USA > New York > A short history of New York State > Part 15
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Seeking to augment their forces, the Clintonians agreed to unite with the Burrites. To consummate the union a supper was held at Dyde's Hotel in New York City on February 20, 1806. The next day several disgruntled Burrites and friends of the Livingston clan called a protest meeting which was held on February 24 in the Long Room of a tavern owned by Abraham Martling, an officer of the Tammany Society. The
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group represented at this meeting became known as Martling Men. Actually the Martling Men were almost identical with the Tammany Society, and the two terms grew to be synonymous. In spite of De Witt Clinton's best efforts the Martling Men remained his implacable foes.
The majority of the Republicans elected to the legislature in 1806 were Clintonians. The Quids, however, allied with the Federalists to control the legislature of 1807. De Witt Clinton was removed as mayor of New York City and his friends were turned out of political office. Stung by this action, the Republican caucus by-passed Morgan Lewis and nom- inated Daniel D. Tompkins for governor. Clinton, who supported Tomp- kins' nomination, did not dare offer himself because he was the favorite target of the Livingstons, the Federalists, and many Burrites. The Quids named Governor Lewis for re-election, but he was defeated by the Clintonian candidate.
Governor Tompkins soon found himself in disagreement with De Witt Clinton. In his opening address to the legislature Tompkins made an able defense of the embargo imposed by Congress at President Jefferson's request in order to isolate the United States from the conflict raging in Europe. Both Clintons had condemned the embargo. De Witt Clinton now reversed himself and endorsed Tompkins' position. A more serious clash took place in 1808. Four years earlier Jefferson had been re-elected president and George Clinton had been elected vice-president. The Clintonians had confidently anticipated that George Clinton would move up to the president's office in accordance with custom. The Virginian Republicans, however, cleverly called together the congressional caucus which nominated James Madison and renamed George Clinton for vice- president. De Witt Clinton insisted that the New York legislature select electors who would support George Clinton for the presidency. Tompkins opposed the move as futile and provocative. Ultimately, George Clinton was returned to the vice-presidential chair and Madison received the higher office.
In 1810 the Republicans re-elected Tompkins and John Broome as governor and lieutenant governor, respectively, but the death of Broome in August forced the legislature to authorize a special election to deter- mine his successor. De Witt Clinton, who had been returned to the mayor's office in New York City, was eager to fill the vacancy and re- ceived the nomination of the Republican legislative caucus. Tammany Hall-the name used more and more to describe the Martling Men- protested Clinton's candidacy and held a huge mass meeting presided over by Mangle Minthorne, the father-in-law of Governor Tompkins, which nominated Colonel Marinus Willett, a Revolutionary officer with a record of meritorious service. The Federalists named Nicholas Fish
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for the office. Notwithstanding the opposition of President Madison, Governor Tompkins, Tammany Hall, and the Federalist party, De Witt Clinton won a handsome victory.
The fortunes of the Federalists, which had fallen to a low ebb, showed signs of reviving after the imposition of the Jeffersonian embargo. Out- raged merchants led by Isaac Sebring, Richard Varick, and Gulian C. Verplanck organized the Washington Benevolent Society. This fraternal order, with its secret ritual, solemn pledges, and public ceremonies, was designed to exploit the name of Washington for the benefit of the Federalist party. It spread rapidly to all sections of the state and re- invigorated the party for a time. The Federalist denunciation of Jef- ferson's foreign policy as destructive to commerce and subservient to Napoleon won popular support, as did their charge that the fall in farm prices properly lay at the door of the Republicans. Public disapproval of Republican policies enabled the Federalists to win temporary control of the legislature in several elections, notably those of 1809, 1812, 1813, and 1814. These victories represented a protest against the Republican line of action rather than a popular endorsement of the principles of Federalism.
Bank charters were another source of controversy throughout this period. The Republicans, whose background was chiefly agrarian, tended to oppose banks as tools of the rich, whereas the Federalists repeated Hamilton's arguments that banks were needed to facilitate trade. As population and trade increased, the pressure by businessmen for banks grew. Since the Federalist party was declining, promoters tried to win the support of influential Republicans by offering at discounts shares in proposed banking corporations-or even outright bribes. When agents of the Bank of America sought a charter, they tried to overcome Re- publican resistance by offering to pay the school fund $400,000 at the end of a twenty-year period plus an additional $200,000 to the state treasury, provided no rival institution had been incorporated in the meantime. In a further effort to win support bribes were offered to lawmakers. Governor Tompkins denounced the scheme and even prorogued the legislature to prevent incorporation, but the lobbyists had reached too many legislators and in 1812 the Bank of America secured a New York charter.
Vice-President George Clinton died on April 20, 1812. The next month a Republican convention nominated De Witt Clinton for the presidency in opposition to James Madison, who had been named for re-election by a caucus of the Republican members of Congress. In June, Congress declared war on Great Britain, and the prosecution of the conflict be- came the major issue in the political campaign. Ostensibly the reason for declaring hostilities was the British violation of neutral rights. Actually
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the South and West were more interested in terminating British incite- ment of the Indians and in winning more territory in Canada and Florida. New York and the Northeast were more concerned with the deleterious effect the war would have on commerce. When the British announced their willingness to comply with American demands for re- spect of neutral rights, their proposal offered a basis for withdrawing from the conflict. The British, however, did not agree to abandon impressment.
Madison demanded that the war be fought. In New York he won the support of Governor Tompkins and Tammany Hall. Clinton vacillated but was regarded generally as the peace candidate. The Federalists, traditionally friendly to Great Britain and strong supporters of com- mercial interests, swallowed their pride and endorsed Clinton although they had fought his family for more than a generation. Madison won, carrying the southern and western states. Clinton garnered most of the votes of New England, New York, and some of the Middle Atlantic states.
Although New Yorkers were divided on the issue of war, most of them desired peace. The values of goods exported from New York exceeded that of any other state, and this profitable trade was stifled by the British fleet. Even on the frontier there was strong opposition to war, for frontier traders sent potashes, pearlashes, and lumber duty free to Montreal and Quebec, from whence they were shipped to Great Britain as Canadian products under favorable duty charges. New York Fed- eralists severely criticized the conduct of the war and agitated for peace, but they did not flirt with secession as their fellow Federalists were doing in New England.
In the face of divided opinion, Tompkins proved himself to be a great war governor. His problems were formidable: an inefficient militia, a hostile Assembly, insufficient funds, a bureaucracy subservient to the spoilsmen on the Council of Appointments. There were about ninety-five thousand citizens subject to militia duty, but these men were poorly trained and equipped. According to the law, militiamen could be called upon to serve only for a maximum of six months each year. The theory that the militia could not be ordered out of the United States was accepted widely. Few of the officers had reasonable experience or train- ing in military matters, and only two general officers, Jacob Brown and Peter B. Porter, were to attain distinction in combat. Discipline was unbelievably lax. As late as 1814, when the armed forces had been improved greatly, several companies of Rockland County militia left their post at New York City in a body to harvest their crops.
During the summer and fall of 1812 this inadequate militia was scat- tered along the Canadian frontier, facing superior British forces. The
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roads were so poor that in many cases neighboring American garrisons could not have supported one another. Fortunately, the British knew that their government had agreed to accept American terms in regard to neutral rights and expected the declaration of war to be withdrawn. For this reason they failed to attack and thereby gave the United States time to organize its defenses.
In 1812 the American government had grandiose plans for the speedy conquest of Canada by three campaigns: William Hull, governor of the Michigan Territory, was to invade Upper Canada from Detroit; Major General Stephen Van Rensselaer of the New York militia was to attack Niagara; and Major General Henry Dearborn was to march northward from Plattsburgh and capture Montreal. In the west Hull was defeated by the able British general, Sir Isaac Brock, who captured Detroit on August 16 and then shifted his forces to the Niagara frontier. On the morning of October 13 Van Rensselaer sent a force under Colonel Solomon Van Rensselaer across the Niagara Gorge. Early in the struggle Brock was killed, and the invaders seized a strong toehold on the heights above Queenston. Victory seemed assured, but the New York militia on the American side of the river refused to leave the territory of the United States. As British reinforcements arrived, the invaders, now commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Winfield Scott, were forced down the escarpment to the river. Here they were surrounded and forced to surrender in sight of armed American militiamen on the other side of the Niagara. Stephen Van Rensselaer, sick at heart after the humiliating débâcle at Queenston, resigned his command. The following month General Dear- born's army, marching northward from Plattsburgh, reached the Ca- nadian border, where the militia refused to advance further. Thus all three campaigns ended in failure.
Twice during the first year of the war the British attacked New York territory. On July 19 several enemy vessels assaulted Sackets Harbor, on Lake Ontario, but were beaten off. On October 4, General Jacob Brown repelled a raid on Ogdensburg. These defensive victories were the only glory salvaged from a year of combat along the northern border. The first blow in 1813 was struck on February 23, when the British crossed the St. Lawrence on the ice and destroyed public property at Ogdensburg. Earlier in the month the ineffectual William Eustis was replaced as secretary of war by John Armstrong, a New Yorker. Arm- strong reasoned soundly that if the British base at Kingston were cap- tured the St. Lawrence could be closed and the communications of the enemy armies in the west severed, thus rendering them helpless. How- ever, when Captain Isaac Chauncey, commander of the fleet at Sackets Harbor, and General Dearborn indicated preference for a different plan, Armstrong unwisely consented.
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In April an American flotilla crossed Lake Ontario with 1,600 troops and burned the buildings of the provincial parliament at York (Toronto). The fleet under Chauncey and the army under Dearborn then proceeded to the mouth of the Niagara River and captured Fort George on May 27. The next day Sir George Prevost, taking advantage of the absence of the main American force, landed 800 men at Sackets Harbor under the covering fire of his fleet. The defender was General Jacob Brown of the New York militia, who repulsed the attack with heavy losses to the enemy. In July, British raiders who crossed the Niagara near Black Rock were badly mauled and driven back by Peter B. Porter, a New Yorker. During this same month an enemy naval squadron gained con- trol of Lake Champlain, and the barracks at Plattsburgh were burned and the magazines plundered. Early in November General James Wilkin- son, who had replaced Dearborn, advanced down the St. Lawrence with an American fleet for an attack on Montreal. As he progressed, Wilkinson was harassed from the flanks and the rear and finally defeated on No- vember 11 at Chrysler's Field.
In December, General McClure of the New York militia evacuated Fort George in the face of the advancing enemy and, after burning the Canadian villages of Newark and Queenston, retired across the Niagara. The destruction of these two villages was an act of cruelty which drew prompt requital. During the night of December 18-19 two enemy forces under Colonel Murray and General Riall invaded New York. Murray captured Fort Niagara, and Riall laid waste the country- side along the Niagara River. A few days later the British defeated a small group of militia under General Amos Hall and burned Black Rock and Buffalo. Although the war did not go well along the New York frontier in 1813, American forces won important victories in the west. On September 10 Captain Oliver Hazard Perry crushed the British naval squadron at Put in Bay, securing Lake Erie to the Americans, and during the month following William Henry Harrison defeated the major enemy army in the west at the Battle of the Thames.
The crisis came in 1814. By spring Napoleon had been defeated and the British began to send veterans of Wellington's army to North America, which now occupied Great Britain's undivided attention. Fortunately, two years of war had tested the American forces and had resulted in the removal of most incompetent officers. By August the American navy had won control of Lake Ontario, and early in July Major General Jacob Brown, formerly of New York militia but now an officer in the regular army, had crossed the Niagara to invade Canada. Brown had about 3,550 troops and some 600 Indians under his command. A large part of this force came from New England and Pennsylvania, but the Twenty-Third Regiment was composed of regulars
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from New York. In addition there were some New York militia and volunteers. On July 5, Brown's army won a brilliant victory at Chippewa. On the twenty-fifth it fought a bloody battle at Lundy's Lane, driving the enemy from strong positions, capturing its artillery, and withdrawing during the night. In August and September, Brown gave an excellent account of himself around Fort Erie, where he held superior British forces at bay. Among the most able officers in this fighting was Peter B. Porter.
The real danger, however, was in the Lake Champlain region, where the British massed a large body of veteran troops. The British plan was for Sir George Prevost to invade the United States by following Bur- goyne's old route up Lake Champlain. Could this be accomplished, New England, which strongly opposed the war, might be cut off from the rest of the nation and perhaps be returned to the Empire. To accomplish his mission Prevost had at his disposal about 11,000 troops plus a naval squadron on Lake Champlain. Facing' him was General Alexander Macomb, who was entrenched at Plattsburgh with some 3,300 soldiers, less than half of whom were fit for duty, and Captain Thomas McDonough, who commanded the American flotilla. The two fleets met in battle outside Plattsburgh Bay on September 11. McDonough de- stroyed the statistically superior British squadron in a notable and crucial engagement. Prevost, fearing to advance without control of Lake Cham- plain, returned to Canada. This was the last important battle of the war along the northern frontier of New York.
Until the closing months of the struggle New York City was left largely to its own resources, and during the course of the war 120 privateers sailed from its harbor and captured 275 prizes. After 1813, however, the British tightened the naval blockade and forced the city to look to its defenses. When the news of Napoleon's defeat reached the city on June 10, 1814, there was a somber realization that the British now had available enough ships and troops to attack the port. Under the able direction of Mayor De Witt Clinton the defense work was quick- ened. On August 26 came the news that the British had raided Washing- ton and burned the government buildings. There was panic in the city. By November the defenses were completed and it was estimated that 25,000 troops could be assembled in three hours, but the attack never came. On February 11 the British sloop of war Favorite arrived off Sandy Hook with the terms of the Treaty of Ghent, a treaty which settled none of the points over which the United States had gone to war, but which was received with universal joy.
One cannot escape the conclusion that New York never wholeheartedly supported the War of 1812. Not until the summer of 1814 did its soldiers fight with determination. On several occasions the militia refused to
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advance beyond the national boundary. Throughout the struggle sup- plies poured from its northern farms into Canada. On June 29, 1814, the Federalists celebrated the defeat of Napoleon with a public dinner in New York City. Such distinguished citizens as Gouverneur Morris and Rufus King took part in the festivities, which were certainly disloyal if not treasonable. Fortunately, it was a relatively inexpensive war. De Witt Clinton calculated its cost to that state at $1,959,477.06. Except for the destruction of a few border towns, New York emerged with its farms, factories, commercial houses, and port facilities intact.
Political activities did not subside during the War of 1812. The Fed- eralists kept sniping at Governor Tompkins, refusing to vote funds for the militia in 1812 and interfering with appointments. Tompkins in 1814 secured a Republican majority in the legislature, which promptly voted for a stronger militia and defenses. Although the Republicans continued to be riddled by factional feuds, Tompkins maintained his control. Meanwhile, De Witt Clinton was falling to one of the lowest points in his career. His party refused to renominate him for the office of lieutenant governor in 1813, and ardent Republicans kept demanding his dismissal as mayor of New York City. To their aid came Gulian C. Verplanck, a young Federalist litterateur, who wrote a series of satirical articles un- der the pseudonym Abimelech Coody. Clinton, skilled in the art of political invective himself, replied in kind: "He has become the head of a political sect called the Coodies, of hybrid nature, composed of the combined spawn of Federalism and Jacobinism, and generated in the venomous passions of disappointment and revenge." Thereafter Verplanck and his political associates were known as Coodies. In 1815 an alliance of Coodies, Tammany Hall, Ambrose Spencer, and other malcontents secured Clinton's removal from the mayoralty.
Governor Tompkins' great popularity continued, and in 1816 he won re-election. During this same year he was looked upon by many as presidential timber. However, the Virginia dynasty again asserted itself by dictating the nomination of James Monroe. Consequently Tompkins had to be satisfied with second place on the ticket. Both he and Monroe were elected to office.
De Witt Clinton soon rebounded from the collapse of his political fortunes and served as governor for nine years (1817-1822, 1824-1828). His return to public favor resulted from his advocacy of the Erie Canal proposal, with which he became identified in the public mind. In December 1815 he made a remarkable speech calling for the construc- tion of canals to link the Hudson River with Lake Erie and Lake Champlain. This speech revived the latent procanal sentiment which had died down during the War of 1812. Clinton was appointed chair- man of a committee to present a memorial to the legislature. To ac-
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complish this purpose he traveled from New York City to Albany. His journey was nothing short of a triumphant tour, no doubt sweet solace to a man whose foes thought they had buried him the previous year. In response to public demand the legislature created a Canal Commission and named Clinton to head it.
Clinton began to rebuild his political alliances. He became reconciled with Ambrose Spencer, who promptly started a movement to elect Clinton governor. When Tompkins departed to assume vice-presidential duties, the governor's chair became vacant and leadership of the anti- Clintonian faction of the party fell to Martin Van Buren. Realizing that any caucus of Republican legislators would be dominated by Van Buren, Spencer demanded the party call a state nominating convention. Van Buren could not prevent this innovation and the subsequent nom- ination of Clinton. Endorsed by the Republicans and unobstructed by the Federalists, Clinton in 1817 swept aside the opposition of Tammany to win a smashing victory in which he obtained over 95 per cent of the popular vote.
The Tammany Society formed the core of the Republican group which opposed the new governor. Since it was the custom for members of the Tammany Society to wear the tails of deer in their hats at patriotic gatherings, that political faction became known as the Bucktail party. The guiding genius of the Bucktails was Van Buren, but he received able assistance from Benjamin F. Butler, Samuel A. Talcott, Benjamin Knower, and William Learned Marcy.
By this time the Federalist party had crumbled and many of its mem- bers had shifted their support to the Clintonians. Apparently Clinton was master of the state, but his love of power and lack of tact, combined with the skill of his enemies, created many difficulties for him. He was charged with arrogance, nepotism, disloyalty, and ingratitude. By 1818 Van Buren had won sufficient support to name the speaker of the Assembly. Van Buren also got control of the Council of Appointments and the Canal Commission, which enabled him to build up a political machine. Two years later he detached a faction of the Federalists from Clinton by supporting Rufus King for the United States Senate.
In 1820 the Bucktails, who enjoyed the support of the Monroe ad- ministration, induced Vice-President Tompkins to run for governor, hoping his war record would offset Clinton's appeal to canal partisans. Unfortunately for Tompkins, his opponents publicized the fact that his accounts kept during the hectic war years revealed many shortages. Strangely enough, a group of forty-eight Federalists denounced Clinton as "disgusting to the feelings of all truly high-minded and honorable men." Clinton promptly lampooned the signers as "High-Minded," and still another curious designation for a party faction came into being.
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This division among the Federalists between the "High-Minded" who supported Tompkins and the larger group which followed Clinton marked the end of the Federalists as a party organization. Clinton won re-election in a rancorous campaign during which unwarranted vituperation was heaped on the personal integrity of former governor Tompkins.
Clinton promptly became involved in a bitter fight with the Monroe administration, which he accused of interfering in New York politics. After the state Senate had censured him for this attack, Clinton sent a message to the legislature together with a green bag containing some evidence to document his charges. Among the papers was a letter from Van Buren asking the dismissal of certain postmasters, stating, "Unless we can alarm them by two or three prompt removals, there is no limiting the injurious consequences that may result from it." Van Buren later claimed the postmasters were removed for failing to deliver Bucktail newspapers. In 1821 the Bucktails got control of the Council of Appoint- ments and ruthlessly ousted not only their political opponents but also such loyal public servants as Gideon Hawley, the nonpolitical State Superintendent of Common Schools, who was recognized widely as an excellent administrator.
Van Buren, who was at this time a United States senator, frankly endorsed the spoils system as a means of maintaining party discipline. About this time the group of men who controlled the Bucktail party became known as the Albany Regency. The first members of the Regency in addition to Van Buren were William Learned Marcy; Benjamin Knower, father-in-law of Marcy; Samuel A. Talcott; and Roger Skinner. This inner circle was soon joined by Azariah Cutting Flagg, who later distinguished himself in the field of finance, and Edwin Croswell, editor of the Albany Argus. Van Buren was the most influential member of this coterie of talented men, but he did not dominate the group. By bestowing political appointments on friends and turning enemies out of office, the Albany Regency welded the Bucktail party into the most powerful political organization the state had yet seen. The Regency has been charged unjustly with originating the spoils system-a charge made easier by Marcy's statement that he could see no evil "in the rule that to the victor belongs the spoils of the enemy." Actually the charge of originating the spoils system could more properly be laid against the Federalists because of their conduct in the 1790's. In any case, De Witt Clinton had practiced political patronage long before the Regency came into being.
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