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The birth of empire : DeWitt Clinton and the American experience, 1769-1828 / Evan Cornog.
Van Pelt Library E340.C65 C74 1998
By Request
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Cornog, Evan.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Clinton, DeWitt, 1769-1828.
- Clinton, DeWitt.
- United States. Congress. Senate--Biography.
- United States.
- United States. Congress. Senate.
- Legislators--United States--Biography.
- Legislators.
- Governors--New York (State)--Biography.
- Governors.
- New York (State).
- Mayors--New York (State)--New York--Biography.
- Mayors.
- New York (State)--New York.
- Erie Canal (N.Y.)--History.
- Erie Canal (N.Y.).
- New York (State)--Politics and government--1775-1865.
- Politics and government.
- United States--Politics and government--1783-1865.
- Genre:
- Biographies.
- Physical Description:
- x, 224 pages : illustrations, 1 map ; 24 cm
- Place of Publication:
- New York : Oxford University Press, 1998.
- Summary:
- The Birth of Empire chronicles not only the life of an important political leader but the accomplishments that underlay his success. As mayor of New York City, for example, Clinton was instrumental in the founding of the public-school system. He sponsored countless measures to promote cultural enrichment as well as educational opportunities for New Yorkers, and helped to establish and lead such institutions as the New-York Historical Society, the American Academy of the Arts, and the Literary and Philosophical Society. As shown here, Clinton's career was marked by frequent attempts to integrate his cultural and scientific interests into his identity as a politician, thus projecting the image of a man of wide learning and broad vision, a scholar-statesman of the new republic. Ironically, the political innovations which Clinton set in motion - the refinement of patronage and the spoils system, appeals to immigrant voters, and the professionalization of politics - were precisely what led to the extinction of the scholar-statesman's natural habitat. DeWitt Clinton was born into the aristocratic culture of the eighteenth century, yet his achievements and ideas crucially influenced (in ways he did not always anticipate) the growth of the mass society of the nineteenth century.
- Contents:
- Introduction: Gentlemen of New York 3
- 1 Political Apprentice 12
- 2 Political Journeyman 22
- 3 Clintonians and Burrites 39
- 4 Mayor Clinton 54
- 5 Clintonian Culture 62
- 6 Clintonians and Quids 73
- 7 New York and the Nation 84
- 8 Launching the Canal 104
- 9 Clintonian Intellect 118
- 10 The Governor 127
- 11 Resurrection 145
- 12 The Canal and Its Consequences 158
- 13 End of a Career 173.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 211-220) and index.
- ISBN:
- 0195119495
- OCLC:
- 38174234
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