Hamlin, Hannibal, 1809-1891

<p>Hannibal Hamlin was born in Paris Hill, Maine, on August 27, 1809. His father was a doctor and a farmer but Hannibal’s education was limited because of financial restraints. He had to cut school short in order to help on the family farm when his older brother was ill and then when his father died. To help support his family, he worked as a surveyor and a teacher. Finally, he began to study law with a firm in Portland, Maine, and was mentored by Samuel Fessenden, an outspoken antislavery activist. Hamlin was eventually admitted to the bar in 1833 and opened his own law practice in Hampden, Maine, where he also served as the town attorney. That same year, he married Sarah Jane Emery, and they eventually had four children. Hamlin entered politics when he was first elected to the Maine state House of Representatives in 1835. As a Jacksonian Democrat who strongly opposed slavery, he served in state government until he was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1843. In the House, he supported the Wilmot Proviso, which would have prohibited slavery from spreading into any territory acquired from Mexico. However, the bill died in the Senate. Hamlin retired from the House in 1847, and the next year, when Maine’s sitting senator died in office, the state legislature elected Hamlin to replace him. Hamlin originally entered the U.S. Senate as a Democrat but he was one of the few Democrats to vote against the Kansas-Nebraska Act because he did not want slavery to spread into the territories. He renounced his affiliation with the Democratic Party in 1856 and served in the Senate until 1857 when he resigned to run for governor. Although he had no great interest in becoming governor, he made a deal with the newly formed Republican Party to run for governor if he could then return to the U.S. Senate. He won the governorship, which was a major boost for the Republican Party, and assumed office in January 1857 but he resigned in February to return to the U.S. Senate.</p>

<p>After Abraham Lincoln won the Republican Party nomination for President in 1860, the party turned to Hamlin as the vice presidential candidate because he had strong antislavery, pro-Union credentials and he was from the Northeast, which helped geographically balance the ticket. Lincoln and Hamlin did not meet in person until after they won the election when Lincoln asked Hamlin for advice on choosing cabinet members. After Lincoln took office and even with the outbreak of the Civil War, however, Hamlin had almost no role in the administration, as was common for this period in history. Hamlin despised his new position as vice president. He missed being part of the political process and controlling patronage but felt it was his duty to serve. He also found presiding over the Senate boring and was frequently absent. Still he was disappointed when the Republican Party dropped him from the ticket in 1864. Since Maine was sure to vote Republican whether Hamlin was on the ticket, the party wanted to widen its appeal and chose Andrew Johnson of Tennessee. Hamlin missed becoming President by just a few weeks after Lincoln was assassinated in April 1865. Many have wondered how Reconstruction would have been different if Hamlin, a supporter of Radical Reconstruction, had assumed the presidency instead of Johnson.</p>

<p>President Johnson appointed Hamlin collector of the port of Boston but Hamlin later resigned in protest over Johnson’s policies. He was again elected to the U.S. Senate in 1869 and served until he chose not to run for reelection in 1880. President Garfield then appointed him minister of Spain, and he served in Europe until he retired in 1882. Hamlin died on July 4, 1891.</p>

HAMLIN, HANNIBAL, a Representative and a Senator from Maine and a Vice President of the United States; born at Paris Hill, Oxford County, Maine, August 27, 1809; attended the district schools and Hebron Academy; took charge of the family farm and worked as a surveyor, compositor in a printing office, and school teacher; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1833 and practiced in Hampden, Penobscot County, until 1848; member, State house of representatives 1836-1841, 1847, and served as speaker in 1837, 1839, and 1840; unsuccessful Democratic candidate for election in 1840 to the Twenty-seventh Congress; elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-eighth and Twenty-ninth Congresses (March 4, 1843-March 3, 1847); chairman, Committee on Elections (Twenty-ninth Congress); unsuccessful Democratic candidate for election to the United States Senate in 1846; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1848 by the anti-slavery wing of the Democratic party to fill the vacancy caused by the death of John Fairfield; reelected in 1850 and served from June 8, 1848, to January 7, 1857, when he resigned to become Governor; chairman, Committee on Commerce (Thirty-first through Thirty-fourth Congresses); Committee on Printing (Thirty-second Congress); left the Democratic Party in 1856; Governor of Maine January to February 1857, when he resigned; elected to the United States Senate as a Republican and served from March 4, 1857, until his resignation, effective January 17, 1861, to become vice president; elected Vice President of the United States on the ticket with Abraham Lincoln 1861-1865; appointed collector of the port of Boston in 1865 but resigned in 1866; again elected to the United States Senate in 1869; reelected in 1875 and served from March 4, 1869, until March 3, 1881; was not a candidate for renomination; chairman, Committee on the District of Columbia (Forty-first Congress), Committee on Manufactures (Forty-second Congress), Committee on Mines and Mining (Forty-second and Forty-third Congresses), Committee on Post Office and Post Roads (Forty-fourth and Forty-fifth Congresses), Committee on Foreign Relations (Forty-fifth Congress); United States Minister to Spain from 1881 to 1882, when he resigned; devoted the remainder of his life to agricultural pursuits; died in Bangor, Maine, July 4, 1891; interment in Mount Hope Cemetery.

<p>Hannibal Hamlin (August 27, 1809 – July 4, 1891) was an American attorney and politician from the state of Maine. In a public service career that spanned over 50 years, he served as the 15th vice president of the United States. The first Republican to hold the office, Hamlin served from 1861 to 1865. He is considered among the most influential politicians to have come from Maine.</p>

<p>A native of Paris, Maine (part of Massachusetts until 1820), Hamlin managed his father's farm before becoming a newspaper editor. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1833, and began to practice in Hampden, Maine. Originally a Democrat, Hamlin began his political career with election to the Maine House of Representatives in 1835 and an appointment to the military staff of the Governor of Maine. As an officer in the militia, he took part in the 1839 negotiations that helped end the Aroostook War. In the 1840s Hamlin was elected to and served in the United States House of Representatives. In 1848 the state house elected him to the United States Senate, where he served until January 1857. He served temporarily as governor for six weeks in the beginning of 1857, after which he returned to the Senate. Hamlin was an active opponent of slavery; he supported the Wilmot Proviso and opposed the Compromise Measures of 1850. In 1854, he strongly opposed passage of the Kansas–Nebraska Act. Hamlin's increasingly anti-slavery views caused him to leave the Democratic Party for the newly formed Republican Party in 1856.</p>

<p>In the 1860 election, Hamlin was the Republican nominee for Vice President. Selected to run with Abraham Lincoln, who was from Illinois, Hamlin was chosen in part to bring geographic balance to the ticket and in part because as a former Democrat, he could work to convince other anti-slavery Democrats that their future lay with the Republican Party. The Lincoln and Hamlin ticket was successful, and Hamlin served as Vice President from 1861 to 1865, which included all but the last month of the American Civil War. The first Republican Vice President, Hamlin held the office in an era when the office was considered more a part of the legislative branch than the executive; he was not personally close to Lincoln and did not play a major role in his administration. Even so, Hamlin supported the administration's legislative program in his role as presiding officer of the Senate, and he looked for other ways to demonstrate his support for the Union, including a term of service in a Maine militia unit during the war.</p>

<p>For the 1864 election, Hamlin was replaced as Vice Presidential nominee by Andrew Johnson, a Southern Democrat chosen for his appeal to Southern Unionists. After leaving the vice presidency, Hamlin served as Collector of the Port of Boston, a lucrative post to which he was appointed by Johnson after the latter succeeded to the presidency following Lincoln's assassination. However, Hamlin later resigned as Collector because of his disagreement with Johnson over Reconstruction of the former Confederacy.</p>

<p>In 1869, Hamlin was elected again to the U.S. Senate, and he served two terms. After leaving the Senate in 1881, he served briefly as United States Ambassador to Spain before returning to Maine in late 1882. In retirement, Hamlin was a resident of Bangor, Maine, where he died in 1891. He was buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in Bangor.</p>