Historic Highlights: DeWitt Clinton was ‘Father of Erie Canal’

DeWitt Clinton has been called the “father” of the legendary Erie Canal. It was only one part of a formidable legacy.

He also served as governor of New York, as well as the mayor of New York City, and was the defeated candidate for president in the 1812 election. Though obscure today, historians credit his overwhelming influence in the development of both his state and the nation.

Oddly, two Illinois counties are named for Clinton, Clinton County in southern Illinois, and DeWitt County, near Decatur, both honor him. The seat of DeWitt County, Clinton, is also named for him – meaning that three significant municipalities in the state of Illinois bear his name.

Clinton came from sound political stock. Born March 2, 1769, in Little Britain, New York, Clinton’s father would serve as a general in the Revolutionary War a few years later.

His uncle, George, was also a Revolutionary general and helped frame the New York state constitution. George Clinton later became the first governor of New York, one of seven terms he would win as the state’s chief executive.

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Young DeWitt attended what is now Columbia University, finishing first in the Class of 1786. As part of his commencement, he delivered an oration in Latin to Congress.

From 1790-95, DeWitt served as private secretary to his uncle George, before winning a seat in the New York House in 1797. The following year, he began a four-year stint in the state senate.

Clinton left the state assembly when he won a legislative election for a vacant U.S. Senate seat, which he assumed in February 1802. He served for 21 months before resigning, but not before introducing the 12th Amendment, which established the modern way of electing presidents and vice presidents. Before that, the runner-up served as vice president, regardless of party affiliation.

After leaving the Senate, Clinton was appointed mayor of New York City in 1803. The city had served as the nation’s capital through 1800 and remained a flagship in American economics and politics. Clinton ultimately served three stints as New York mayor between 1803-15 and helped organize several major civic and intellectual groups, including the New York Historical Society.

Clinton is also credited with founding the New York public school system and a commission that plotted the grid of streets and avenues in the Big Apple.

Meanwhile, Clinton was becoming a player in national politics. His uncle, George, had served as vice president in Thomas Jefferson’s second term and carried over to win the election under James Madison in 1808 despite severe political differences between the two. George Clinton became the first vice president to die in office on April 20, 1812.

DeWitt had presidential ambitions of his own and was the opposing candidate to Madison in 1812. The election was held at the outset of the War of 1812, which bitterly divided Americans. The cunning Clinton played both sides against each other, promising voters in New England, which generally opposed the war, that he would end the conflict. However, he told others he would continue the war if elected.

Madison eventually carried 11 of the 18 states in the Union and collected 128 electoral votes to 89 for Clinton. Historian Henry Adams, a descendant of John Adams, later wrote that “no canvas for the Presidency was ever less creditable than that of DeWitt Clinton in 1812.”

That statement is debatable, but it is clear that Clinton had personality flaws. In a 2004 article, acclaimed historian Richard Brookhiser wrote that Clinton was “as arrogant as he was gifted.” Early in 1815, some of Madison’s Republican supporters drove him out of the mayor’s office, but the resilient Clinton was about to unveil his next plan.

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For years, New Yorkers had ideas of connecting Lake Erie and the Hudson River, but Clinton became its foremost proponent. Since 1810, he had served on a commission to study and promote a canal, and at a meeting of “one hundred gentlemen” in New York in December 1815, he presented a draft of a memorandum to the State Assembly, calling for the canal project to begin.

Copies of the memo were distributed to the public, helping to galvanize support. Though Madison had vetoed canal legislation, Clinton’s efforts induced the state to sell bonds to finance a canal.

Clinton then was the sole candidate in a special election to fill a vacancy as governor of New York and took office on July 1, 1817. Three days later, the ground on the Erie Canal was broken.

In 1822, Clinton was ousted from office by a rival faction of future President Martin Van Buren, a western New Yorker, which also knocked him off the canal commission. But Clinton mounted another comeback and regained the governorship in 1825, in time for the completion of the canal later that year. Clinton opened the canal by sailing on a packet boat from Lake Erie to New York City.

Opponents had derisively called the Erie Canal “DeWitt’s Ditch,” but the canal played an integral role in American economic development. Brookhiser writes that Midwestern goods now had a faster, cheaper route to the East, and within a decade of the canal’s completion, the Northeast was receiving nearly 23.7 of Midwestern commodities. That figure rose to 62.2% in 1853.

Before the completion, the shipment of a ton of flour from Buffalo to New York took $40 and three weeks. After completion, the price was $6, and the trip took eight days. Brookhiser also notes that “New York cemented its primacy as a financial hub,” a position that remains today.

The canal captured the imagination of the nation and became a model for other states, including Illinois.

Twice married, Clinton died suddenly on Feb. 11, 1828, while in office. Incredibly, he left an enormous debt load that impoverished his family, and his widow could not afford a proper grave site. His remains were held in the vault of a family friend for 16 years.

In 1844, an Albany newspaper reported that sufficient funds had been raised to finally give Clinton a suitable burial in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, where dozens of other prominent Americans also rest.

At least 29 municipalities around the nation are named in Clinton’s honor, including counties in Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Kentucky and Pennsylvania, as well as towns in Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Indiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana and New Jersey.

• Tom Emery is a freelance writer and historical researcher from Carlinville, Illinois. He may be reached at 217-710-8392 or ilcivilwar@yahoo.com.