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.^[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 King George III.^[9] 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

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.^[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, by Ezra Ames

He was known for his hatred of Tories^[11] 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.

National leader

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.^[2]

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.^[12]

In the 1792 presidential election, he was chosen by the nascent Democratic-Republican Party as their candidate for vice president. While the Republicans joined in the general acclamation of Washington for a second term as president, they objected to the allegedly "monarchical" attitude of Vice President Adams. Clinton was nominated rather than Thomas Jefferson because the Virginia 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 by his narrow and disputed re-election as governor in 1792. (He won by only 108 votes, and the substantial anti-Clinton vote of Otsego County was excluded on a technicality.)^[2]

He did not run for re-election as governor in 1795. Some Democratic-Republican party leaders attempted to recruit him to run for vice president in 1796 election, but Clinton refused to run and party leaders instead turned to another New Yorker, Aaron Burr. Clinton nonetheless received 7 electoral votes. He held no political office after 1795 until he was elected to the New York State Assembly in April 1800, and was a member of the 24th New York State Legislature. He entered the 1801 gubernatorial race at Burr's urging, and defeated the Federalist Party nominee, Stephen Van Rensselaer.^[2] Clinton served as governor until 1804. With 21 years of service, he was the longest-serving governor of a U.S. state until December 14, 2015, when Iowa governor Terry Branstad surpassed him.^[13]

Vice presidency (1805–1812)

Clinton was selected as President Jefferson's running mate in the 1804 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 State James Madison.^[2]

When the Democratic-Republican ticket won the 1804 election, Clinton became the fourth vice 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 the Senate, and many senators viewed him as an ineffective presiding officer.^[2]

Clinton attempted to challenge Madison for the presidency in the 1808 election, but was outmaneuvered by Madison's supporters when the congressional 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 of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney and Rufus 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. After the 1808 election, though he was ostensibly a member of the Madison administration, Clinton and his supporters frequently opposed Madison. Clinton helped block the appointment of Albert Gallatin as Secretary of State. He also cast an important tie-breaking vote that prevented the recharter of the First Bank of the United States.^[2]

Citations

Works cited

• Kaminski, John P. (1993). George Clinton: Yeoman Politician of the New Republic. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-945612-17-9.
• Lee, John K. (2010). George Clinton: Master Builder of the Empire State. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 978-0-8156-8153-3.