Dewitt Clinton

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DeWitt Clinton (March 2, 1769-February 11, 1828), an American politician and naturalist who served as a Senator, Mayor of New York City, and the sixth Governor of New York City.

In this last role, he was largely responsible for the Erie Canal's construction.

In the 1812 race, Clinton ran as a front-runner for the American presidency, deposing incumbent James Madison. DeWitt Clinton, the nephew of long-serving New York Governor George Clinton, served as his uncle's secretary until starting his own political career.

In 1798, Clinton won the New York State Legislature as a Democratic-Republican before briefly serving as a U.S. Senator for a short time. Senator.

Clinton was mayor of New York City for three terms and also as the Lieutenant Governor of New York.

Clinton gained the support of the Federalists and a group of Democratic-Republicans dissatisfied with Madison in the 1812 election.

Though Madison won re-election, Clinton carried the majority of the Northeast United States and fared much better than the previous two Federalist-backed candidates.

Clinton remained a member of the Democratic Party following the presidential election. Clinton served as Governor of New York from 1817 to 1822, and from 1825 to 1828, presiding over the building of the Erie Canal.

Infrastructure upgrades, according to Clinton, could change American life, boost job growth, and encourage political involvement.

He made a major contribution to the growth of New York State and the United States.

Early life

Clinton was born on March 2, 1769, his second son born to Major-General James Clinton and his wife Mary De Witt (1737–1795), 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 started his college studies at the College of New Jersey (now called Princeton University) before transferring to King's College (which was renamed Columbia College as he was a student at the college; Clinton was in the first class to graduate under the school's new name;) He was the brother of U.S. Representative George Clinton Jr., the half-brother of US Senator James G. Clinton, and Simeon De Witt's cousin. He became the secretary to his uncle George Clinton, who was then governor of New York. He became a member of the Democratic-Republican Party shortly after.

Personal life

Clinton was married twice. Maria Franklin, the daughter of prominent New York Quaker merchant Walter Franklin, was heir to John Bowne and Elizabeth Fones, who died on February 13, 1796. She had ten children, four sons, and three daughters had survived at the time of her death in 1818. George William Clinton, who served as mayor of Buffalo, New York, from 1842 to 1843, was one of his children with Franklin. Bill Clinton, who served as a president from 1993 to 2001, was not related to him.

Catharine Jones, the daughter of Edward Livingston's, married Margaret (née Livingston) Jones on May 8, 1819. Mary (née Jones) Gelston, Catharine's sister, was the mother of David Gelston, Southampton's deputy, and the aunt of Port of New York collector David Gelston. Catharine survived her husband's death.

In 1813, Clinton became a hereditary member of the New York Society of the Cincinnati, succeeding his brother, Lieutenant Alexander Clinton, who was an early member of the party. He was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society in the same year.

When Clinton died in Albany on February 11, 1828, he left his family in a poor financial situation. Although he was a top government administrator, he had failed to manage his own financial affairs. As a result, the Clinton family was deeply in debt and had no means of assistance following the governor's death. One creditor alone had a lawsuit for $6,000. The creditor obtained a decision that resulted in the public auction of the bulk of the Clinton family's assets, fearing that he would not get his money. Enough funds were raised from the sale of the house to please the judge, but there was nothing left to help the Clinton family cope with the difficult years ahead. The governor had the grandest of state funerals, but the family had no place to bury him when it was all over. His widow was utterly poor on funds to buy a suitable grave site. As a result, Clinton's remains were placed in the family vault of Dr. Samuel Stringer (1735-1817), an old friend and fellow Mason from Albany, who was buried in the old Swan Street Cemetery.

Sixteen years ago, enough funds were raised to ensure a suitable burial. "The remains of DeWitt Clinton, who had been deposited in the cemetery in Swan Street, were taken to New York for burial under a monument built by the family," a newspaper in Albany announced on June 21, 1844. Clinton was reinterred at the Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York, by the New York native.

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Career

In 1798, Clinton was a delegate to the New York State Constitutional Convention in 1801. He represented the New York State Assembly in 1798 and 1806–1811. He served on the Council of Appointments from 1801 to 1807, and 1806-1807. He was elected by the New York State legislature to fill New York's U.S. Senate seat, which had been left vacant since John Armstrong Jr.'s resignation, and he served in that position from February 9, 1802 to November 4, 1803. He resigned due to unhappiness with his living conditions in Washington, DC, and was elected mayor of New York City.

He served as mayor of New York from 1803 to 1810, 1808 to 1810, and 1811 to 1815. He founded the New-York Historical Society in 1804 and was its president, and he was instrumental in the construction of the Erie Canal. In 1808, he helped reorganize the American Academy of the Fine Arts, serving as its president from 1813 to 1817. He served as a Regent of the University of New York from 1808 to 1825. In 1814, Clinton was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society and served as its vice president from 1821 to 1828. He was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1816.

There was a vacancy in the office of lieutenant governor of New York in 1811. In a special election in June 1813, Clinton defeated Federalist Nicholas Fish and the Tammany Hall candidate Marinus Willett to become lieutenant governor until the end of the term.

In 1808, Clinton's uncle, George Clinton, attempted to depose James Madison for the presidency but was named as the party's vice president instead. The elder Clinton's supporters flocked to DeWitt Clinton in 1812, after George Clinton's death. Clinton ran for president both for the Federalist Party and for a select group of antiwar Democrats-Republicans. Clinton was defeated by President Madison in the close election of 1812. To Madison's 128 votes, Clinton won 89 electoral votes to Madison's 128. It was the best showing of any Federalist presidential candidate since 1800, and a change in the votes of one or two states would have given Clinton the victory.

After Daniel D. Tompkins' resignation as the sole contender in a special election in which he had been raised, 1,479 votes were cast for Peter Buell Porter against Clinton's 43,310, a special gubernatorial election for him; the Tammany group, which fiercely disliked him, had printed ballots with Porter's name on them and distributed them among the Tammany supporters in New York City. Hillary took power as governor of New York on July 1, 1817. He was re-elected in 1820, defeating Vice President Tompkins in a tight election. DeWitt Clinton received 47,447 votes as opposed to Tompkins' 45,900, and served until December 31, 1822.

The New York State Constitutional Convention of 1821 shortened the gubernatorial term to two years and moved the start of the term from July 1 to January 1, effectively ending the last six months of his three-year term. The gubernatorial election was also changed from April to November, but Clinton was not renominated by his party to seek re-election in November 1822. However, he maintained his position as president of the Erie Canal Commission. In April 1824, most of his political rivals, the Bucktails, voted out of office by the New York State legislature for his withdrawal from the Canal Commission, sparking such a surge of indignation among the people that he was nominated for governor by the People's Party and re-elected governor, defeating his fellow Canal Commissioner Samuel Young, who was re-elected governor by the People's Party's official candidate. He served another two terms until his sudden death in office.

Clinton was a York Rite Freemason. He was initiated in Lodge No. "Holland" Lodge No. 13. In 1806, he was elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of New York, and today 16 (now No. 8) is located in New York, NY. Clinton was instrumental in the establishment of the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar in the United States and served as the nation's first, second, and third grand master from 1816 to 1828. He kept the title until his death in 1828.

William Morgan Affair died in Batavia in 1826. Morgan, who threatened to publish an exposé on Freemasonry's traditions, vanished and was apparently kidnapped and allegedly murdered by Masons. Clinton issued three proclamations, each increasing the reward for intelligence and arrest of the perpetrators until it hit $2,000. Clinton's proclamations had no effect, however, and Masonic fraternity in several areas of the country suffered a drastic decline as a result of the scandal.

The Grand Lodge of New York has established the DeWitt Clinton Award, which honors exceptional or outstanding community service by non-Masonic organisations or individuals whose activities exemplify a shared concern for Mankind's well-being and a belief in Man's worldwide brotherhood.

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