Hannibal Hamlin Biography

Hannibal Hamlin served as the 15th Vice President of the United States, from 1861 to 1865, in the Republican administration of President Abraham Lincoln. Born to a farmer, Hamalin, after studying in Hebron Academy, worked on his family farm for a while and later managed a weekly newspaper. Then, he studied law and after starting his legal practice, he entered politics as an anti-slavery Democrat and served in the Maine state legislature. Later, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives and subsequently became a member of the Senate. During his first term as a senator, he took an anti-slavery position on sectional issues and later left the Democratic Party because of its endorsement of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854. Thereafter, he joined the Republican Party and became Maine’s governor but resigned within months, returning to the Senate for a second time. The Republican National Convention of 1860 nominated Hamlin for Vice President and he was duly elected, in the administration of Abraham Lincoln. From 1861 to 1865, during the Civil War, Hamlin served as the Vice President of the United States, supporting the emancipation and the arming of freedmen. Afterwards, he was elected to the Senate again and served two more six-year terms. Subsequently, he was made a diplomat and after serving as Minister to Spain for a year, Hamlin retired from politics and returned to his home in Maine, where he died at the age of 81.