Hannibal Hamlin, 15th Vice President of the USA

Hannibal Hamlin (August 27, 1809 – July 4, 1891) was the 15th Vice President of the United States, serving under President Abraham Lincoln from 1861–1865. He was the first Vice President from the Republican Party.

Prior to his election in 1860, Hamlin served in the United States Senate, the House of Representatives, and, briefly, as the 26th Governor of Maine.

Early life

Hamlin was born to Cyrus Hamlin and Anna Livermore[1] on Paris Hill (now a National Register Historic District) in Paris, Maine, in Oxford County, a descendant of James Hamlin in the sixth generation, who had settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1639. Hamlin was a great nephew of U.S. Senator Samuel Livermore II of New Hampshire, and a grandson of Stephen Emery, Maine's Attorney General in 1839-40.

Hamlin 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, a suburb of Bangor, 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 bloodless 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 U.S. 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 In 1854 he strongly opposed the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise.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 1856 Democratic National Convention, 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 United States Senate from 1857 to January 1861.

Vice Presidency

In 1861, Hamlin became Vice President. Maine was the first state in the Northeast to be captured by the Republican Party, and the Lincoln-Hamlin ticket thus made sense in terms of regional balance. Hamlin was also a strong orator, and a known opponent of slavery. While serving as Vice President, Hamlin 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, a southern Democrat, probably with his mind on post-war reconciliation.

Hamilin's vice presidency would usher in a half-century of sustained national influence for the Maine Republican Party. In the 50-year period 1861-1911, Maine Republicans would occupy the offices of Vice President, Secretary of the Treasury (twice), Secretary of State, President pro tempore of the United States Senate, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (twice), and would field a national presidential candidate in James G. Blaine, a level of influence in national politics seldom matched by subsequent Maine political delegations.

Later life

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 to his home in Bangor, Maine. He continued, however, to be a behind-the-scenes influence in the local and state Republican Party. Hamlin died while playing cards at the Tarratine Club in downtown Bangor.

Hamlin had three sons who grew to adulthood: Charles Hamlin, Cyrus Hamlin, and Hannibal Emery Hamlin. Charles and Cyrus served in the Union forces during the Civil War, both becoming generals. Cyrus was among the first Union officers to argue for the enlistment of black troops, and himself commanded a brigade of freemen in the Mississippi River campaign. Charles and sister Sarah were present at Ford's Theater the night of Lincoln's assassination. Hannibal Emery Hamlin was Maine 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.

Hannibal's older brother, Elijah Livermore Hamlin, was president of the Mutual Fire Insurance Co. of Bangor, and the Bangor Instutution for Savings.[2] He was twice an unsuccessful candidate for Governor of Maine in the late 1840s, though he did serve as Mayor of Bangor in 1851-52. The brothers were members of different political parties (Hannibal a Democrat, and Elijah a Whig) before both becoming Republican in the later 1850s.[3]

Hannibal's nephew (Elijah's son) Augustus Choate Hamlin was a physician, artist, minerologist, author, and historian. He was also Mayor of Bangor in 1877-78, and a founding member of the Bangor Historical Society.[4] Augustus served as surgeon in the 2nd Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the Civil War, eventually becoming a U.S. Army Medical Inspector, and later the Surgeon General of Maine. He wrote books about Andersonville Prison and the Battle of Chancellorsville.[5]

Hannibal's first cousin Cyrus Hamlin, who was a graduate of the Bangor Theological Seminary, became a missionary in Turkey, were he founded Robert College. He later became president of Middlebury College in Vermont. His son, A.D.F. Hamlin, Hannibal's second cousin, became a professor of architecture at Columbia University and a noted architectural historian.

There are biographies of Hamlin by his grandson Charles E. Hamlin (published 1899, reprinted 1971) and by H. Draper Hunt (published 1969).

Monuments and Memorials

Hamlin County, South Dakota is named in his honor, as is Hamlin, New York. There are statues in Hamlin's likeness in the United States Capitol and in a public park (Norumbega Mall) in Bangor. There is also a building on the University of Maine Campus, in Orono, named Hannibal Hamlin Hall.

Hamlin's house in Bangor subsequently housed the Presidents of the adjacent Bangor Theological Seminary. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

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

Bangor in Focus: Hannibal Hamlin

Hannibal Hamlin at Find A Grave

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannibal_Hamlin

Hannibal Hamlin (August 27, 1809 – July 4, 1891) was the 15th Vice President of the United States, serving under President Abraham Lincoln from 1861–1865. He was the first Vice President from the Republican Party.

Prior to his election in 1860, Hamlin served in the United States Senate, the House of Representatives, and, briefly, as the 26th Governor of Maine.

In 1861, Hamlin became Vice President under Abraham Lincoln, whom he did not meet until after the election. Maine was the first state in the Northeast to embrace the Republican Party, and the Lincoln-Hamlin ticket thus made sense in terms of regional balance. Hamlin was also a strong orator, and a known opponent of slavery. While serving as Vice President, Hamlin had little authority in the Lincoln Administration, although he urged both the Emancipation Proclamation and the arming of Black Americans. He strongly supported Joseph Hooker's appointment as commander of the Army of the Potomac, which was a dismal failure. In June 1864, the Republicans and War Democrats joined to form the National Union Party. Although Lincoln was renominated, War Democrat Andrew Johnson of Tennessee was named to replace Hamlin as Lincoln's running mate. Lincoln was seeking to broaden his base support and was also looking ahead to Southern Reconstruction, at which Johnson had proven himself adept as war governor of occupied Tennessee. Hamlin, by contrast, was an ally of Northern radicals (who would later impeach Johnson). Lincoln and Johnson were elected in November 1864, and Hamlin's term expired on March 4, 1865.

Hamlin and Lincoln were not close personally, but had a good working relationship. As with the time, White House etiquette did not require the Vice President to regularly attend cabinet meetings; thus, Hamlin did not regularly visit the White House. It was said that Mary Todd Lincoln and Hamlin disliked each other. For his part, Hamlin complained, “I am only a fifth wheel of a coach and can do little for my friends.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannibal_Hamlin

Hannibal Hamlin (August 27, 1809 – July 4, 1891) was the 15th Vice President of the United States, serving under President Abraham Lincoln from 1861–1865. He was the first Vice President from the Republican Party.

Prior to his election in 1860, Hamlin served in the United States Senate, the House of Representatives, and, briefly, as the 26th Governor of Maine.

In 1861, Hamlin became Vice President under Abraham Lincoln, whom he did not meet until after the election. Maine was the first state in the Northeast to embrace the Republican Party, and the Lincoln-Hamlin ticket thus made sense in terms of regional balance. Hamlin was also a strong orator, and a known opponent of slavery. While serving as Vice President, Hamlin had little authority in the Lincoln Administration, although he urged both the Emancipation Proclamation and the arming of Black Americans. He strongly supported Joseph Hooker's appointment as commander of the Army of the Potomac, which was a dismal failure. In June 1864, the Republicans and War Democrats joined to form the National Union Party. Although Lincoln was renominated, War Democrat Andrew Johnson of Tennessee was named to replace Hamlin as Lincoln's running mate. Lincoln was seeking to broaden his base support and was also looking ahead to Southern Reconstruction, at which Johnson had proven himself adept as war governor of occupied Tennessee. Hamlin, by contrast, was an ally of Northern radicals (who would later impeach Johnson). Lincoln and Johnson were elected in November 1864, and Hamlin's term expired on March 4, 1865.

Hamlin and Lincoln were not close personally, but had a good working relationship. As with the time, White House etiquette did not require the Vice President to regularly attend cabinet meetings; thus, Hamlin did not regularly visit the White House. It was said that Mary Todd Lincoln and Hamlin disliked each other. For his part, Hamlin complained, “I am only a fifth wheel of a coach and can do little for my friends.”

Early life

Hamlin was born to Cyrus Hamlin and Anna Livermore[1] on Paris Hill (now a National Register Historic District) in Paris, Maine, in Oxford County, a descendant of James Hamlin in the sixth generation, who had settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1639. Hamlin was a great nephew of U.S. Senator Samuel Livermore II of New Hampshire, and a grandson of Stephen Emery, Maine's Attorney General in 1839-40.

Hamlin 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, a suburb of Bangor, 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 bloodless 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 U.S. 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 1856 Democratic National Convention, 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 United States Senate from 1857 to January 1861.

Vice Presidency

In 1861, Hamlin became Vice President. Maine was the first state in the Northeast to be captured by the Republican Party, and the Lincoln-Hamlin ticket thus made sense in terms of regional balance. Hamlin was also a strong orator, and a known opponent of slavery. While serving as Vice President, Hamlin 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, a southern Democrat, probably with his mind on post-war reconciliation.

Hamilin's vice presidency would usher in a half-century of sustained national influence for the Maine Republican Party. In the 50-year period 1861-1911, Maine Republicans would occupy the offices of Vice President, Secretary of the Treasury (twice), Secretary of State, President pro tempore of the United States Senate, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (twice), and would field a national presidential candidate in James G. Blaine, a level of influence in national politics seldom matched by subsequent Maine political delegations.

Later life

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 to his home in Bangor, Maine. He continued, however, to be a behind-the-scenes influence in the local and state Republican Party. Hamlin died while playing cards at the Tarratine Club in downtown Bangor.

Hamlin had three sons who grew to adulthood: Charles Hamlin, Cyrus Hamlin, and Hannibal Emery Hamlin. Charles and Cyrus served in the Union forces during the Civil War, both becoming generals. Cyrus was among the first Union officers to argue for the enlistment of black troops, and himself commanded a brigade of freemen in the Mississippi River campaign. Charles and sister Sarah were present at Ford's Theater the night of Lincoln's assassination. Hannibal Emery Hamlin was Maine 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.

Hannibal's older brother, Elijah Livermore Hamlin, was president of the Mutual Fire Insurance Co. of Bangor, and the Bangor Instutution for Savings.[2] He was twice an unsuccessful candidate for Governor of Maine in the late 1840s, though he did serve as Mayor of Bangor in 1851-52. The brothers were members of different political parties (Hannibal a Democrat, and Elijah a Whig) before both becoming Republican in the later 1850s.[3]

Hannibal's nephew (Elijah's son) Augustus Choate Hamlin was a physician, artist, minerologist, author, and historian. He was also Mayor of Bangor in 1877-78, and a founding member of the Bangor Historical Society.[4] Augustus served as surgeon in the 2nd Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the Civil War, eventually becoming a U.S. Army Medical Inspector, and later the Surgeon General of Maine. He wrote books about Andersonville Prison and the Battle of Chancellorsville.[5]

Hannibal's first cousin Cyrus Hamlin, who was a graduate of the Bangor Theological Seminary, became a missionary in Turkey, were he founded Robert College. He later became president of Middlebury College in Vermont. His son, A.D.F. Hamlin, Hannibal's second cousin, became a professor of architecture at Columbia University and a noted architectural historian.

There are biographies of Hamlin by his grandson Charles E. Hamlin (published 1899, reprinted 1971) and by H. Draper Hunt (published 1969).

Monuments and memorials

Hamlin County, South Dakota is named in his honor, as is Hamlin, New York. There are statues in Hamlin's likeness in the United States Capitol and in a public park (Norumbega Mall) in Bangor. There is also a building on the University of Maine Campus, in Orono, named Hannibal Hamlin Hall.

Hamlin's house in Bangor subsequently housed the Presidents of the adjacent Bangor Theological Seminary. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

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

Bangor in Focus: Hannibal Hamlin

Hannibal Hamlin at Find A Grave

Hannibal Hamlin "Lincoln's Frustrated Vice President" August 27, 1809 - July 4, 1891

Abraham Lincoln's first vice president, Hannibal Hamlin, was a distinguished New England politician who served six terms in the Maine legislature (1836-40 and 1847); represented his state in the House of Representatives for two terms; and interrupted his second term in the U.S. Senate in 1857 to serve as governor of Maine, a position he soon resigned to re-enter the Senate.

Hamlin was a Democrat until 1856, when he broke with the party over the Kansas-Nebraska Act and joined the Republican party. When Lincoln won the Republican presidential nomination at the convention held at the Wigwam in Chicago on May 8, 1860, party leaders sought a vice-presidential candidate who would balance the ticket. Hannibal Hamlin seemed to be a good choice. A former Democrat with antislavery sentiments, he was geographically desirable since he came from a northeastern state.

Hamlin had not wanted the vice presidency. Having traded his influential Senate seat for a traditionally powerless office, he hoped to be assigned some important function in the Lincoln government. Although the president listened to his views, which included his urging the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation and the enlisting of free blacks in the army, Hamlin was relegated to the background.

Hamlin resented his idleness, but he did not want to be replaced as vice president. When the president and his advisors decided it would be politically expedient to name Andrew Johnson, military governor of Tennessee, to the vice-presidential spot in 1864, Hamlin was again disappointed.

After his vice presidency, Hamlin was collector of customs for the port of Boston, served again in the Senate (1869-81), and concluded his public career by serving as minister to Spain (1881-82) during the Arthur administration. He died suddenly on July 4, 1891, at his club in Bangor.

Fascinating Fact: Frustrated by his lack of meaningful work while vice president, Hamlin enlisted as a private in the Mine Coast Guard and invoked public criticism by taking his place among the ranks during the 1864 summer encampment at Kittery

______________________________

Hannibal Hamlin, a prominent United States statesman, was born in Paris, Oxford County, Maine, August 27, 1809. When nearly prepared to enter college the impaired health of an elder brother recalled him from school to assist upon the paternal farm. At the age of eighteen he commenced the study of law under the direction of another brother residing in the eastern part of his native State. Little progress had been made in this respect, however, when the death of his father necessitated young Hannibal's return home to take charge of the farm, and for two succeeding years he continued in this position. About the time he became of age he spent a year in a printing office as a compositor, and was associated with Mr. Horatio King in the proprietorship of the "Jeffersonian," a paper printed in his native town. He then resumed the study of law, at the end of three years was admitted to the bar, and entered at once on the practice of his profession. On the very day of his admission he gained a case. In April of that year, 1833, he removed to Hampden, near Bangor, where he has since resided. When established in his new location he directly entered upon a large practice, which he continued for fifteen years during that time frequently delivering political and other addresses. From 1836 to 1840 Mr. Hamlin was annually elected a member of the Legislature of Maine, and for three of those five years was Speaker of the House of Representatives. He was elected a Representative of his native State to the Twenty-eighth Congress, and was reflected for the following term. He served on the Committee on Naval Affairs and was Chairman of the Committee on Elections. In 1847 he again became a member of the House of Representatives in the Maine Legislature. In May 1848, he was elected to the Senate of the United States for four years, filling a vacancy occasioned by the death of John Fairfield. He was re-elected for the full Senatorial term in July 1851. All these official positions were bestowed upon him by the Democratic party, and up to the time of the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, in 1854, he was a member of that party. He publicly changed his politics in a speech in the Senate on that celebrated bill, and thenceforward gave his support to the Republican party, of which he has continued a faithful and prominent leader In January, 1857, having been elected Governor of Maine as the Republican candidate, Mr. Hamlin resigned his seat in the Senate. A little more than a week after his inauguration as Governor it was announced that he was for the third time chosen a Senator of the United States. Resigning his new office, upon the duties of which he had scarcely entered, he resumed his seat in the United States Senate. After his return to Congress he served as a member of the Committees on Commerce and on the District of Columbia. In 1860 he was unexpectedly nominated by the Republican party as their candidate for the office of Vice-President of the United States. In the fall of that year he was elected in connection with Abraham Lincoln as President. He presided over the Senate from 1861 to 1865 with great ability, and upon the expiration of the term was appointed Collector of Customs for the Port of Boston, but resigned in the following year on account of his disapproval of the policy of President Johnson. He was subsequently reelected to the Senate, and took his seat for the fourth time as a member of that body March 4, 1869. During his entire service as Senator he was a member of the laborious and important committee on Commerce, of which he was the chairman for seven years. In this latter capacity he had supervision of all the great questions and measures affecting the commerce of the country, both domestic and foreign. Mr. Hamlin displayed in an eminent degree the qualities of a prompt, intelligent and efficient businessman, with executive abilities of a rare and high order. He made it a first object to meet the demands upon him by his own constituents and State. Every letter of this sort was promptly attended to and answered. The draft constantly made upon his time and efforts, every man who knows anything of the official duties of a Congressman will be able to appreciate. All parties in Maine demanded these services of Mr. Hamlin, and they accorded him the praise of fidelity and efficiency in devotion to their interests. Mr. Hamlin is a man of dignified presence, of solid abilities and of unflinching integrity.

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