Sit down my fellow citizens of Chocolate City, and let the Starchild drop some knowledge on you about the one of the un-funkiest vice presidents the U.S.A. has ever had: George Clinton.
George Clinton was released from his mothership in the town of Little Britain, N.Y. on July 26, 1739. At the age of eighteen he joined the army and fought in the French and Indian War with his father at the attack on Fort Frontenac. After the war ended he returned to New York and began to practice law. He was made a district attorney for New York in 1765 and was elected to the provincial assembly in 1768. While serving in the assembly he became known as a fiery radical. He was made leader of the anti-British faction in 1770, when he defended a member of the Sons of Liberty imprisoned for "seditious libel" by the royalist majority that still controlled the New York assembly. Clinton was elected to the Second Continental Congress, but, having been commissioned a brigadier general in the militia in December 1775, he was absent for the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
During the Revolutionary War, Clinton was entrusted with the defense of the Hudson River valley. By his own admission he was an ineffectual military strategist, and his lack of tactical skill led to the loss of Fort Montgomery and the burning of Esopus in the fall of 1777. After being relieved of his command, he was elected the first governor of New York. His energy and leadership as governor for six successive terms (1777–95) led to him being called the father of New York state. He built a powerful political machine made up of small yeoman farmers and became respected for his management of finances, astute handling of the “Indian problem”, and severe treatment of Loyalists.
Unlike the members of the Federalist party, George Clinton was against us becoming one nation, under a groove. An advocate of state sovereignty, Clinton was one of the chief opponents of the U.S. Constitution and the expansion of federal powers that came with it. Clinton's views on the Constitution made him an enemy of John Jay, one of the leaders of the Federalists. Jay lost the 1792 election for New York governor only by a questionable manipulation of returns on the part of the Clinton machine, and in 1795 Jay won with ease, Clinton having declined to become a candidate. But Clinton got the last laugh, as he used his connections within the machine to be reelected governor in 1801.
George Clinton then took office as the United States fourth vice president in 1805. He was Thomas Jefferson’s second vice president after Aaron Burr was dropped from the ticket for killing Alexander Hamilton. By this time, Clinton was 66 years old and very sickly; he was also a poor public speaker in contrast to the gregarious Burr. On Clinton’s first day of presiding over Congress, Senator William Plumer (F-NH) gave him a shot from the bop gun by declaring:
George Clinton the Vice President is a feeble old man. What a vast difference between him and Aaron Burr! One would think that the office was made for Clinton, and not he for the office…He is altogether unacquainted with the Senate's rules, has a clumsy awkward way of putting a question, and preserves little or no order.
The truth was that the only reason Clinton was selected to be
vice president was his old age and ineptitude. Jefferson and the other Republicans thought that Clinton would be to old to run for president in 1808, leaving a clear path for
Secretary of State James Madison to take the
Republican presidential nomination. After he took office, Clinton was shunted aside by Jefferson and the rest of the
Washington elite, his only job was to preside over the
Senate, a job he disliked to begin with. He declared that he had a long-standing “aversion to councils” and had little patience for the unnecessarily long-winded speeches that most Senators gave, once even giving a severe tongue-lashing to
John Quincy Adams after a particularly extended speech. As a result, Clinton was frequently absent from the Senate.
When the Republican congressional caucus met to select the party's 1808 presidential candidate, James Madison was nominated for president and George Clinton was again given the vice-president slot. Clinton neither accepted or refused the nomination and continued to campaign as though he was running for the top job. His candidacy frightened the caucus, as he had enough power in the New England states that he might end up splitting the Republican vote and hand the election to the Federalists. Clinton ran what was considered to be a very dirty campaign for the time, attacking Jefferson’s foreign policy and calling Madison “a mere mouthpiece.” Eventually his support waned as it became clearer that he would not win the election. It was only due to his support in the North, especially in New York, that he was able to hold onto the vice-presidential nomination.
Clinton hated Madison and tried to oppose his policies whenever he could. This battle ended up causing much humiliation to the administration and the Republican party itself, especially when Clinton was able to lead a vote calling for the abolishing of the national Bank of the United States. Clinton gave much more attention to his job in the Senate during his second term thanks to his vendetta against Madison. But by March of 1812 he was too ill to continue his duties.
On April 20, 1812, George Clinton died. He was the first person to lie in state in the Capitol, for a brief two-hour period, before the funeral procession escorted his remains to nearby Congressional Cemetery.