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'Daniel D. Tompkins' (June 21, 1774 – June 11, 1825) was an entrepreneur, jurist, Congressman, Governor of New York, and the sixth Vice President of the United States.

Contents

Name

Early life and career

Governor

Vice President

Legacy

Sources

External links

Name

There is evidence that Daniel Tompkins's middle name was Decius. However, others believe that he added the middle initial "D" (which stood for nothing) while a student at Columbia College, to distinguish himself from another Daniel Tompkins there.

Early life and career

He was born in Fox Meadows (later Scarsdale), Westchester County, New York. He graduated from Columbia College in New York City, in 1795. He studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1797, practicing in New York City. Tompkins was a delegate to the New York State Constitutional Convention in 1801, a member of the New York State Assembly in 1803, and was elected to the United States Congress, but resigned before the beginning of the term to accept an appointment as associate justice of the Supreme Court of New York, in which capacity he served from 1804 to 1807.

Governor

On April 30, 1807, he defeated the incumbent Governor Morgan Lewis - Tompkins received 35,074 votes, Morgan Lewis 30,989 - and remained in office as Governor of New York until 1817. He was reelected in 1810, defeating Jonas Platt - Tompkins 43,094 votes, Jonas Platt 36,484; in 1813, defeating Stephen Van Rensselaer - Tompkins 43,324 votes, Van Rensselaer 39,718; and in 1816, defeating Rufus King - Tompkins 45,412 votes, King 38,647. He declined an appointment as United States Secretary of State by President James Madison. In 1815 Tompkins established a settlement and along the eastern shore of Staten Island that came to be called Tompkinsville. In 1817 he built a dock along the waterfront in the neighborhood and began offering daily steam ferry service between Staten Island and Manhattan.

Vice President

He was elected Vice President on the ticket with James Monroe in 1816, and was reelected in 1820, serving from March 4, 1817 to March 4, 1825. Attempting to unseat the incumbent DeWitt Clinton, he ran in April 1820, as a sitting vice president, for Governor of New York and lost - Clinton received 47447 votes, Tompkins 45900. He was a delegate to the New York State Constitutional Convention in 1821, serving as its president.
While as governor of New York, Tompkins personally borrowed money and used his own property as collateral when the New York state legislature would not approve the necessary funds for the War of 1812. After the war, neither the state nor the federal government reimbursed him so he could repay his loans. Years of litigation did not end until 1824, and it took a toll on his health. Tompkins fell into alcoholism, and as vice president he at times presided over the Senate while drunk. He died in Tompkinsville, three months after retiring as Vice President, and was interred in the Minthorne vault in St. Mark's Churchyard, New York City. Tompkins had the shortest post-vice presidency of any person who survived the office: 99 days (March 4, 1825–June 11, 1825).

Legacy

Tompkins County, Tompkins Square Park in Manhattan, and the Town of Tompkins are named after him. Daniel D. Tompkins gained a slight notoriety in 20th century cinema, when he was mentioned by Kris Kringle in ''Miracle on 34th Street'' during his psychological evaluation. (However, the screenplay erred: Kringle mentions that Tompkins served as vice-president under John Quincy Adams when it was actually James Monroe. The error is most likely due to confusion arising from the fact that Tompkins was the 6th vice-president and Quincy Adams was the 6th president. However, the two did not serve office concurrently because previous presidents had multiple vice-presidents).
His brother Caleb Tompkins (1759-1846) was a United States Representative from New York from 1817 to 1821.

Sources

★ [1] New York history, with election results 1807 and 1810

★ [2] New York history, with election results 1813 and 1816

★ [3] Political Graveyard

★ [4] Congress Bio

External links

★ Find-A-Grave profile for Daniel D. Tompkins