secretary before launching his own political career. As a Democratic-Republican, Clinton won election to the New York State Legislature in 1798 before briefly serving as a U.S. Senator. Returning to New York, Clinton served three terms as the appointed Mayor of New York City and the lieutenant governor of New York State. In the 1812 presidential election, Clinton won support from the Federalists as well as from a group of Democratic-Republicans who were dissatisfied with Madison. Though Madison won re-election, Clinton carried most of the Northeastern United States and fared significantly better than the previous two Federalist-supported tickets. After the presidential election, Clinton continued to be affiliated with the Democratic-Republican Party.
Clinton was governor of New York from 1817 to 1822 and from 1825 to 1828, and presided over the construction of the Erie Canal. Clinton believed that infrastructure improvements could transform American life, drive economic growth, and encourage political participation. He heavily influenced the development of infrastructure both in New York State and in the United States as a whole.
Early life
Clinton was born on March 2, 1769, the second son born to Major-General James Clinton and his wife Mary De Witt, who was a descendant of the Dutch patrician De Witt family. He was born in Little Britain, New York, which today is a hamlet in the western part of New Windsor. He attended Kingston Academy and began his college studies at the College of New Jersey before transferring to King's College He was the brother of U.S. Representative George Clinton Jr., the half-brother of U.S. Representative James G. Clinton, and the cousin of Simeon De Witt. He became the secretary to his uncle George Clinton, who was then governor of New York. Soon afterwards he became a member of the Democratic-Republican Party.Political career
Early career
Clinton was a member of the New York State Assembly in 1798, and of the New York State Senate in 1798–1802 and 1806–1811 He was a delegate to the New York State Constitutional Convention in 1801.In 1801, his uncle George Clinton appointed him to head the Council of Appointments, which held the power under the state constitution to appoint thousands of public positions, including sheriffs and the mayor of New York City. He would serve on the committee from 1801 to 1802 and again from 1806 to 1807. As chair of the council, Clinton controlled patronage throughout the state. Because the council was overwhelmingly Republican and loyal to the Clintons, DeWitt suddenly became the most powerful politician in the state. He used his power to deny supporters of Aaron Burr and members of the Tammany Society key roles.
In 1802, he used his authority as a director of the Manhattan Company, the leading Republican bank in the state, to force the withdrawal of Burr and his key supporter John Swartwout. Swartwout accused Clinton of destroying Burr to advance his own political career; in response, Clinton called Swartwout "a liar, a scoundrel and a villain". Swartwout challenged Clinton to a duel in New Jersey, in which Clinton wounded Swartwout.
The New York State legislature elected him to fill New York's U.S. Senate seat, which had been left vacant by the resignation of John Armstrong Jr.; he served in that capacity from February 9, 1802, to November 4, 1803. He resigned due to unhappiness with his living conditions in the newly built city of Washington, DC; next, he was appointed the mayor of New York City.
Mayor of New York City
He served as mayor of New York from 1803 to 1807, 1808 to 1810, and 1811 to 1815. He organized the New-York Historical Society in 1804 and was its president, and he was a leader in launching the Erie Canal. He also helped to reorganize the American Academy of the Fine Arts in 1808 and served as its president between 1813 and 1817. He was a regent of the University of the State of New York from 1808 to 1825. Clinton was also elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1814 and was its vice president from 1821 to 1828. In 1816, he was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.Lieutenant Governor of New York
In 1811, the death of John Broome left a vacancy in the office of lieutenant governor of New York. In a special election, Clinton defeated the Federalist Nicholas Fish and the Tammany Hall candidate Marinus Willett to become lieutenant governor until the end of the term in June 1813.Presidential campaign
Clinton's uncle, George Clinton, had attempted to challenge James Madison for the presidency in 1808 but was chosen as the party's vice presidential nominee instead. In 1812, after George Clinton's death, the elder Clinton's supporters gravitated towards DeWitt Clinton. Clinton ran for president as a candidate both for the Federalist Party and for a small group of antiwar Democratic-Republicans. In the close election of 1812, Clinton was defeated by President Madison. Clinton received 89 electoral votes to Madison's 128. It was the strongest showing of any Federalist candidate for the U.S. presidency since 1800, and a change in the votes of one or two states would have given Clinton the victory.Governor of New York
After the resignation of Daniel D. Tompkins, who had been elected vice president, he won a special gubernatorial election in which he was the only candidate; 1,479 votes were cast for Peter Buell Porter against Clinton's 43,310, because the Tammany organization, which fiercely hated Clinton, had printed ballots with Porter's name on them and distributed them among the Tammany followers in New York City. On July 1, 1817, Clinton took office as governor of New York. He was re-elected in 1820, defeating Vice President Tompkins in a narrow race—DeWitt Clinton received 47,447 votes, as opposed to Tompkins's 45,900—and served until December 31, 1822.During his second term, the New York State Constitutional Convention of 1821 shortened the gubernatorial term to two years and moved the beginning of the term from July 1 to January 1, which cut off the last six months of his three-year term. The gubernatorial election was also moved from April to November, but Clinton was not renominated by his party to run for re-election in November 1822. Even so, he kept his post as president of the Erie Canal Commission. In April 1824, most of his political opponents, the Bucktails, voted in the New York State legislature for his removal from the Canal Commission, which caused such a wave of indignation among the electorate that he was nominated for governor by the People's Party and was re-elected governor, defeating the official candidate of the Democratic-Republican Party, his fellow Canal Commissioner Samuel Young. He served another two terms until his sudden death in office.
Freemasonry
Clinton was a York Rite Freemason. He was initiated in the "Holland" Lodge No. 16, NY on September 3, 1790, and, in 1806, he was elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of New York. Clinton was essential in establishing the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar in the United States and served as its first, second, and third grand master from 1816 to 1828. He retained the title until his death in 1828.In 1826, the William Morgan Affair occurred in Batavia. Morgan, who threatened to publish an exposé of the rituals of Freemasonry, disappeared and was apparently kidnapped and supposedly murdered by Masons. Clinton issued three proclamations, each increasing the reward for information and conviction of the perpetrators until it reached $2,000. Clinton's proclamations had no effect, however, and the Masonic fraternity underwent a period of severe decline in many regions of the United States because of criticism set off by the scandal.
The Grand Lodge of New York has established the DeWitt Clinton Award, which recognizes distinguished or outstanding community service by non-Masonic organizations or individuals whose actions exemplify a shared concern for the well-being of Mankind and a belief in the worldwide brotherhood of Man.
Erie Canal
From 1810 to 1824, Clinton was a member of the Erie Canal Commission. He was among its first members, who were appointed in 1810 and planned and surveyed the route to be taken.As governor, Clinton was largely responsible for the construction of the Erie Canal. He was persuaded by Canal proponent Jesse Hawley to support construction of a canal from the eastern shore of Lake Erie to the upper Hudson River. Many thought the project to be impracticable, and opponents mocked it as "Clinton's Folly" and "DeWitt's Ditch". But in 1817, he persuaded the legislature to appropriate $7 million for its construction.
When the canal was finished in 1825, Clinton opened it and traveled in the packet boat Seneca Chief along the canal to Buffalo. After riding from the mouth of Lake Erie to New York City, he emptied two casks of water from Lake Erie into New York Harbor to celebrate the first connection of waters from the East with waters from the West. The canal was an immense success, carrying huge numbers of passengers and a huge amount of freight traffic. The cost of moving freight between Buffalo and Albany fell from $100 to $10 per ton, and the state was able to quickly recoup the funds that it had spent on the project by collecting tolls along the canal. The completion of the canal brought about a significant shift in public opinion about Clinton: he was now hailed for having completed the canal.
That change in public opinion was reflected in the newspapers of the time. They had previously been filled with harsh criticisms of Clinton and the canal, but now celebrated his accomplishment. For example, an article in the New Hampshire Sentinel began: "The efforts of Gov. Clinton to advance the best interest of the State over which he presides are very generally acknowledged both by his constituents and the public abroad. His exertions in favor of the great canal have identified his name with that noble enterprise, and he will be remembered while its benefits are experienced" It ended, "Yield credit to Clinton, and hail him by name".