Americans. Both sides employed the red warriors in this struggle.

Hampton and Wilkinson.-General Wade Hampton commanded Lake Champlain under Wilkinson. They were expected to take Montreal. Hampton, contrary to orders, marched into Canada, did some indecisive fighting, and then retired to winter quarters in New York. Wilkinson sailed down the St. Lawrence in November, 1813, as far as St. Regis, where he learned that Hampton was unwilling to join him. The expedition was therefore abandoned and his troops also entered quarters for the winter. About the same time. George with its gar

General McClure abandoned Fort rison of sixty men, burned the fort and also the neighboring village of Newark (Dec. 10). The British saved most of the fort, however, and soon crossed the Niagara, captured Fort Niagara and burned Youngstown, Lewiston, Manchester, and the Tuscarora Indian vil

lage (Dec. 19). Eleven days later Black Rock and Buffalo shared the same fate.

Chippewa and Lundy's Lane.-In March of 1814 Wilkinson advanced from Plattsburg into Canada, was repulsed at La Calle (March 30), returned to Plattsburg, and soon was superseded by General Izard. In May the British captured Oswego. General Brown and General Scott were sent to Niagara to invade Canada. Fort Erie was captured by the Americans, and Scott won the bloody battle of Chippewa (July 5). Twenty days later the British were again met at Lundy's Lane. The Americans were outnumbered two to one. Brown was

chief in command. Pointing to a strong British battery, he asked Colonel Miller, "Can you take it?" "I'll try, sir," was the reply. With 300 men Miller charged up the hill and, amid grapeshot and musketry, gained the battery. Quickly the British with fixed bayonets advanced to regain it. Again they were repulsed, and once more they advanced. Hand-to-hand fighting followed. A second and a third time the British were repulsed. At midnight the Americans held the battery, and the most obstinate battle of the war was ended. Over 1,500 on both sides were killed or wounded, among the latter being Brown, Scott, and the British general, Drummond.

Battle of Plattsburg. The victors returned to Fort Erie. There Drummond with 5,000 men attacked them, but was repulsed and driven across the Chippewa. Meanwhile a British fleet and army were invading New York by way of Lake Champlain to destroy the fleet of Captain MacDonough and to occupy Plattsburg. In the bay off Plattsburg the naval battle took place. Mac

Donough won a complete victory on water, and General Macomb successfully resisted the attempt to capture the city. This ended the fighting in and about New York.

News of Peace.On February 11, 1815, an hour after sunset, a sloop arrived at New York to announce the glad tidings of peace signed at Ghent, December 24, 1814. In half an hour Broadway was a living sea of rejoicing people. Some one came with a torch: the bright idea passed into a thousand brains. In a few minutes thousands and tens of thousands of persons. were marching about with candles, lamps, and torches, making the jubilant street appear like a gay and gorgeous procession." The war had been fought and was now ended, but the objects of the war were not mentioned in the treaty of peace. New York had played an honorable part in the conflict. The brunt of the war had fallen upon this state and was met with heroic self-sacrifice of men and money. Yet the splendid growth of New York was not greatly retarded.

CHAPTER XXVIII.-CANALS, AND THE CONSTITUTION OF 1821

Erie Canal Begun. The war proved to the people the value of the Erie Canal. At its close the undertaking was renewed. At a meeting of citizens in New York City in 1816 a memorial written to the legislature by De Witt Clinton was heartily adopted and ordered sent all over the state. The people from Albany to Buffalo were wild with enthusiasm. Meetings were held in every village. The legislature ap

pointed a new set of canal commissioners (April). De Witt Clinton was made president of the board. Exploring and surveying began at once. Contracts were let, and on July 4, 1817, Clinton dug the first shovel of earth for the Erie Canal at Rome. A large crowd of citizens witnessed the beginning of "the greatest piece of engineering up to that time attempted in the United States."

De Witt Clinton was a nephew of George Clinton. He was a Republican in politics. He had been an assemblyman, state senator, United States senator, mayor of the city of New York, lieutenant-governor, and a candidate for President in 1812 against Madison. Clinton's opposition to Madison angered the Republicans, who refused to re-elect him to the office of lieutenantgovernor (1813), and to that of mayor of the city of New York (1815). His efforts for schools, for the prosperity of the people, and for the Erie Canal made him popular with the masses. When Governor Tompkins vacated the governor's chair for that of Vice-President, Clinton was elected governor by a vote almost unanimous. On July 1, 1817, he began his administration.

Clinton's Canal Policy had been adopted by the legislature. It provided for a canal to connect Lake Champlain with the Hudson, and for a greater one across the state. The people along the southern part of the state could not see how this canal system would benefit them, so they opposed Clinton. Others declared that the project would bankrupt the state. The most bitter hostility came from his old political associates, Martin Van Buren, Samuel Young, Peter R. Livingston, and Robert Skinner, who denounced him as an ally of the

Federalists. Tammany Hall also opposed him, and as some of its members wore the tail of a deer in their hats, Clinton's opponents came to be known as Bucktails His friends called themselves Clintonians.

Clinton's Administration. So determined was the opposition to Clinton that the popular Tompkins was persuaded to run again for governor in 1819. Clinton

re

won by less than 1,500 votes. The "Bucktails " turned seventy members to the assembly, however, and increased their majority in the senate. Even the council of appointment was formed (Nov. 8, 1820) to curb the governor's power. The executive and the legislature wrangled over the former's charge that national officers interfered in the state elections. In January, 1821, the governor sent his famous "Green Bag Message to the assembly to support his accusations. A joint committee reported that the charges were not true, and that ended the contest. The people were still with Clinton.

The Presidential Election of 1820 was a mere form. The Republicans nominated Monroe and Tompkins. The Federalists had no candidate. Sanford was succeeded by Van Buren as senator (1821), and the latter became the leader of the "Bucktails " of New York. Taylor of New York was chosen speaker of the House of Representatives. Federalists, Clintonians, and “Bucktails " all professed to support the administration of Monroe. Meanwhile the state was engaged in revising its fundamental law.

The Constitution of 1777 served as the public law of the state for forty-four years. Popular dissatisfaction arose because of the property qualification of voters, the