DeWitt Clinton

**DeWitt Clinton** was the 8th President of the United States, the 11th Vice President of the United States, a Governor of New York, a Senator of New York, and a Lieutenant Governor of New York. Clinton is also known for his relation to 2nd Vice President George Clinton, being the nephew of the former Vice President.

## Political Career

### State Legislator

Clinton was a member of the New York State Legislator in 1798–1802 and 1806–1811 He was a delegate to the New York State Constitutional Convention in 1801. He was a member of the Council of Appointments in 1801–1802 and 1806–1807. Clinton was appointed mayor of New York City in 1803, then in 1808 again.

### Mayor of New York City

He served as mayor of New York from 1803 to 1807 and 1808 to 1810. He organized the New-York Historical Society in 1804 and was its president, and he was a leader in launching the Erie Canal. He also helped to reorganize the American Academy of the Fine Arts in 1808 and served as its president between 1813 and 1817. He was a regent of the University of the State of New York from 1808 to 1825. Clinton was also elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1814 and served as its vice president from 1821 to 1828. In 1816, he was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

### Lieutenant Governor

In 1810 DeWitt Clinton was elected to a 4 year term as Lieutenant Governor of New York, Clinton served in the position for 4 years until 1815, without any major events in the position.

### Senator of New York

Clinton briefly joined the Senate for two years between 1817-1819, but left due to extreme animosity to the D.C. lifestyle.

### Governor of New York

In 1819 DeWitt Clinton was elected Governor of New York over competitors like Alexander Hamilton and Henry Clark. Clinton played a large role in the largely defunct Erie Canal project, pushing back into it's construction that had faltered under the previous administrations. Clinton also reinstated a removal of the Popular Vote for the President in New York.

### Vice Presidency

DeWitt Clinton was elected on the lower half of the Democratic Ticket in the Presidential Election of 1820 under President-Elect James Monroe. Monroe took the office in March of 1821, and Clinton would take up the Vice Presidency. Clinton was very much a do-little Vice President, being given very little mobility in his position. During the Panic of 1821 Clinton had even suggested public works projects like the Erie Canal, but President Monroe shut him down, turning a split in Executive Office, Clinton drifting more towards the newly established Liberal Democratic Party.

In 1822, Patriot Henry Clark forged a letter by Governor of New York John Tayler to President James Monroe, the letter asked for President Monroe to assist in the New York Patriot Protests of 1822. DeWitt Clinton apparently warned the President that this didn't sound like Tayler, but the President sent in the troops regardless, leading to the Brooklyn Massacre, and later the Portland Affair, which would pressure Monroe into resigning on June 15, 1822.

## Presidency

Clinton was inaugurated President on June 15, 1822 following James Monroe's resignation, being the first President to succeed a President. Clinton immediately faced struggle as President, with the March on D.C. occurring just 4 days into his Presidency, as the State of Militia of Maine would march south towards D.C. gaining support and troops as it marched south to demand the resignation of all officials involved in the Portland Affair. DeWitt Clinton tried to reason with them, even revoking the Executive Orders which sparked the unrest, but on July 27, 1822 they demanded his resignation or they would invade the city, Clinton complied, resigning his Presidency a little over a month after he assumed it. Henry Clay, Republican Vice President would succeed him in the office, and the March on D.C. would disperse. Clinton's Presidency marked the shortest in the United States.

## Personal Life

Clinton was born on March 2, 1769, the second son born to Major-General James Clinton and his wife Mary De Witt. He attended Kingston Academy and began his college studies at the College of New Jersey (now known as Princeton University) before transferring to King's College (which was renamed Columbia College while he was a student there; 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 U.S. Representative James G. Clinton, and the cousin of Simeon De Witt. He became the secretary to his uncle George Clinton, who was then Governor of New York.

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

On May 8, 1819, Clinton married Catharine Jones, the daughter of a New York physician, Thomas Jones and his wife, Margaret (née Livingston) Jones (a daughter of Edward Livingston). Catharine's sister, Mary (née Jones) Gelston, was the wife of Deacon Maltby Gelston of Southampton, and the mother of David Gelston, Collector of the Port of New York. Catharine outlived her husband.

In 1813, Clinton became a hereditary member of the New York Society of the Cincinnati in succession to his brother, Lieutenant Alexander Clinton, who was an original member of the society. In that same year, he was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society.