publicans, as they had
been excluded from appointive office during the Federalist ascendancy,
and to divide the smaller places between the parties somewhat in
accordance with their relative strength.[1] In counties where the
Federalists had a majority very few removals were made.

In 1802 Clinton became a member of the United States Senate, but
resigned in the following year to become mayor of New York city, an
office he held from 1803 to 1807, from 1808 to 1810, and from 1811 to
1815. During his mayoralty he also held other offices, being a member of
the state senate from 1806 to 1811 and lieutenant-governor from 1811 to
1813. In 1812, after a congressional caucus at Washington had nominated
Madison for a second term, the Republicans of New York, desiring to
break up the so-called Virginia dynasty as well as the system of
congressional nominations, nominated Clinton for the presidency by a
legislative caucus. Opponents of a second war with Great Britain had
revived the Federalist organization, and Federalists from eleven states
met in New York and agreed to support Clinton, not on account of his war
views, which were not in accord with their own, but as a protest against
the policy of Madison. In the election Clinton received 89 electoral
votes and Madison 128.

As a member of the legislature Clinton was active in securing the
abolition of slavery and of imprisonment for debt, and in perfecting a
system of free public schools. In 1810 he was a member of a commission
to explore a route for a canal between Lake Erie and the Hudson river,
and in 1811 he and Gouverneur Morris were sent to Washington to secure
Federal aid for the undertaking, but were unsuccessful. The second war
with Great Britain prevented any immediate action by the state, but in
1816 Clinton was active in reviving the project, and a new commission
was appointed, of which he became president. His connexion with this
work so enhanced his popularity that he was chosen governor by an
overwhelming majority and served for two triennial terms (1817-1823). As
governor he devoted his energies to the construction of the canal, but
the opposition to his administration, led by Martin Van Buren and
Tammany Hall, became so formidable by 1822 that he declined to seek a
third term. His successful opponents, however, overreached themselves
when in 1824 they removed him from the office of canal commissioner.
This partisan action aroused such indignation that at the next