Hannibal Hamlin
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| Hannibal Hamlin | |
| Image:Hannibal Hamlin, photo portrait seated, c1860-65.jpg
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| In office March 4, 1861 – March 4, 1865 | |
| President | Abraham Lincoln |
| Preceded by | John C. Breckinridge |
| Succeeded by | Andrew Johnson |
| 26th Governor of Maine
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| In office January 8, 1857 – February 25, 1857 | |
| Preceded by | Samuel Wells |
| Succeeded by | Joseph H. Williams |
| Born | August 27 1809 Paris, Maine, U.S. |
| Died | July 04 1891 (aged 81) Bangor, Maine, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic, Republican |
| Spouse | Ellen Vesta Emery Hamlin |
Hannibal Hamlin (August 27, 1809 – July 4, 1891) was an American politician from the U.S. state of Maine. Hamlin served in the Maine Legislature, the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate and as Governor of Maine. He began his career as a Democrat but later became a member of the Republican Party. He was the first Republican to serve as Vice President of the United States, elected as Abraham Lincoln's running mate in the 1860 presidential election.
Hamlin was born on Paris Hill (National Historic District) in Paris, Maine, in Oxford County, a descendant of James Hamlin who had settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1639. He attended the district schools and Hebron Academy there, and later managed his father's farm. For the next few years he worked at several jobs: schoolmaster, cook, woodcutter, surveyor, manager of a weekly newspaper in Paris, and a compositor at a printer's office. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1833. He began practicing in Hampden, where he lived until 1848.
Hamlin's political career began in 1836, when he began a term in the Maine House of Representatives after being elected the year before. He served in the Aroostook War, which took place in 1839. Hamlin unsuccessfully ran for the United States House of Representatives in 1840 and left the state House in 1841. He later served two terms in the United States House of Representatives, from 1843-1847. He was elected to fill a Senate vacancy in 1848 and to a full term in 1851. A Democrat at the beginning of his career, Hamlin supported the candidacy of Franklin Pierce in 1852.
From the very beginning of his service in Congress he was prominent as an opponent of the extension of slavery; he was a conspicuous supporter of the Wilmot Proviso, and spoke against the Compromise Measures of 1850. In 1854 he strongly opposed the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise. After the Democratic Party endorsed that repeal at the Cincinnati Convention two years later, on June 12, 1856 he withdrew from the Democratic Party and joined the newly organized Republican Party, causing a national sensation.
The Republicans nominated him for Governor of Maine in the same year, and having carried the election by a large majority he was inaugurated in this office on the January 8, 1857. In the latter part of February, however, he resigned the governorship, and was again a member of the Senate from 1857 to January 1861.
He was chosen for the second place on the winning Republican ticket in 1860. While Vice President he was not necessarily one of the chief advisers to President Abraham Lincoln, although he urged both the Emancipation Proclamation and the arming of African Americans. He strongly supported Joseph Hooker's appointment as commander of the Army of The Potomac, which was a dismal failure. It is believed that this was among the decisions that along with his identification with the Radical Republicans caused him to be dropped from the ticket in 1864. Lincoln left no record of why he was switching his Vice-President. He chose Andrew Johnson, who was a member of the Democratic Party and a southerner.
Hamlin served in the Senate from 1869 to 1881. In June 1881, President James Garfield nominated him for the post of ambassador to Spain, in which capacity he served from 1881 to 1882. After he completed the posting he retired from public life.
He died in Bangor, Maine, on July 4, 1891 and is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery.
He had three sons, Charles Hamlin, Cyrus Hamlin, and Hannibal Emery Hamlin. Charles and Cyrus served in the Union forces during the Civil War. Charles and sister Sarah were present at Ford's Theater the night of Lincoln's assassination. Hannibal Emery Hamlin was Maine state Attorney General from 1905 to 1908. Hannibal Hamlin's great-granddaughter Sally Hamlin was a child actor who made many spoken word recordings for the Victor Talking Machine Company in the early years of the 20th century.
There are biographies of Hamlin by his grandson Charles E. Hamlin (published 1899, reprinted 1971) and by H. Draper Hunt (published 1969).
Hamlin County, South Dakota is named in his honor, as is Hamlin, West Virginia, the county seat of Lincoln County. There are statues in Hamlin's likeness in the United States Capitol and in Bangor, Maine.
[edit] External links
- Hannibal Hamlin at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Biography at Mr. Lincoln's White House
- The life and times of Hannibal Hamlin by Charles Eugene Hamlin
United States Senators from Maine | |
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| Class 1: Holmes • Parris • Holmes • Shepley • Dana • Williams • Fairfield • Moor • Hamlin • Nourse • Hamlin • Morrill • Hamlin • E. Hale • Johnson • F. Hale • Brewster • Payne • Muskie • Mitchell • Snowe Class 2: Chandler • Sprague • Ruggles • Evans • Bradbury • Fessenden • Farwell • Fessenden • Morrill • Blaine • Frye • Gardner • Burleigh • Fernald • Gould • White • Smith • Hathaway • Cohen • Collins | Image:Senate cap.PNG |
Governors of Maine | |
|---|---|
| W. King • Williamson • Ames • Parris • Lincoln • Cutler • Hall • Hunton • Smith • Dunlap • Kent • Fairfield • Kent • Fairfield • Kavanagh • Anderson • Dana • Hubbard • Crosby • A. Morrill • Wells • Hamlin • Williams • L. Morrill • Washburn • Coburn • Cony • Chamberlain • Perham • Dingley • Connor • Garcelon • Davis • Plaisted • Robie • Bodwell • Marble • Burleigh • Cleaves • Powers • Hill • Cobb • Fernald • F. Plaisted • Haines • O. Curtis • Milliken • Parkhurst • Baxter • Brewster • Gardiner • Brann • Barrows • Sewall • Hildreth • Payne • N. Haskell • Cross • Muskie • R. Haskell • Clauson • Reed • K. Curtis • Longley • Brennan • McKernan • A. King • Baldacci | Image:Mainestateseal.jpg |
| Persondata | |
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| NAME | Hamlin, Hannibal |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | first Republican to serve as Vice President of the United States |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 27 1809 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Paris, Maine, USA |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 4 1891 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Bangor, Maine, U.S. |
fr:Hannibal Hamlin id:Hannibal Hamlin it:Hannibal Hamlin sw:Hannibal Hamlin nl:Hannibal Hamlin ja:ハンニバル・ハムリン no:Hannibal Hamlin pl:Hannibal Hamlin pt:Hannibal Hamlin fi:Hannibal Hamlin sv:Hannibal Hamlin
Categories: Articles lacking sources from October 2007 | All articles lacking sources | 1809 births | 1891 deaths | Vice Presidents of the United States | Governors of Maine | Union political leaders | Republican Party (United States) vice presidential nominees | United States Senators from Maine | United States ambassadors to Spain | Members of the Maine House of Representatives | Members of the United States House of Representatives from Maine | People from Bangor, Maine | People of Maine in the American Civil War
