George Clinton (vice president)
George Clinton was an American soldier, statesman, and a prominent Democratic-Republican in the formative years of the United States. Clinton served as the fourth vice president during the second term of Thomas Jefferson's presidency and the first term of James Madison's presidency from 1805 until his death in 1812. He also served as the first governor of New York from 1777 to 1795 and again from 1801 to 1804; his tenure makes him the second-longest-serving governor in U.S. history. Clinton was the first vice-president to die in office, and the first of two to hold office under two consecutive presidents.
Born in the Province of New York on 26 July 1739, Clinton served in the French and Indian War, rising to the rank of lieutenant in the colonial militia. He began a legal practice after the war and served as a district attorney for New York City. Then he became a Member of the New York State Assembly from 1768 to 1775. He became Governor of New York in 1777 and remained in that office until 1795. Clinton supported the cause of independence during the American Revolutionary War and served in the Continental Army despite his gubernatorial position. During and after the war, Clinton was an opponent of Vermont's entrance into the Union on account of disputes over land claims.
Clinton became the longest continuously serving governor in US history, with a tenure of 17 years, 11 months, and two days from 1777 to 1795. He opposed the ratification of the United States Constitution, became a prominent Anti-Federalist, and advocated for the addition of the United States Bill of Rights. In the early 1790s, he emerged as a leader of the incipient Democratic-Republican Party, serving as the party's vice presidential candidate in the 1792 presidential election. Clinton received the third most electoral votes in the election, as President George Washington and Vice President John Adams both won re-election. Clinton did not seek re-election in 1795, but returned the governorship from 1801 to 1804. With a total tenure of 20 years, 11 months, and two days, Clinton was the longest-serving governor in U.S. history until 2015.
Clinton was picked again as the Democratic-Republican vice presidential nominee in the 1804 election, as President Thomas Jefferson dumped Aaron Burr from the ticket. Clinton sought his party's presidential nomination in the 1808 election, but the party's congressional nominating caucus instead nominated James Madison. Despite his opposition to Madison, Clinton was re-elected as vice president. Clinton died on 20 April 1812 of a heart attack, leaving the office of vice president vacant for the first time in U.S. history. Clinton's nephew, DeWitt Clinton, continued the Clinton New York political dynasty after his uncle's death.
Early life
Clinton was born in 1739 in Little Britain, province of New York. His parents were Anglo-Irish Colonel Charles Clinton and Elizabeth Denniston Clinton, who had left County Longford, Ireland, in 1729 to escape the Penal Laws, a series of laws passed by the Irish Parliament designed to force nonconformists and Catholics to accept the Anglican Church of Ireland. His political interests were inspired by his father, who was a farmer, surveyor, and land speculator, and served as a member of the New York colonial assembly. George Clinton was the brother of General James Clinton and the uncle of New York's future governor, DeWitt Clinton. George was tutored by a local Scottish clergyman.Early career
French and Indian War service
During the French and Indian War, he first served on the privateer Defiance operating in the Caribbean, before enlisting in the provincial militia, where his father held the rank of Colonel. During the French and Indian War George rose to the rank of Lieutenant, accompanying his father in 1758 on Bradstreet's 1758 seizure of Fort Frontenac, cutting one of the major communication and supply lines between the eastern centers of Montreal and Quebec City and France's western territories. He and his brother James were instrumental in capturing a French vessel.Starting a political career
His father's survey of the New York frontier so impressed the provincial governor that he was offered a position as sheriff of New York City and the surrounding county in 1748. After the elder Clinton declined the honor, the governor later designated George as successor to the Clerk of the Ulster County Court of Common Pleas, a position he would assume in 1759 and hold for the next 52 years.After the war, he read law in New York City under the attorney William Smith. He returned home and began his legal practice in 1764. He became district attorney the following year. He was a member of the New York General Assembly for Ulster County from 1768 to 1775, aligned with the anti-British Livingston faction. His brother James was a member of the New York Provincial Congress that assembled in New York City on April 20, 1775.
Revolutionary War
As a member of the New York General Assembly, Clinton was a vocal opponent of British imperial policies. In January 1775, he introduced a motion for the Assembly to approve the resolutions of the First Continental Congress. The motion was defeated, prompting Clinton to warn that the colonies would soon need to take to arms. In March 1775, he twice introduced a motion to declare that the British Parliament had no right to levy taxes on American colonies. His actions caught the attention of the Provincial Congress, which elected him to be one of New York's delegates to the Second Continental Congress. In Philadelphia, Clinton took his seat in Congress on May 15, 1775. He remained a delegate until July 8, 1776. However, on December 19, 1775, the Provincial Congress commissioned him a brigadier general in New York's state militia, tasked with defending the Highlands of the Hudson River from British attack. This role caused him to be absent from many sessions of the Continental Congress. Although he resigned his seat before New York's delegates had been granted permission to vote for, or sign, the Declaration of Independence, he was an enthusiastic supporter of American independence, even suggesting in one speech to Congress that a reward should be offered for the assassination of King George III. While commanding forces of the New York state militia, he built two forts along the Hudson River and stretched a giant chain across the river to keep British forces in New York City from sailing northward.Wartime governor of New York
On March 25, 1777, Clinton was commissioned a brigadier general in the Continental Army. In June 1777, he was elected at the same time Governor and Lieutenant Governor of New York. He formally resigned the Lieutenant Governor's office and took the oath of office as Governor on July 30. He was re-elected five times, remaining in office until June 1795. Although he had been elected governor, he retained his commission in the Continental Army and commanded forces at Fort Clinton and Fort Montgomery on October 6, 1777. He remained in the Continental Army until it was disbanded on November 3, 1783.He was known for his hatred of Tories and used the seizure and sale of Tory estates to help keep taxes down. A supporter and friend of George Washington, he supplied food to the troops at Valley Forge, rode with Washington to the first inauguration and gave an impressive dinner to celebrate it. In 1783, at Dobbs Ferry, Clinton and Washington negotiated with General Sir Guy Carleton for the evacuation of the British troops from their remaining posts in the United States. That same year, Clinton became an original member of the New York Society of the Cincinnati and served as its president from 1794 to 1795.
Governor of New York, post-independence
1780s
In the early 1780s, Clinton supported Alexander Hamilton's call for a stronger federal government than had been provided in the Articles of Confederation. However, Clinton eventually came to oppose Hamilton's proposal to allow Congress to impose tariffs, fearing that this power would cut into his home state's main source of income. He became one of the most prominent opponents to the ratification of the proposed United States Constitution, which would grant several new powers to the federal government. After New York and other states had ratified the Constitution, Clinton focused on passing constitutional amendments designed to weaken the powers of the federal government. In 1791, three years after the ratification of the Constitution, the states ratified the United States Bill of Rights.Twentieth-century historian Herbert Storing identifies Clinton as "Cato", the pseudonymous author of the Anti-Federalist essays which appeared in New York newspapers during the ratification debates. However, the authorship of the essays is disputed.
In the first U.S. presidential election, held from 1788 to 1789, many Anti-Federalists supported Clinton for the position of vice president. Federalists rallied around the candidacy of John Adams, and Adams finished second in the electoral vote behind George Washington, making Adams vice president. Clinton received just three electoral votes, partly because the New York legislature deadlocked and was unable to appoint a slate of electors.
Threats to conquer Vermont
The land that is in the present-day state of Vermont was before 1764 a disputed territory claimed by the colonies of New Hampshire and New York. During 1749–1764 it was governed as a de facto part of New Hampshire and many thousands of settlers arrived. In 1764 King George III awarded the disputed region, then called the New Hampshire Grants, to New York. New York refused to recognize property claims based on New Hampshire law, thus threatening the eviction of many settlers. Consequently, New York's authority was resisted by local authorities and the militia known as the Green Mountain Boys. In 1777, having no further hope of rulings from the king or courts of England to protect their property, the politicians of the disputed territory declared it an independent state to be called Vermont. Vermont's repeated petitions for admission to the Union over the next several years were denied by the Continental Congress, in large part because of opposition from the state of New York and its governor George Clinton.In 1778, Clinton wrote to some Vermonters loyal to New York, encouraging them "to Oppose the ridiculous and destructive Scheme of erecting those Lands into an Independent State."
On March 2, 1784, the legislature of New York, with Clinton's support, instructed its Congressional delegates to "press Congress for a decision in the long protracted controversy" and that New York would have to "recur to force, for the preservation of her lawful authority" and that if Congress would not act, then New York would be "destitute of the protection of the United States."
However, a Congressional committee recommended recognition of Vermont and its admission to the Union. The committee's recommended bill was opposed by New York's delegates and did not pass. Six years later the New York legislature decided to give up New York's claims to Vermont on the condition that Congress would admit Vermont to the Union, and the new state was admitted on March 4, 1791.