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The Birth of Empire: DeWitt Clinton and the American Experience, 1769-1828

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Evan Cornog has crafted an expert depiction and analysis of the life of DeWitt Clinton: the early nineteenth century mayor of New York City, governor of New York State and champion of the Erie Canal. Cornog puts this man in historical perspective; he ruled at the twilight of the age of elite, privileged politicians and the dawn of the age of popular democratic mass politics. Ironically, Clinton, the quintessential product of the former political age, helped usher in the latter by championing election reform, public education and the canal itself.

The historical ironies of the canal expressed by Cornog are insightful. Clinton was a proponent of federal funding for internal improvements yet the success of the canal as a state subsidized project discouraged massive federal public works projects for more than a century. Its success also led to a certain canal-building fever for other states. But later canal construction came when private railroads were gaining steam. This untimely investment, coupled with the Panic of 1837 actually frightened off and discouraged future state, federal and foreign investment in internal improvements.

A final unforseen result for Clinton was the social transformation which flowed quickly from the canal and led to the end of the elite age of New York politics.

DeWitt Clinton's accomplishments have long been trumpeted in New York City and State, and for too long his canal has been perceived as a local triumph. Thanks to Evan Cornog's study, "The Birth of Empire: DeWitt Clinton and the American Experience, 1769-1828" the many triumphs of Clinton's career are given the national and historic scope they deserve.

NOTE: This is a study of Clinton's contributions to New York's and America's emergence as a world power, especially in terms of an economic power. This is NOT a biography in the ordinary sense of the word. Unlike McCullough's "John Adams" or Chernow's "Alexander Hamiltion", we do not get a full-length portrait of the man. Partly because DeWitt Clinton was much more reserved and reluctant to show his feelings than others of his time and partly because his diary entries, as Cornog points out, are very mundane, we mostly see the public DeWitt Clinton: DeWitt Clinton the politician, DeWitt Clinton the scientist, DeWitt Clinton the philanthropist, etc. So intensely private in some ways (his mother wondered if he was dead or alive because he never wrote her while he attended Columbia), it is remarkable that he would seek such a public career.

But it was to New York's and America's benefit that he did.

Although he never achieved the Presidency, he often influenced (directly or indirectly) every President in office during his lifetime. He clashed with some of the mightiest men of his day: Aaron Burr, Daniel Tompkins, Ambrose Spencer, et al. As Cornog points out, not all his confrontations were rooted in ideology; DeWitt Clinton was a political animal, even though the political realm he operated in was rapidly changing, often leaving Clinton behind. Clinton also could often be extremely self-centered, snobbish and vindictive. And, yet, this contradictory man also had long-reaching visions and programs for the benefit of the poor as well as the merchant and upper classes. He supported free education for all New Yorkers. He supported artists, writers, and scientists. Most importantly, his dogged determination to get the Erie Canal built provided jobs for immigrants, provided a market for farmers, provided work for New Englanders, and helped build the great cities along the canal's path. And as the canal propelled New York State and New York City into economic powerhouses, it also propelled America's westward expansion and its status as a world-class nation.

Well-written and well-documented, Evan Cornog's "The Birth of Empire" captures the feel of the early decades of America, with all its growing pains. And it puts DeWitt Clinton in American history's spotlight where he belongs.

THE PRINT IN THIS BOOK IS TOO SMALL. ONLY FOR PEOPLE WITH YOUNG EYES. I NEED A MAGNIFYING GLASS TO READ