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George Clinton was born on July 26, 1739 in the town of Little Britain in what was then the province of New York. His father was Charles Clinton, an Irish colonist of Little Britain, New York and a member of the New York colonial assembly. George Clinton was the brother of General James Clinton and the uncle of New York's future governor, DeWitt Clinton.
When he was 18 years old, George Clinton enlisted in the British Army to fight in the French and Indian War. He achieved the rank of lieutenant before leaving the service to study law. He became clerk of the court of common pleas in New York and served in its colonial assembly.
Clinton developed a hatred of Tories (also known as "Loyalists", i.e. colonists who were loyal to Great Britain.) He was a supporter and friend of George Washington, and during the Revolutionary War, Clinton supplied food to the troops at Valley Forge. After the war he rode with George Washington to the first Inauguration and he put on an impressive dinner to celebrate it.
Clinton was very active in New York politics. In 1759, he was appointed County Clerk for Ulster County, New York, a position he held for the next 52 years. He was also a member of the New York Provincial Assembly for Ulster County from 1768-76.
When the Revolutionary War broke out, Clinton quickly allied with the American forces. On March 25, 1777 he was commissioned a brigadier general in the Continental Army. Less than a month later, on April 20, 1777, he was elected Governor of New York in 1777, and was re-elected five times, serving until 1795. He is considered to be the first governor of the state of New York. Although he had been elected governor, he kept his commission in the Continental Army and commanded forces at Fort Clinton and Fort Montgomery on October 6, 1777. He remained in the Continental Army until it was disbanded on November 3, 1783. Clinton is probably the only American in history to have served as both a military officer and a state governor concurrently.
In 1783 it was Clinton and Washington negotiated with General Sir Guy Carleton for the evacuation of the British troops from their remaining posts in the United States. When the national debate was occurring over acceptance of the Constitution, Clinton went on record as an opponent of what was proposed. But he withdrew his objections after the Bill of Rights was added.
In 1792, he first ran for Vice-President at the candidate of the Jeffersonian "Republican" party, who joined in the general acclamation of Washington for a second term as President, but who objected to the re-election of John Adams as Vice-President because of his views on government that were closer to monarchist than republican. Clinton was nominated instead of Thomas Jefferson because the Virginia electors could not vote for Washington and for a second Virginian. Clinton received 50 electoral votes to 77 for Adams.
Clinton did not run for re-election as governor in 1795. He held no political office until he was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1800 and 1801. In 1801, he was again elected governor, serving until 1804. With 21 years of service, he was the most experienced and longest-serving governor of a U.S. state at the time.
In 1804 President Jefferson chose Clinton as his running mate as a replacement for the controversial Aaron Burr. Clinton won the election and served as the fourth Vice President of the United States. He ran for the office again in 1808 and was elected as Vice President in the first term of newly elected president James Madison. He actually finished third in the election for President. He served as Madison's Vice-President from 1809 until his death of a heart attack on April 20, 1812 at the age of 72. He was the first Vice President to die in office. He was buried in Washington, D.C., but was re-interred in Kingston, New York in 1908.
In case you're wondering, George Clinton is not related to the President Bill Clinton (who was born William Jefferson Blythe III but took the surname of his stepfather.)