Daniel D. Tompkins: Forgotten Founding Father

Near this spot in Westchester County, Daniel D. Tompkins was born on June twenty-first, seventeen seventy-four. He rose to become one of the most consequential New Yorkers of his era, serving as Governor of New York from eighteen oh seven to eighteen seventeen and then as Vice President of the United States under James Monroe from eighteen seventeen to eighteen twenty-five.

As governor, Tompkins threw himself into the War of eighteen twelve with unusual personal sacrifice, personally financing troop deployments and mortgaging his own property to fund the state's defense when federal reimbursements stalled. Those debts haunted him for the rest of his life, damaging his health and reputation.

Despite his tireless service, Tompkins is largely forgotten today, overshadowed by the founders who surrounded him. He died in eighteen twenty-five, just months after leaving office. His name lives on in Tompkins Square Park in Manhattan, a neighborhood green space that has witnessed everything from Civil War draft riots to beatnik poetry readings.