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.

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

jangle between the governor and the council of appointment over the nomination of state officers, and the power of judges and great courts of record. The newspapers were full of protests, and demands for constitutional changes. Tammany Hall, as leader of the cry for reform, urged a convention (Aug., 1820). The legislature voted in favor of one, but the council of revision vetoed it. The latter body, and especially Chancellor Kent, was severely censured for having thwarted the will of the people in order to keep the state in the hands of lawyers and landlords. Finally the question of holding a convention for revising the constitution was submitted to the people and favored by a vote of 109,346 to 34,901 (March, 1821). The farmers, the Democrats, and the New-Englanders from central and western New York desired the convention, while the people from the older parts of the state-the Dutch, the lawyers, the professional men, and the large landowners -opposed it.

Prominent Members. The delegates (110) met at Albany August 28, and finished their work November 10, 1821. Among those present at this remarkable convention were Chancellor James Kent, Martin Van Buren, a future President, Daniel D. Tompkins, ex-governor and now Vice-President, Rufus King, United States senator, Stephen Van Rensselaer of patroon descent, Peter A. Jay, son of John Jay, General James Tallmadge, and Peter R. Livingston. Tompkins, "the favorite farmer's son," was made president by the Democrats, who were in the majority.

Changes in the Constitution. It was evident from the outset that a new and more democratic constitution

would be framed. The council of revision, whose members, except the governor, held office during good behavior, was abolished because it was beyond the reach of the people, and the veto power which it exercised was placed in the hands of the governor, who was directly responsible to the people. The council of appointment, from whom 8,287 military and 6,663 civil officers held their commissions in 1821, and which had been a source of trouble and corruption for years, had not a single defender and was dropped. Officers were to be appointed by the legislature or by the governor, or else elected directly by the people. The governor's term was shortened to two years.

Franchise. A great advance was made toward universal male franchise. The Charter of Liberties (1691) had given every freeholder who had "forty shillings per annum in freehold" and every "freeman in any corporation" the right to vote for assemblymen. After 1697 three months' residence and a freehold worth £40 were the qualifications, but Catholics and Quakers were excluded. In 1777 actual residents owning freeholds valued at £100 could vote for governor, lieutenant-governor, and senators, while all males residing six months in a county before election and owning a £20 freehold or paying a yearly rent of forty shillings could vote for assemblymen.1

In 1821 the ballot was given to every man who was a resident taxpayer, or a soldier, or a fireman, excepting criminals and colored men not owning land worth $250.

1 These values were changed April 9, 1811, to $250, $50, and $5 respectively.