Clinton, DeWitt (1769–1828), political leader and key figure in the building of the
Erie Canal.Born in Little Britain, New York, Dewitt Clinton was the son of James Clinton, a
Revolutionary War general, and the nephew of George Clinton, a powerful governor of New York (1777–1795). Following his graduation from Columbia College in 1786, Clinton read law, became his uncle's private secretary, was elected to the state assembly in 1795, and served in the state senate from 1798 to 1802.
Appointed the U.S. Senate in 1802, Clinton played a significant role in the framing of the Twelfth Amendment, which separated the voting for president and vice president. Unhappy in national politics, he resigned from the Senate in 1803 to become mayor of
New York City, a post he held off and on until 1815. His most important mayoral accomplishments were expanding the public‐school system and establishing an orphan asylum and a hospital. A learned man with broad interests, Clinton also helped establish the New‐York Historical Society, the American Academy of the Arts, and the Literary and Philosophical Society.
Increasingly unhappy with President James
Madison's handling of diplomatic relations with Great Britain in the events leading up to the
War of 1812 and Virginia's domination of national politics, he put together a coalition of antiwar Republicans and Federalists and ran for president in 1812. Madison won reelection, but the contest was very close; had Clinton carried Pennsylvania, he would have won.
As governor of New York in 1817–1822 and 1825–1828, Clinton promoted and oversaw the building of the Erie Canal and played a prominent role in the ceremonies marking its completion in 1825. Arrogant and vindictive, Clinton relentlessly pursued his political enemies, leading those enemies to form an opposition group, the Albany Regency, whose most important member was the future President Martin
Van Buren.
See also
Antebellum Era;
Canals and Waterways;
Early Republic, Era of the;
Education: The Public School Movement;
Federalist Party.
Bibliography
Steven E. Siry , DeWitt Clinton and the American Political Economy: Sectionalism, Politics, and Republican Ideology, 1787–1828, 1990.
Craig Hanyan and and Mary Hanyan , DeWitt Clinton and the Rise of the People's Men, 1996.
Evan Cornog , The Birth of Empire: DeWitt Clinton and the American Experience, 1769–1828, 1998.
Richard E. Ellis
