Dig into the original soil ball to see if you find dust. If that proves to be the case good deep soakings may bring the tree back. Of course, if it is instead sitting in a hole dug out of hard soil that is collecting water then adding more is not what you want to do.

Figuring out what is wrong with the tree and correcting that, if possible will make it unnecessary to remove and replace it.

With another tree that may just, in turn fall victim to the same problem - depending on what that problem is.

Did you mulch after planting? Often that makes quite a difference. If there is a soil infertility issue that can also produce results like those you have described.

Does any of that matter if they have compacted clay soil? Wrong stie for this plant.

Consider Quercus bicolor if your soil pH isn't above 7.5. At that higher end I'd make sure it was grow locally.

Freeman maples, like Autumn Fantasy and Firefall, are a good choice if you don't mind the potential surface roots down the road (ie very difficult to garden under this tree when its mature, even juvenile for that matter).

There are other options out there but not sure what your soil pH is, the exposure, the goals for future planting, size contraints, preference for shade type, peference for habit and texture, fall color etc.

Here are my responses to your questions:

The site it typical suburban development with six inches of topsoil over a clay base. It is not a particularly difficult site. This sugar maple was B&B, and planted about 30 feet from the corner of our house . I dug up the root ball last week to see if it had girdling roots. No girdling, but not a strong root system either. The hole was filled with water about a foot down in the clay. The site is a western exposure, full sun. I want evening shade in years to come for that side of the house. I have planted two Quercus Bicolor nearby and they are thriving. I also planted a Freeman Maple (Autumn Blaze) in the back yard, which is more loamy. It is doing well. I would like a largish shade tree: Elm, Bicolor, Red Oak, AB/OG, or etc.

Blackgum. Nuttall Oak if the pH isn't real high.

Shantung Maple, if the pH is high, but it's fine in acid soil as well.

Also, whatever you plant if you have water a foot or so down, then plant it high. We have clay soil that can hold water at times, so I plant everything 6-8" higher than grade. Works wonders. We have Scarlet Oak, Sugar Maple, a Dogwood, Paperbark Maple, Triflorum Maple and others that don't like "wet feet" growing very happily in our yard. Compaction of that clay base would be one of my biggest concerns. They often make it like rock with a 95% compaction rate (meaning just 5% air). This is done so foundations don't sink into the soil. Good for the house, bad for the trees.

Arktrees

Yes, if there is an artificial impervious layer you will either have to break it up, install drain lines or dump enough topsoil to plant in on top of it to support the growth of a large tree for the rest of the time you need it to be there.

If you really want to go all-out, you can try double digging to break up the hardpan, but that's a LOT of work, and you'd have to do a very large area to make it really worthwhile (and call before you dig!)

Breaking up the impervious layer would be expected to help, double-digging (as in bringing the subsoil to the surface and mixing it with the topsoil) is usually not a good idea, as it merely serves to foul the topsoil with the fine particles that had washed down into the subsoil earlier.

Well, rather than true double digging, the OP could separate the topsoil first, move it away, then break up the hardpan. Again, a MAJOR job. If the property is large enough a local farmer could bring in a subsoiler but most residential lots are too small for that...not to mention the buried utility lines issue.

Actually, if there are utilities in the part of the lot where the tree is it may not be desirable to have a big tree there anyway. What if any of the utilities ever need to be accessed?