A Book of the United States / Exhibiting its geography, divisions, constitution, and government ... and presenting a view of the republic generally, and of the individual states; together with a condensed history of the land, from its first discovery to the present time. The biography of about two hundred of the leading men: a description of the principal cities and towns; with statistical tables

by Unknown

CHURCH, BENJAMIN, a physician of some eminence, and an able writer, was graduated at Harvard college in 1754, and, after going through the preparatory studies, established himself in the practice of medicine in Boston. For several years before the revolution, he was a leading character among the whigs and patriots; and on the commencement of the war he was appointed physician general to the army. While in the performance of the duties assigned him in this capacity, he was suspected of a treacherous correspondence with the enemy, and immediately arrested and imprisoned. After remaining some time in prison, he obtained permission to depart for the West Indies. The vessel in which he sailed was never heard from afterwards. He is the author of a number of occasional poems, serious, pathetic, and satirical, which possess considerable merit; and an oration, delivered on the fifth of March, 1773.

CLINTON, JAMES, was born in 1736, at the residence of his father, in Ulster county, New York. He displayed an early inclination for a military life, and held successively several offices in the militia and provincial troops. During the French war he exhibited many proofs of courage, and received the appointment of captain-commandant of the four regiments, levied for the protection of the western frontiers of the counties of Ulster and Orange. In 1775, he was appointed colonel of the third regiment of New York forces, and in the same year marched with Montgomery to Quebec. During the war, he rendered eminent services to his country, and on the conclusion of it retired to enjoy repose on his ample estates. He was, however, frequently called from retirement by the unsolicited voice of his fellow-citizens; and was a member of the convention for the adoption of the present constitution of the United States. He died in 1812.

CLINTON, GEORGE, vice-president of the United States, was born in the county of Ulster, New York, in 1739, and was educated in the profession of the law. In 1768, he was chosen to a seat in the colonial assembly, and was elected a delegate to the continental congress in 1775.In 1776, he was appointed brigadier-general of the militia of Ulster county, and some time after a brigadier in the army of the United States, and continued during the progress of the war to render important services to the military department. In April, 1777, he was elected both governor and lieutenant-governor of New York, and was continued in the former office for eighteen years. He was unanimously chosen president of the convention which assembled at Poughkeepsie, in 1788, to deliberate on the new federal constitution. In 1801, he again accepted the office of governor, and after continuing in that capacity for three years, he was elevated to the vice-presidency of the United States; a dignity which he retained till his death at Washington, in 1812. In private he was kind and amiable, and as a public man he is entitled to respectful remembrance.

CLINTON, DE WITT, was born in 1769, at Little Britain, in Orange county, New York. He was educated at Columbia college, commenced the study of the law, and was admitted to the bar, but was never much engaged in professional practice. He early imbibed a predilection for political life, and was appointed the private secretary of his uncle, George Clinton, then governor of the state. In 1797, he was sent to the legislature from the city of New York; and two years after was chosen a member of the state senate. In 1801, he was appointed a senator of the United States, and continued in that capacity for two sessions. He retired from the senate in 1803, in consequence of his election to the mayoralty of New York; an office to which he was annually re-elected, with the intermission of but two years, till 1815, when he was obliged to retire by the violence of party politics. In 1817, he was elected, almost unanimously, governor of the state, was again chosen in 1820, but in 1822 declined being a candidate for re-election. In 1810, Mr. Clinton had been appointed, by the senate of his state, one of the board of canal commissioners, but the displeasure of his political opponents having been excited, he was removed from this office, in 1823, by a vote of both branches of the legislature. This insult created a strong reaction in popular feeling, and Mr. Clinton was immediately nominated for governor, and elected by an unprecedented majority. In 1826, he was again elected, but he died before the completion of his term. He expired very suddenly, whilst sitting in his library after dinner, Feb. 11, 1828. Mr. Clinton was not only eminent as a statesman, but he occupied a conspicuous rank as a man of learning. He was a member of a large part of the benevolent, literary and scientific societies of the United States, and an honorary member of several foreign societies. His productions are numerous, consisting of his speeches and messages to the state legislature; his discourses before various institutions; his speeches in the senate of the Union; his addresses to the army during the late war; his communications concerning the canal; his judicial opinions; and various fugitive pieces. His national services were of the highest importance; and the Erie canal, especially, though the honor of projecting it may belong to another, will remain a perpetual monument of the patriotism and perseverance of Clinton.

CLYMER, GEORGE, one of the signers of the declaration of independence, was born in Philadelphia, in 1739. He was left an orphan at the age of seven years, and after the completion of his studies, he entered the counting house of his uncle. When the difficulties commenced betweenGreat Britain and the colonies, Mr. Clymer was among the first to raise his voice in opposition to the arbitrary acts of the mother country, and was chosen a member of the council of safety. In 1775, he was appointed one of the first continental treasurers, but resigned this office soon after his first election to congress, in the ensuing year. In 1780, he was again elected to congress, and strongly advocated there the establishment of a national bank. In 1796, he was appointed, together with colonel Hawkins and colonel Pickens, to negotiate a treaty with the Cherokee and Creek Indians, in Georgia. He was subsequently president of the Philadelphia bank, and the Academy of Fine Arts. He died in 1813.

COLDEN, CADWALLADER, was born in Dunse, Scotland, in 1688. After studying at the university of Edinburgh, he turned his attention to medicine and mathematical science, until the year 1708, when he emigrated to Pennsylvania, and practised physic with much reputation, till 1715. He then returned to England, and attracted some attention by a paper on Animal Secretions, which was read by Dr. Halley before the Royal society. Again repairing to America, he settled, in 1718, in the city of New York, and relinquishing the practice of physic, turned his attention to public affairs, and became successively surveyor general of the province, master in chancery, member of the council, and lieutenant-governor. His political character was rendered very conspicuous by the firmness of his conduct during the violent commotions which preceded the revolution. In 1775, he retired to a seat on Long Island, where he died in September, of the following year, a few hours before nearly one fourth part of the city of New-York was reduced to ashes. His productions were numerous, consisting of botanical and medical essays. Among them were treatises on the Cure of Cancer, and on the Virtues of the Great Water Dock. His descriptions of between three and four hundred American plants were printed in the Acta Upsaliensia. He also published the History of the Five Indian Nations, and a work on the Cause of Gravitation, afterwards republished by Dodsley, under the title of The Principles of Action in Matter. He left many valuable manuscripts on a variety of subjects.

COOPER, SAMUEL, a Congregational minister, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1725. He was graduated at Harvard college in 1743, and, devoting himself to the church, acquired great reputation as a preacher, at a very early age. After an useful and popular ministry of thirty-seven years, he died in 1783. He was a sincere and liberal christian, and in his profession perhaps the most distinguished man of his day, in the United States. He was an ardent friend of the cause of liberty, and did much to promote it. With the exception of political essays in the journals of the day, his productions were exclusively sermons.

COPLEY, JOHN SINGLETON, a distinguished painter, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1738. He began to paint without any instruction at a very early age, and executed pieces unsurpassed by his later productions. He visited Italy in 1774, and in 1776 went to England, where he determined to remain, in consequence of the convulsed state of his native country. He therefore devoted himself to portrait painting in London, and was chosen a member of the royal academy. His celebrated picture, styled The Death of Lord Chatham, at once established his fame, and he was enabled to pursue his profession with success and unabated ardortill his sudden death in 1815. Among his most celebrated productions, are Major Pierson’s Death on the island of Jersey; Charles I. in the house of commons, demanding of the speaker the five impeached members; the Surrender of Admiral De Winter to Lord Duncan; Samuel and Eli; and a number of portraits of several members of the royal family.

CRAFTS, WILLIAM, a lawyer and miscellaneous writer, was born in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1787. He received his education at Harvard college, and studied law in his native city, where he acquired some reputation for talent and eloquence. He was a member of the South Carolina legislature, and for some time editor of the Charleston Courier. He died at Lebanon springs, New York, in 1826. A collection of his works, comprising poems, essays in prose, and orations, with a biographical memoir, was published in Charleston, in 1828.

CRAIK, JAMES, was born in Scotland, where he received his education for the medical service of the British army. He came to the colony of Virginia in early life, and accompanied Washington in his expeditions against the French and Indians, in 1754; and in the following year attended Braddock in his march through the wilderness, and assisted in dressing his wounds. At the commencement of the revolution, by the aid of his early and fast friend, general Washington, he was transferred to the medical department in the continental army, and rose to the first rank and distinction. He continued in the army to the end of the war, and was present at the surrender of Cornwallis, on the memorable 19th of October, 1781. After the cessation of hostilities, he removed to the neighborhood of Mount Vernon, and in 1798 was once more appointed by Washington to his former station in the medical staff. He was present with his illustrious friend in his last moments, and died in 1814, in the 84th year of his age. He was a skilful and successful physician, and Washington mentioned him as ‘my compatriot in arms, my old and intimate friend.’