Library of Congress
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;
was 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. - - Biographical
Data courtesy of the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
