De Alexander

The people did not love Clinton, but they believed in his policy, and a blow at him, in their opinion, was a blow at the canal.

His ambition to shine as a statesman, and an extraordinary power of application, equipped him with varied information, and made him an authority on many subjects.

Though seven years younger, he had already made himself prominent, not merely as a politician of general ability, but as a reporter of the United States Supreme Court, whose conscientious and intelligent work was to link his name forever…

The selection of a candidate for President had, however, become intensely personal, dividing the country into excited factions equivalent to a division of parties.

But the blunder that broke his heart, and sent him into unexpected and sudden retirement, was his opposition to a change in the law providing for the choice of presidential electors by the people.

He was impulsively ambitious, sensitive to opposition, fearless in action, and such an inveterate hater that he could not always act along lines leading to his own preferment.

The election in the fall of 1822 was one of those sweeping, crushing victories that precede a radical change; and the confidence with which the victors used their power hurried on the revolution prophesied in Clinton's clever letter to…

With the true instinct of his fine nature, he made his friends and companions among the wisest and highest of his time, although he loved all company that was not vicious and depraved.

He was large and awkward; but even as a boy there was a charm of manner, a tender, sympathetic nature, a sweet, sparkling humour, and a nobility of character that irresistibly drew people to him.

As he read he forgot that he was poor, forgot that he was ragged, forgot that he was hungry.

If Joel Weed lived as a beggar, Thurlow thought as a king.

For twenty years he lived a life of poverty, yet of tireless industry, with a simplicity as amazing as his genius.

Nevertheless, he struggled on with industry and courage for more than twenty years, occasionally coming into public or political notice as a writer of caustic letters, or as a candidate for office.

He had many of the noblest qualities and some of the wildest fancies, growing out of an extravagant imagination that seemed to control his mind.

It is impossible not to feel admiration for the indomitable courage and the inexhaustible animal spirits which no defeat could reduce to prostration.

In proportion as they quarrel with each other they will draw closer to us.

Names in politics as well as science are matters of substance, and a bad name in public is as injurious to success as a bad name in private life.

As early as October, 1822, he wrote Post: "The odium attached to the name of Federalist has been a millstone round the neck of true policy.

For a time, like a caged tiger, he bit at the bars that seemed to limit his ambition.

It was a cold proposition for a man to face who had inaugurated a system of improvement which would confer prosperity and wealth upon the people, and enrich and elevate the State.

Although Clinton's canal policy, upon the success of which he had staked his all, was signally vindicating itself in rapidity of construction, and the very moderate estimate of cost, his friends did not hesitate to advise him that his…

But his ultra-radicalism and illiberal, often rude, treatment of opponents prevented him from obtaining all the influence which would otherwise have been fairly due to his talents and his political and personal integrity.

The peculiar character of his intellect made him a good Supreme Court judge; but he lacked the intellectual energy and courage for an executive, who must thoroughly understand the means of getting and retaining public support.

Though it was the desire of his party that he take the nomination for governor in 1820, the cautious, modest Justice of the Supreme Court had discreetly decided not to sacrifice himself in the year of DeWitt Clinton's greatest strength.

And it proved better than even its sponsors prophesied.