CLINTON
CLINTON
torical Society (1813) ; Memoir of the Antiquities of
Western New York (1818) ; Letters on the Xaturnl
History and Internal Resources of New York (1822) ;
and Speeches to the Lerjislatrire (1823). His Life
was written by Hosack in 1829, Renwick in 1840
and Campbell in 1849. He died at Albany, N. Y.,
Feb. 11, 1S28.
CLINTON, George, statesman, was born in Little Britain, N.Y., July 26, 1739; fourth son of Col. Charles and Elizabeth (Denniston) Clinton. He joined a privateer that was fitted out at Newburg to prey upon French commerce, and on his return from the cruise was commis- sioned lieutenant in his father's regiment and accompanied it on the expedition against Fort Frontenac. When the war closed he studied law and was made clerk of common pleas and sur- veyor of New Wind- sor, succeeding his brother James, who in turn had succeeded his father to the of- fice. In 1768 he was elected a member of the state assembly, where he made him- self conspicuous in defending the cause of the colonies as op- posed to the demands of the crown. The provincial convention of April 22, 1775, elect- ed him a delegate to the 2d Continental congress, which as- is^iuibled in Philadeljjhia May 10, 1775. He took liis seat May 15 and advocated the Declara- tion of Independence. Restricted by the in- structions of the New York delegates, he voted for the measure at the meeting of the provisional •congress at White Plains, N.Y., July 8, 1776, but did not sign the document with the New York delegation on July 15, as he had meanwhile been •ordered by General Washington to take the field as general of militia, in view of a threatened movement by the British army through the Highlands. He was a deputy to the provisional congress which framed the state constitution, and on March 25, 1777, was commissioned brigadier- general in the continental army, and commander -of all the Hudson river hosts. With his brother. Gen. James Clinton, he made the gallant defence ■of Forts Clinton and Montgomery, Oct. 6, 1777. He escaped with his garrison across the river, reached New Britain, and while reorganizing his little army captured a spy who carried a dispatch designed for General Burgoyne concealed in a silver bullet. This the spy undertook to destroy
by swallowing the bullet, but was detected in
the act and the bullet with the dispatch was
captured. It gave information to Burgoyne of
speedy reinforcement and its proper delivery
would possibly have prevented his surrender on
the 17th, to General Gates. Upon the adoption
of a state constitution, April 20, 1777, General
Clinton was elected governor and held the office
by successive re-elections until 1795. He served
the state both as a civil and military leader with
great acceptance. Besides his defence of the
Hudson river he saved the settlers of the Mohawk
valley from the combined Tory and Indian ma-
rauders under Johnson, Brant and Cornplanter;
defended the rights of New York against the
occupation of territory by the settlei's of the New
Hampshire grants; and concluded a lasting
treaty of peace with the Indians. When Shays's
rebellion of 1787 threatened the welfare of the
commonwealth of Massachusetts, he led his
militia against the insurgents. In the presiden-
tial election of 1789 he received three electoral
votes. He opposed the right of the Federal gov-
ernment to collect and retain impost through the
port of New York, as being a measure toward
centralization and destroying the sovereignty of
the state. He refused to summon the state legis-
lature at the request of congress, in 1786, and
opposed the adoption of the Federal constitution,
as originally framed, although he presided at the
state convention in 1788 which ratified it. His
action greatly offended the Federalists and they
used every effort to defeat him. In the presiden-
tial election of 1792 he received from the Repub-
lican party, of which he was the founder, fifty
electoral votes and John Adams received seventy-
seven. He declined to run for governor in 1794,
was named as a presidential candidate in 1796,
receiving seven electoral votes, and in 1801 was
induced, largely through the Tammany society
of New York, to become the Republican candi-
date for governor, and defeated Stephen Van
Rensselaer, receiving nearly 4000 majority. He
antagonized his own party in refusing to remove
officials for party reasons and was censured bj^ his
council, especiall}^ by his nephew, DeWitt Clin-
ton, and by Ambrose Spencer. In 1804, under
the amended constitution, he was vice-presiden-
tial candidate with Thomas Jefferson for presi-
dent, and they received 162 of the 176 electoral
votes. He was re-elected vice-president in 1808,
on the ticket with James Madison, receiving 113
electoral votes and six for president ; and as presi-
dent of the senate in the 12th congress he cast
the vote that prevented the re-charter of the
United States bank. He was married to Cornelia
Tappan of Kingston, N.Y., and his son, George
Clinton, Jr., was a graduate of Columbia college
in the class of 1793 and a representative in the
