Daniel D. Tompkins

Born in Scarsdale, New York, Tompkins practiced law in New York City after graduating from Columbia College. He was a delegate to the 1801 New York constitutional convention and served on the New York Supreme Court from 1804 to 1807. In 1807, he defeated incumbent Morgan Lewis to become the Governor of New York. He held that office from 1807 to 1817, serving for the duration of the War of 1812. During the war, he often spent his own money to equip and pay the militia when the legislature was not in session, or would not approve the necessary funds.


Tompkins was the Democratic-Republican Party's vice presidential nominee in the 1816 presidential election. The ticket of James Monroe and Tompkins easily prevailed over limited Federalist opposition. He served as vice president from 1817 to 1825, and was the only 19th century vice president to serve two full terms. In 1820, he sought another term as Governor of New York, but was defeated by DeWitt Clinton. After the War of 1812, Tompkins was in poor physical and financial health, the latter condition stemming largely from his spending for the military effort during the War of 1812. He fell into alcoholism and was unable to re-establish fiscal solvency despite winning partial reimbursement from the federal government in 1823. He died 99 days after completing a second term and leaving office at the age of 50.

Vice presidency (1817–1825)[edit]

Many New York Democratic-Republicans supported Tompkins for president in the 1816 presidential election, but James Monroe received the party's nomination.^[19] Tompkins was instead elected vice president as Monroe's running mate. Tompkins was re-elected in 1820. He served from March 4, 1817, to March 4, 1825. In April 1820, while serving as vice president, he ran for Governor of New York against incumbent DeWitt Clinton. Tompkins lost, 45,900 votes to 47,447. He was a delegate to the 1821 New York State Constitutional Convention, serving as its president.^[23] When Tompkins became vice president, he was in poor health, due to a fall from a horse on November 3, 1814. His finances were also quite poor. During the War of 1812, he had personally financed New York's war effort with borrowed money, but did not adequately document his expenses. Both the New York legislature and the federal government refused him full reimbursement. He also slipped into alcoholism. With poor physical and financial health, Tompkins spent much of his vice presidency outside of Washington, D.C., and made for a poor presiding officer of the Senate while it debated the Missouri Compromise in 1820. In 1823, Tompkins finally won compensation from the federal government, but he continued to drink heavily and was unable to resolve his business affairs.^[19]

Freemasonry[edit]

Apart from his political career, Tompkins was an active Freemason throughout his life. He was a member of Hiram Lodge 72, Mount Pleasant, New York^[24] and became Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of New York from 1820 to 1822.^[25] The Daniel D. Tompkins Memorial Chapel at the Masonic Home in Utica, New York was built in his honor in 1911.^[26] The Grand Lodge of New York celebrated the centennial of the chapel on June 25, 2011.^[27][28]


He also served as the first Sovereign Grand Commander of the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction Scottish Rite, a branch of Freemasonry. Tompkins served in this capacity from 1813 to 1825, although he did not devote much time to the newly formed group.^[29]

Death[edit]

Tompkins died in Tompkinsville on June 11, 1825, 10 days before his 51st birthday. He was interred in the Minthorne vault in the west yard of St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery, New York City, as was his wife.^[18] His post-vice presidency lifespan is the shortest of any US vice president, and he also lived the shortest life of any US vice president. He was the youngest US vice president until John C. Breckinridge took office in 1857 at 36, and the only 19th-century vice president to serve two terms under the same president, and two full terms at all. (George Clinton died in his second term, and John Calhoun resigned before the end of his.)