George Clinton

“ To the memory of George Clinton, born in the State of New York, 26th day of July, 1738, died at the City of Washington the 20th of April, 1812, in the 73rd year of his age. Soldier and Statesman of the Revolution, eminent in council, distinguished in war, he filled with unexampled usefulness, purity and ability, among other high offices those of Governor of his native State, and Vice-President of the United States. ”

“ How completely the popular will could be thwarted may be seen later.
From 1777 until 1795 continuously George Clinton was governor. His opponent at his first election was Philip Schuyler, whom he seems to have much respected, and whom he later appointed surveyor-general. [26] Many of the offices had been filled before he entered on his duties, and he wrote that he would remove no man from office without a hearing. Either he or the council of appointment did, however, distress one man by making him third, instead of second, on a list of judges. ”

“ George Clinton, in whose career lay the great origin of party politics of New York, was the Republican leader. The son of an Irish immigrant, he had, without the aid of wealth or influential connections, made himself the most popular man in the State. He was the first governor after colonial days were over, and was repeatedly reëlected. It was his opposition which most seriously endangered New York's adoption of the Federal Constitution. ”

“ Besides these older families, the long governorship of George Clinton seems to have created a strong permanent interest, which passed to his nephew, De Witt Clinton, [24] while in New York City the democracy was marshalled by such organizations and leaders as Tammany Hall and Aaron Burr. Although Republican formulas were used, politics continued to be a game played by a number of factions, some aristocratic, some democratic, by bosses and patrons. ”

“ Indeed, it has been given to few men in New York to inspire more passionate personal attachment than George Clinton. A patriot never lived who was more bitter in his hostility to English misrule, or more uncompromising in his opposition to toryism. He was a typical Irishman—intolerant, often domineering, sometimes petulant, and occasionally too quick to take offence, but he was magnetic and generous, easily putting himself in touchi. 20 with those about him, and ready, without hesitation, to help the poorest and carry the weakest. This was the kind of man the people wanted for governor. ”

“ IN THE AMERICAN COLONIES BEFORE THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR, WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO CONDITIONS IN THE ROYAL COLONY OF NEW YORK.
CHAPTER IV (Continued)
THE LIBERTY OF THE PRESS IN NEW YORK
The administration of Governor George Clinton is very important on the side of Constitutional growth, since it is now that the General Assembly for the first time clearly enunciates the principles of self-government and the right not only to vote the taxes but to determine the ways in which the money shall be expended. ”

“ CLINTON, GEORGE (1739–1812) , American soldier and political leader, was born at Little Britain, Ulster (now Orange) county, New York, on the 26th of July 1739. His father, Charles Clinton (1690–1773) , who was born of English parents in Co. Longford, Ireland, emigrated to America in 1729, and commanded a regiment of provincial troops in the French and Indian War. The son went to sea at the age of sixteen, but, finding the sailor’s life distasteful, joined his father’s regiment and accompanied him as lieutenant in the expedition against Fort Frontenac in 1758. ”

“ In 1780 he took the field and checked the advance of Sir John Johnson and the Indians in the Mohawk Valley. In his administration Clinton was energetic and patriotic, and though not possessing the intellectual attainments of some of his New York contemporaries, he was more popular than any of them, as is attested by his serivice as governor for eighteen successive years (1777–1795) , and for another triennial term from 1801 to 1804. In the elections of 1780, 1783 and 1786 he had no opponent. ”

“ Ours is a nation that has shed the blood of war and cried the tears of depression. We have stretched the limits of human imagination and seen the technologically miraculous become almost mundane. Always, always, our advantage has been our spirit, a constant confidence, a sense that in America the only things not yet accomplished are the things that have not yet been tried. President-elect Clinton needs all Americans to unite behind him so he can move our Nation forward. But more than that, he will need to draw upon this unique American spirit. ”

“ I do not know whether General Sir Henry Clinton was more or less of a man of honor than the other high officers in the British army at that time. We feel instinctively loath to harbor a suspicion against the honor of these officers; and yet, the truth demands us to declare that some one among them engaged in the miserable business of bribing Americans to be traitors. Where the full guilt lies, we shall never know, but the fact that so many of the trails lead back to General Clinton gives us a reason for a strong surmise. ”

“ CLINTON: Well, I think we have to beat John McCain, and I have every reason to believe we're going to have a Democratic president and it's going to be either Barack or me. And we're going to make that happen.
And what is important is that we understand exactly the challenges facing us in order to defeat Senator McCain.
He will be a formidable candidate. There isn't any doubt about that. He has a great American story to tell. He's a man who has served our country with distinction over many years, but he has the wrong ideas about America. ”

“ Cornwallis had been so long practically independent in the South that he assumed not only the right to shape his own policy but adopted a certain tartness in his despatches to Clinton, his superior. When now, in this tone, he urged Clinton to abandon New York and join him Clinton's answer on the 26th of June was a definite order to occupy some port in Virginia easily reached from the sea, to make it secure, and to send to New York reinforcements. ”

“ We do not wish them to give up any political advantage. We urge measures which are demanded by the hour and the safety of our Union. Are they making sacrifices, when they do that which is required by the common welfare?" [370]
It remained for George W. Clinton of Buffalo, the son of the illustrious DeWitt Clinton, to lift the meeting to the higher plane of genuine loyalty to the Union. Clinton was a Hard in politics. He had stood with John A. Dix and Daniel S. Dickinson, had been defeated for lieutenant-governor on their ticket, and had supported Breckenridge ”

“ Washington said of the address, "I am at a loss which to admire most, the confidence of Arnold in publishing it, or the folly of the enemy in supposing that a production signed by so infamous a character will have any weight with the people of these States, or any influence upon our officers abroad." No such desertions followed from his proclamation as he expected. It was all nothing more than a trick to make Clinton and the British think him a person of vastly more influence and importance than he was. ”

“ We are seeing peoples' economic status slipping further and further behind. We've seen people who have not only lost their jobs but now are at risk of losing their homes.
We have a sharp contrast in terms of economic policies. John McCain wants to continue four more years of George Bush policies and, on the foreign policy front, wants to continue George Bush's foreign policy.
So I'm confident that both Senator Clinton's supporters and Senator Obama's supporters will be supporting the Democratic nominee when we start engaging in that general election. ”

“ Clinton's proclamation was very disturbing to the large element in South Carolina which did not desire to fight on either side. Every one must now be for or against the King, and many were in their secret hearts resolved to be against him. There followed an orgy of bloodshed which discredits human nature. The patriots fled to the mountains rather than yield and, in their turn, waylaid and murdered straggling Loyalists. Under pressure some republicans would give outward compliance to royal government, but they could not be coerced into a real loyalty. ”

“ Cornwallis now wrote to urge Clinton to come to his aid. Abandon New York, he said; bring the whole British force into Virginia and end the war by one smashing stroke; that would be better than sticking to salt pork in New York and sending only enough men to Virginia to steal tobacco. 250 Cornwallis could not remain where he was, far from the sea. Go back to Camden he would not after a victory, and thus seem to admit a defeat. So he decided to risk all and go forward. By hard marching he led his army down the Cape Fear River to Wilmington on the sea, and there he arrived on the 9th of April. ”

“ The officers of the British army scorned and detested him, and Sir Henry Clinton saw how unwilling they were to serve near his person; he therefore offered him a passage with his family to England, and in the month of December, 1781, the outcast set sail accordingly. It were better to have even an enemy upon our soil, than the foot of a traitor. ”

“ After the fall of Charleston only a few American irregulars were to be found in South Carolina. It and Georgia seemed safe in British control. With British successes came the problem of governing the South. On the royalist theory, the recovered land had been in a state of rebellion and was now restored to its true allegiance. Every one who had taken up arms against the King was guilty of treason with death as the penalty. Clinton had no intention of applying this hard theory, but he was returning to New York and he had to establish a 218 government on some legal basis. ”

“ But the problem is that that's the kind of politics that we've been accustomed to. And I think Senator Clinton learned the wrong lesson from it, because she's adopting the same tactics.
What the American people want are not distractions. They want to figure out, how are we actually going to deliver on health care; how are we going to deliver better jobs for people; how are we going to improve their incomes ”

“ Clinton said that every good man must be ready to join in arms the King's troops in order to reestablish peace and good government. Wicked and desperate men who still opposed the King should be punished with rigor and have their property confiscated. He offered pardon for past offenses, except to those who had taken part in killing Loyalists under the mock forms of justice. ”

“ Though he was needed with his army in the South, he dared not leave the Hudson unguarded. At last, however, he planned to help the South by causing the British to recall some of their troops. He had the French forces come and encamp near his army, and appear to be making arrangements for laying siege to New York. Even the soldiers thought they were going to try to take the city. General Clinton fell into the trap and wrote to Cornwallis for all the regiments he could spare. Troops were hurried aboard ship and set sail for New York. ”

“ How are you going to make the case to them why you're the better candidate and more electable in November?
What do you say to them -- minute-and-a-half each. And by a flip of the coin, Senator Clinton goes first.
CLINTON: Well, I say to them what I've said to voters across America -- that we need a fighter back in the White House. We need someone who's going to take on the special interests. ”

“ Washington sent a letter to Clinton along with his, acquainting the British Commander with the finding of the court, but saying nothing of the sentence. Captain Ogden was selected to bear these two letters to the enemy, and directed to ascertain from the officer to whom he delivered them, if Sir Henry Clinton would be willing to give up Arnold on condition of André's release. Clinton received the proposal, but declared it would be both un-military and a breach of honor to surrender one who had deserted from an enemy to his own camp. ”

“ D'Estaing then, in spite of American protests, insisted on taking the French ships to Boston to refit and with them the French soldiers. Sullivan publicly denounced the French admiral as having basely deserted him and his own disgusted yeomanry left in hundreds for their farms to gather in the harvest. In September, with d'Estaing safely away, Clinton sailed into Newport with five thousand men. Washington's campaign against Rhode Island had failed completely. ”

“ And so my point to the super delegates would be that if we're going to deliver on health care for every American, improve our schools, deliver on jobs, then it's going to be absolutely vital we form a new political coalition in this country. That's what we've been doing in this campaign, and that's what I'm going to do when I'm president of the United States of America.
GIBSON: The audience has been very good in restraining themselves. I think a round of applause for Senators Obama and Clinton. [applause] And that concludes tonight's Pennsylvania debate. ”

“ And now on the 18th of September Washington was riding northeastward into Connecticut, British troops were on board ships in New York and all was ready. On the 20th of September the Vulture, sloop of war, sailed up the Hudson from New York and anchored at Stony Point, a few miles below West Point. On board the Vulture was the British officer who was treating with Arnold and who now came to arrange terms with him, Major John André, Clinton's young adjutant general, a man of attractive personality. ”