De Witt CLINTON, Congress, NY (1769-1828)

CLINTON, De Witt, (half brother of James Graham Clinton, nephew of George Clinton[1739-1812] and brother of George Clinton [1771-1809]), a Senator from New York; born in Napanock, Ulster County, N.Y., March 2, 1769; graduated from Columbia College in 1786; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1790 and commenced practice in New York City; private secretary to the Governor 1790-1795; member, State assembly 1798; member, State senate 1798-1802, 1806-1811; delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1801; member of the council of appointments in 1801, 1802, 1806, and 1807; elected as a Democratic Republican to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of John Armstrong and served from February 9, 1802, to November 4, 1803, when he resigned; mayor of the city of New York 1803-1807, 1810, 1811, 1813, and 1814; while mayor he organized the Historical Society of New York in 1804 and was its president; also organized the Academy of Fine Arts in 1808; lieutenant governor of New York 1811-1813; unsuccessful candidate of the Peace Party for President of the United States in 1812; regent of the University of New York 1808-1825; in 1809 was a member of the commission to explore a route for a canal between Lake Erie and the Hudson River, broke ground for that canal while Governor, and served several years as canal commissioner; Governor of the State 1817-1821, 1825-1828; died in Albany, N.Y., on February 11, 1828; interment in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Bibliography

Dictionary of American Biography; Cornog, Evan. The Birth of Empire: De Witt Clinton and the American Experience, 1769-1828. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998; Siry, Steven E. De Witt Clinton and the American Political Economy: Sectionalism, Politics, and Republican Ideology, 1787-1828. New York: Peter Lang, 1990.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present