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DeWitt Clinton and His Ditch
by Robert C. Barnard, MPS


The Erie Canal, first called "Clinton's
Folly" by many people and later referred
to affectionately as "Clinton's Ditch,"
was begun on July 4, 1817, at Rome,
New York, and was completed all the
way from the Hudson River to Lake Erie
in October of 1825, a distance of 363
miles. The canal was originally built to
be forty feet wide at the surface, sloping
to a bottom width of twenty-eight feet
and having a depth of only four feet.

Surprisingly, four feet was deep enough
to float heavily-laden boats and was just
as deep as New York State felt that they
could afford. It has been said with some
truth that it was also deep enough to float
a state, a nation and a pioneer people
into a great period of growth and pros-
perity.

In the eight years and four months that
the canal was being built, public opinion
changed from antagonism and active
dislike to, in some cases, fantastic dreams
that building the canal would solve all the
woes of the infant republic. What it did
do was to connect the Atlantic Ocean
with the Great Lakes and open up the
continent to a wealth impossible to attain
before.

Even many intelligent people, includ-
ing national leaders, felt in the beginning
that the Erie was " supreme folly. " When
New York State sent a delegation to Pres-
ident Jefferson in 1809 to ask the Federal
Government to underwrite the canal, he
answered, "It is a little short of madness
to think of it at this time. " He believed
that in perhaps a hundred years, it would
be feasible to build such a canal.

DeWitt Clinton and the canal commis-
sioners of New York kept their faith. By
1825, when hundreds of notables and
politicians joined in a great canal com-
pletion celebration, they had proven that
they were correct. "Clinton's Ditch"
was a reality. Hundreds of cannon
formed a telegraph the entire length of
the canal and took an hour and twenty
minutes to send the news of the great
triumph from Buffalo to New York City.

Although Clinton was the man directly
responsible for getting the public to back
the project and getting the legislature to
approve it, the idea did not originate
with him. Many others had dreamed of
such a canal to link New York with the
West. Even President Washington had
talked of such a canal in his administra-
tion, but no exact route was chosen.

Perhaps the man most responsible for
bringing the Erie Canal idea before the
public at the earliest time was Jesse Har-
ley. While spending time in jail for debt
in 1800, he wrote a series of essays out-
lining ideas for the canal that would con-
nect Lake Erie, the Mohawk River, and
the Hudson River. These essays led to
much public discussion and were copied
in several newspapers. In 1822, DeWitt
Clinton wrote, "The first suggestions of
a canal from Lake Erie to the Hudson
River came to my knowledge from your
essays. "

Hawley spoke of the advantages of such
a canal and most of them came true. He
foretold the fast development of the land
together with a rise in property values.
He thought that the canal might keep our
nation from dividing into several small
states, each having its special interests,
and he was right. Clinton's Ditch did
hold us together as a nation.

DeWitt Clinton was one of the great
men of his or any other age. He received
respect from the voters, scholars and
peers of his time. When President Jeffer-
son was asked who should be a future
president of the United States, he an-
swered, "DeWitt Clinton, for he sould
be thc greatest man in America. "

The honor of the Presidency was never
given to Clinton, but there was in his
time no one more famous. His career
was filled with achievements and acco-
lades. He was a three-time mayor of New
York City, a four-term governor of New
York State, a one term-United States
Senator, and a state senator. In 1812,
when he was only 43 years old, he was
the presidential nominee of the Federal-
ist and Republican parties simulta-
neously in New York State.

With his background, Clinton usually
took accomplishment of his goals as a
matter of course. The Clintons were of
English origin, and members of the no-
bility and landed gentry. They were loyal
to King Charles I and were forced to flee
Engiand when he was beheaded. They
settled in County Longford in Northern
Ireland and there Charles Clinton,
DeWitt's grandfather, was born in 1690.
In 1729, he led a group of fellow loyalists
to America and took land in Ulster
County, New York, sixty miles north of
New York City. One child survived the
trip (Catherine), and four more (Alexan-
der, Charles, James and George) were
born in America to Charles and his Irish
wife.

Charles soon became a community
leader and judge of the Court of Com-
mon Pleas. Of the sons, James became a
lieutenant-colonel in the militia, Charles
an officer-surgeon in the British Army
and George an officer in the colonial
army. Alexander, the oldest, was a doctor
and died at an early age. James married
Mary DeWitt of a wealthy old family in
New York City. From their union, De-
Witt Clinton was born in 1769.

When the Revolutionary War broke
out, both George andJames joined the
rebels and became generals under Wash-
ington.

James was second in command to Gen-
eral Sullivan in the campaign to crush the
Iroquois Confederacy, who were helping
the British. He proved to be a "ruthless
and merciless fighting man" and the In-
dians respected him. This was their way
also.

George was a delegate to the Continen-
tal Congress and in 1777 was elected
Governor of New York State. Young De-
Witt became Uncle George's secretary,
his first introduction to politics, in 1790,
after being the first graduate of Colum-
bia University in 1786 and spending a
few years in a law office.

It was at this beginning of his profes-
sional career that DeWitt Clinton joined
the Freemasons. He was raised in Hol-
land Lodge No. 16 on September 3,
1790, and served as its master in 1793.
He was Grand Master of the Grand
Lodge of New York from 1806 through
1819. In 1798, he was Grand High Priest
of the Grand Chapter, Royal Arch Ma-
sons of New York; and General Grand
High Priest of the General Grand Chap-
ter of the United States from 1816
through 1826. He was knighted in "Hol-
land Lodge" on May 17, 1792, served as
grand commander of the Grand Com-
mandery, Knights Templar, of New York
in 1814-1828, and grand master of the
Grand Encampment of the United States
from 1818 to his death in 1828. DeWitt
Clinton was an outstanding Mason in
many ways and therefore of special inter-
est to his Masonic brethren today.

DeWitt ceased to work for his uncle
when George stepped down as governor
in 1795. For several years, the young
man had been courting Maria Franklin,
the beautiful daughter of a wealthy and
influential family. In 1795, she became
Mrs. DeWitt Clinton.

Now a married man and no longer in
the shadow of his great uncle, DeWitt
ran for and won a seat in the state assem-
bly from New York City. From that
point, he moved ever onward from one
political office to another. In 1801, he
became state senator and a member of
the New York Council of Appointments,
which appointed many state offices.

Some historians credit Clinton with
originating the"Spoils System" at this
time. The rival Federalists had been in
power for six years and he seemed to
enjoy replacing every one of these of fice-
holders with a Republican.

In 1802, the state legislature elected
him to the United States Senate. While
a senator, he had enough authority to
turn Aaron Burr and his close friend

John Swarthout, out of their offices as
directors of the Bank of Manhattan. De-
Witt disliked Burr for attempting to
snatch the Presidency away from
Thomas Jefferson and for many personal
reasons. Swarthout challenged the action
and was called "a liar, scoundrel and
villain. " A duel was then inevitable.
Clinton shot his opponent through the
leg in two encounters and then refused to
meet him further. He was heard to say
that he wished he was fighting Burr in-
stead. Had he done so, Burr might not
have killed Alexander Hamilton the next
year.

DeWitt Clinton became Mayor of New
York City in 1803, which in those days
was considered a higher and better-pay-
ing office than that of U. S. Senator. The
mayor was also presiding justice of the
city court, head of the common council
chief of police, and clerk of the markets,
which allowed for keeping fees. Clinton
felt that he was making too much money
and for the first time, split the fees, half
for the city and half for himself. It was in
this first term as mayor that DeWitt's
Uncle George became Vice President of
the United States under President
Thomas Jefferson.

Because of DeWitt Clinton's later
crowning achievement of bringing the
Erie Canal into being, many of his other
fine accomplishments have been over-
looked. For instance, Mayor Clinton
went to Albany in 1805 and won a state
charter for what was called the Common
Public School Society. To get money to
open public schools, DeWitt and a
friend, Frederick DePeyster, went from
house to house begging and raised
S5,000.00, enough money to begin
classes the following May. Out of this
modest beginning grew the American
system of free public education. Yet, who
today remembers Clinton as the father of
the American public schools?

In 1808, DeWitt coaxed money out of
the state legislature and built gun em-
placements and fortifications for New
York Harbor. British and French war-
ships showed respect for the first time
and the common citizen hailed Clinton
as a patriotic leader.

Two years later, in 1810, Jonas Platt,
Federalist leader in New York, ap-
proached DeWitt to take the leadership
in a bi-partisan effort to build the canal
that would cross the entire roof of the
state and open up the great West of
America. Although saddened at that
time by the death of his son, Walter,
DeWitt took up the challenge with his
usual enthusiasm.

As one of the seven canal commission-
ers, he examined and surveyed a route
from Albany on the Hudson River up the
Mohawk River to Utica. From there, he
went west to Rome, the "summit" or
high point along the proposed route.
While they were in Rome, they decided
to connect the Hudson with Lake Erie
instead of Lake Ontario. The larger part
of this trip of exploration was by horse
and coach and concluded at the East end
of Lake Erie near Niagara Falls.

The commission reported to the state
legislature in 1811. It was notable that
DeWitt had become the natural leader of
the group and chief proponent of the
plan. But now, all activity came to a halt
because of the War of 1812, which con-
tinued through 1814, long enough for
General Andrew Jackson and his back-
woodsmen to totally defeat the elite Brit-
ish army that had just crushed Napoleon
and the French at Waterloo.

In 1817 Clinton's petition to build the
great canal was passed by the New York
Legislature. The war just ended gave
proof of the need of a canal connection
between East and West to weld the na-
tion together. For instance, the American
invasion of Canada may well have suc-
ceeded if there had been an adequate
supply line between Washington and
Buffalo.

Actual surveying of the route was then
performing by self-trained civil engineers
James Geddes, Benjamin Wright and
Charles Brodhead. Clinton and the Com-
missioners kept a watchful eye on the job.

While the appropriations to build the
canal came from the State of New York,
the actual digging was performed by a
cross-section of American citizens. For-
mer fur traders, trappers and farmers
began the digging, but the supply of
labor was inadequate to the task. It was
fortunate for the canal that the poor were
starving in Ireland, and fortunate for
them that jobs on the canal awaited when
they arrived in America at the rate of
about 10,000 per year. Since most of
them were of such low estate as to be
grateful for being hired for any work at
all, they wielded shovels and picks and
pushed wheelbarrows for fifty cents a day
or less.

Fifteen miles of Clinton's Ditch were
completed in 1817.

By 1820, the Rome to Syracuse seg-
ment, about 94 miles, was opened and
the first passenger packet boat, a giant
craft 76 feet long and 14 feet wide, began
a regular schedule on the middle of the
canal, while work went on at both ends.

At Lockport, near the Buffalo and Lake
Erie end, it was necessary to build a
series of locks to lower eastbound boats
or raise westbound boats over 70 feet of
elevation to surmount the high land
called the Niagara Escarpment. This was
called an engineering miracle, especially
for the near- amateur engineers doing
the job.

In October, 1825, the entire canal was
opened with great ceremony and Gover-
nor DeWitt Clinton and scores of digni-
taries were carried on the lead barge
from Lake Erie to New York, with cele-
bration and cannon telegraph in opera-
tion the entire way. It created a very real
sense of national enthusiasm and accom-
plishment .

Costing over seven million dollars, a
stupendous amount for that time, the
canal easily paid for itself in its first de-
cade and became one of the most profit-
able ventures that this nation has known.
It was the first major American victory
in nineteenth century transportation. In
its triumph, it pushed back the wilder-
ness and moved the West bac-k where it
belonged, far beyond the Appalachian
Mountains, thereby giving the Union a
nity that it never had before.

DeWitt Clinton's place in history was
now secure. Although he was extremely
capable of holding literally any national
office and seemed destined to go to
Washington as a high of ficial under Pres-
identJackson, it was never to be. He died
in 1828 of a severe attack of influenza,
complicated seemingly by a heart attack
which followed. But Clinton's big ditch
may still be seen as his permanent me-
morial .

In the final year of Clinton's life, Free-
masonry was attacked by many citizens
who believed that William Morgan, au-
thor of an "expose of the Craft", was
murdered by members of the fraternity.
As the highest ranking Mason in New
York, Governor Clinton refuted the
charges and offered a large reward for
the true facts. The reward was never
claimed. Masons today may be proud of
DeWitt Clinton equally as a worthy
leader of our brotherhood and of our
young nations.

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