George Clinton (July 26, 1739 – April 20, 1812)[a] was an American soldier, statesman, and a prominentDemocratic-Republican in the formative years of theUnited States. Clinton served as the fourthvice president during the second term ofThomas Jefferson's presidency and the first term ofJames Madison's presidency from 1805 until his death in 1812. He also served as the firstgovernor of New York from 1777 to 1795 and again from 1801 to 1804; his tenure makes him thesecond-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.[b]
Born in theProvince of New York on 26 July 1739, Clinton served in theFrench 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 theAmerican Revolutionary War and served in theContinental Army despite his gubernatorial position. During and after the war, Clinton was an opponent ofVermont'sentrance into the Union on account of disputes over land claims.
Clinton was picked again as the Democratic-Republican vice presidential nominee in the1804 election, as President Thomas Jefferson dumpedAaron Burr from the ticket. Clinton sought his party's presidential nomination in the1808 election, but the party'scongressional 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.
Clinton was born in 1739 inLittle Britain, province of New York. His parents were Anglo-Irish ColonelCharles Clinton (1690–1773) and Elizabeth Denniston Clinton (1701–1779), who had leftCounty Longford, Ireland, in 1729 to escape thePenal Laws, a series of laws passed by theIrish Parliament designed to forcenonconformists andCatholics to accept the AnglicanChurch of Ireland.[1] 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.[2] George Clinton was the brother of GeneralJames Clinton and the uncle of New York's future governor,DeWitt Clinton. George was tutored by a local Scottish clergyman.
During theFrench and Indian War, he first served on the privateerDefiance operating in the Caribbean,[3] before enlisting in the provincial militia, where his father held the rank of Colonel. During theFrench and Indian War George rose to the rank ofLieutenant, accompanying his father in 1758 onBradstreet's 1758 seizure ofFort Frontenac, cutting one of the major communication and supply lines between the eastern centers of Montreal andQuebec City and France's western territories. He and his brother James were instrumental in capturing a French vessel.[4]
His father's survey of the New York frontier so impressed the provincial governor (also namedGeorge Clinton, and "a distant relative"[3]) 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.[5]
After the war, he read law in New York City under the attorney William Smith. He returned home (which at that time was part of Ulster County) and began his legal practice in 1764. He became district attorney the following year.[2] He was a member of theNew York General Assembly forUlster County from 1768 to 1775, aligned with the anti-British Livingston faction.[6] His brother James was a member of theNew York Provincial Congress that assembled in New York City on April 20, 1775.
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 theFirst 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 theSecond Continental Congress.[7] In Philadelphia, Clinton took his seat in Congress on May 15, 1775. He remained a delegate until July 8, 1776.[8] 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 KingGeorge III.[9] While commanding forces of the New York state militia, he built two forts along the Hudson River and stretcheda giant chain across the river to keep British forces in New York City from sailing northward.
On March 25, 1777, Clinton was commissioned a brigadier general in theContinental Army.In June 1777, he was elected at the same timeGovernor andLieutenant Governor of New York. He formally resigned the Lieutenant Governor's office and took the oath of office as Governor on July 30.[10] 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.
Gubernatorial portrait of George Clinton byEzra Ames
He was known for his hatred ofTories[11] and used the seizure and sale of Tory estates to help keep taxes down. A supporter and friend ofGeorge Washington, he supplied food to the troops atValley Forge, rode with Washington to the first inauguration and gave an impressive dinner to celebrate it. In 1783, atDobbs Ferry, Clinton and Washington negotiated with GeneralSir Guy Carleton for theevacuation of the British troops from their remaining posts in the United States. That same year, Clinton became an original member of the New YorkSociety of the Cincinnati and served as its president from 1794 to 1795.
In the early 1780s, Clinton supportedAlexander Hamilton's call for a stronger federal government than had been provided in theArticles of Confederation. However, Clinton eventually came to oppose Hamilton's proposal to allow Congress to imposetariffs, 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 proposedUnited 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 theUnited States Bill of Rights.[2]
Twentieth-century historianHerbert Storing identifies Clinton as "Cato", thepseudonymous author of theAnti-Federalist essays which appeared in New York newspapers during the ratification debates. However, the authorship of the essays is disputed.[12]
In thefirst U.S. presidential election, held from 1788 to 1789, many Anti-Federalists supported Clinton for the position ofvice president. Federalists rallied around the candidacy ofJohn Adams, and Adams finished second in theelectoral vote behindGeorge 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.[13]
The land that is in the present-day state ofVermont was before 1764 a disputed territory claimed by the colonies ofNew Hampshire andNew York. During 1749–1764 it was governed as ade 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 theGreen 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 itan independent state to be called Vermont. Vermont's repeated petitions foradmission 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."[14]
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"[15] 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.
In the1792 presidential election, Clinton was chosen by the nascentDemocratic-Republican Party as their candidate for vice president. While the Republicans joined in the general acclamation of Washington for a second term aspresident, they objected to the allegedly "monarchical" attitude of Vice President Adams. Clinton was nominated rather thanThomas Jefferson because theVirginia electors could not vote for Washington, and for a second Virginian. Clinton received 50 electoral votes to 77 for Adams. His candidacy was damaged by his anti-Federalist record and byhis narrow and disputed re-election as governor in 1792. (He won by only 108 votes, and the substantial anti-Clinton vote ofOtsego County was excluded on a technicality.)[2]
Clinton did not run for reelection as governor in 1795. Some Democratic-Republican party leaders attempted to recruit him to run for vice president in1796 election, but Clinton refused to run and party leaders instead turned to another New Yorker,Aaron Burr. Clinton nonetheless received seven electoral votes.
Clinton was selected as President Jefferson's running mate in the1804 presidential election, replacing Aaron Burr. Vice President Burr had fallen out with the Jefferson administration early in his tenure, and President Jefferson often consulted with Clinton rather than Burr regarding New York appointments. Clinton was selected to replace Burr in 1804 due to his long public service and his popularity in the electorally important state of New York. He was also favored by Jefferson because, at age 69 in 1808, Jefferson hoped that Clinton would be too old to launch a presidential bid against Jefferson's preferred successor, Secretary of StateJames Madison.[2]
When the Democratic-Republican ticket won the 1804 election, Clinton became the fourthvice president of the United States, and would become the first vice president to serve under two presidents, Jefferson and Madison. During his first term as vice president, under Thomas Jefferson, Clinton found himself marginalized by the President, as Jefferson sought to avoid enhancing his vice president's stature―still cognizant that Clinton could challenge Madison in 1808. Not only was Clinton largely ignored by President Jefferson, he struggled in his position as President of the Senate. He was unfamiliar with the rules of theSenate, and many senators viewed him as an ineffective presiding officer.[2]
Clinton attempted to challenge Madison for the presidency in the1808 election, but was outmaneuvered by Madison's supporters when thecongressional nominating caucus chose him as the vice presidential nominee. Clinton's supporters nonetheless put him forward as a presidential candidate, attacking the foreign policy of the Jefferson administration. The Federalist Party considered endorsing Clinton's candidacy, but ultimately chose to re-nominate their 1804 ticket ofCharles Cotesworth Pinckney andRufus King. Clinton received just six electoral votes for president as Madison consolidated support within the party. Although Clinton had effectively run against Madison, he received the vice presidential votes of most Democratic-Republican electors, who did not want to set a precedent of defying the choice of the congressional nominating caucus. By his receiving votes for both offices in the 1808 election, Clinton became (and remains) the only person to receive votes in six different electoral college contests.
After the 1808 election, although he was ostensibly a member of the Madison administration, Clinton and his supporters frequently opposed Madison. Clinton helped block the appointment ofAlbert Gallatin as Secretary of State. He also cast an importanttie-breaking vote that prevented the recharter of theFirst Bank of the United States.[2]
In his eighth year as Vice President (his fourth under President Madison), George Clinton died from a heart attack on April 20, 1812, at the age of 72. Clinton was the first vice president to die in office as well as the first vice president to die overall. Clinton was the first of two vice presidents to serve in the position under two different presidents, the other beingJohn C. Calhoun.
George died intestate with a large estate which was complex in probate court. A special legislative act was created for the succession of his estate, called "An ACT for the Relief of the Heirs of the late George Clinton, Esquire, deceased" passed March 12, 1813.[17] This act was amended by a later act titled "An ACT to amend an act, entitled "an act for the relief of the heirs of the late George Clinton, Esquire, deceased" and passed April 6, 1814.[18] These acts describe the complications of his land ownership and claims, and appoint heirs administrators of the estate.
Clinton's nephew,DeWitt Clinton, challenged Madison in1812 after George Clinton's death. DeWitt Clinton won the backing of most Federalists, but was nonetheless defeated by Madison.[19]
On February 7, 1770, Clinton married Sarah Cornelia Tappen (died 1800); they had five daughters and one son. Only three of them outlived their father, and the longest-lived child died at the age of just 44.
Catharine Clinton (1770–1811); married firstly, to John Taylor, and secondlyPierre Van Cortlandt, Jr. (1762–1848)
Historian Alan Taylor described George Clinton as "The astutest politician in Revolutionary New York," a man who "understood the power of symbolism and the new popularity of a plain style especially when practiced by a man with the means and accomplishments to set himself above the common people."[2] His marriage to Cornelia Tappen strengthened his political position in heavily Dutch Ulster County.[6]
He was depicted in the paintingDeclaration of Independence byJohn Trumbull even though he neither signed it nor was present when it was signed. In 1976 the painting appeared on the reverse of thetwo dollar bill and printed again in series 1995 and 2003.
^Murphy, Victor (2015).A History of Corboy Presbyterian Church and School. Longford. pp. 13–28.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^George Clinton to Micah Townsend and Israel Smith, June 3, 1778, reprinted in Hugh Hastings, comp.,Public Papers of George Clinton, First Governor of New York, eight volumes. (Albany, New York: Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford Company, James B. Lyon and Olver A. Quayle, State Printers, 1899–1904), 3: 396–398.
^Instructions to the Delegates of New York in the Congress of the United States, March 2, 1784, reprinted atRecords of the Governor and Council of the State of Vermont. Eight volumes. Montpelier, Vermont, Steam Press of J. & J. M. Poland, 1873–1880
^Morgan, William G. (1969). "The Origin and Development of the Congressional Nominating Caucus".Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society.113 (2):188–191.JSTOR985965.
1. Prior to the passage of theTwelfth Amendment in 1804, eachpresidential elector would cast two votes; the highest vote-getter with a majority would becomepresident and the runner-up would become vice president. In1792, withGeorge Washington as the prohibitive favorite to be elected president, theDemocratic-Republican Party fielded Clinton with the intention that he be elected vice president. Similarly, in both1796 and1800, the Democratic-Republican Party fielded both Aaron Burr andThomas Jefferson, with the intention that Jefferson be elected president and Burr be elected vice president.
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