John P. Hale
John P. Hale | |
---|---|
Joseph Cilley | |
Succeeded by | Charles G. Atherton |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Hampshire's at-large district | |
In office March 4, 1843 – March 3, 1845 Seat 4 | |
Preceded by | Ira Eastman |
Succeeded by | Seat abolished |
Personal details | |
Born | John Parker Hale March 31, 1806 Rochester, New Hampshire, U.S. |
Died | November 19, 1873 Dover, New Hampshire, U.S. | (aged 67)
Political party | Democratic (Before 1847) Liberty (1847–1848) Free Soil (1848–1854) Opposition (1854–1855) Republican (1855–1873) |
Spouse | Lucy Hill Lambert |
Education | Bowdoin College (BA) |
Signature | |
John Parker Hale (March 31, 1806 – November 19, 1873) was an American politician and lawyer from New Hampshire. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1843 to 1845 and in the United States Senate from 1847 to 1853 and again from 1855 to 1865. He began his congressional career as a Democrat, but helped establish the anti-slavery Free Soil Party and eventually joined the Republican Party.
Born in Rochester, New Hampshire, Hale established a legal practice in Dover, New Hampshire after graduating from Bowdoin College. Hale won election to the New Hampshire House of Representatives in 1832 and served as the United States Attorney for New Hampshire under President Andrew Jackson and President Martin Van Buren. He won election to the United States House of Representatives in 1842 but was denied the party's nomination in 1844 due to his opposition to the annexation of Texas. After losing his seat, he continued to campaign against slavery and won election to the Senate in 1846 as an Independent Democrat. In the Senate, he strongly opposed the Mexican–American War and continued to speak against slavery.
Hale helped establish the anti-slavery Free Soil Party and was a candidate for the party's presidential nomination in 1848, but the
Early years
Hale was born in Rochester, Strafford County, New Hampshire, the son of John Parker Hale and Lydia Clarkson O'Brien. He attended Phillips Exeter Academy and graduated in 1827 from Bowdoin College, where he was a classmate of Franklin Pierce and a prominent member of the Athenian Society, a literary club. He began his law studies in Rochester with Jeremiah H. Woodman, and continued them with Daniel M. Christie in Dover. He passed the bar examination in 1830 and practiced law in Dover.[1] He married Lucy Lambert, the daughter of William Thomas Lambert and Abigail Ricker.
Start of political career
In March 1832, Hale was elected to the
Hale was elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-eighth Congress, serving from March 4, 1843, to March 3, 1845. There he spoke out against the gag rule that had been approved by Congress on December 12, 1838. This rule had been created by another New Hampshire representative, Charles G. Atherton and was intended to put a stop to anti-slavery petitions.[2]
Anti-slavery transition
Hale supported the Democratic candidates
The Democratic state convention was then reassembled in Concord under Pierce's leadership for the purpose of stripping Hale of his congressional nomination. The reassembled convention branded him a traitor to the party, and in February 1845 his name was stricken from the Democratic ticket. In the subsequent election, Hale ran as an independent. Hale, the replacement Democratic candidate, and the Whig candidate failed to obtain a majority, so the district was unrepresented.[1][2]
Anti-slavery governing coalition
In the face of an apparently invincible Democratic majority, Hale set out to win New Hampshire over to the anti-slavery cause. He addressed meetings in every town and village in the state, carrying on a remarkable campaign known as the "Hale Storm of 1845," which included a June 5, 1845 debate between Pierce and Hale at the North Church in Concord.
The strong performance of the anti-slavery
United States Senator
Hale was elected June 9, 1846, as an
He was the only Senator to vote against the resolution tendering the thanks of Congress to Winfield Scott and Zachary Taylor for their victories in the Mexican–American War. In 1849 he was joined in the Senate by anti-slavery advocates Salmon P. Chase and William H. Seward, and in 1851 he was joined by Charles Sumner.[2]
Hale also opposed flogging and the spirit ration in the United States Navy, and secured the abolition of flogging in September 1850.[5]
In 1851 Hale served as counsel in the trials of anti-slavery activists that arose out of their forcible rescue of fugitive slave
Hale was an unsuccessful candidate for
Return to the Senate
Following the repeal of the
In 1862 Hale succeeded in repealing the Navy's spirit ration, which he had attempted during his first Senate term.
Minister to Spain
President Lincoln nominated Hale to the post of
Death and burial
Hale died in Dover, New Hampshire on November 19, 1873. He was buried at Pine Hill Cemetery in Dover.
Legacy
Hale's
Longtime Washington journalist Benjamin Perley Poore wrote that Hale, as Senator in the late 1850s, "never failed to command attention":
The keen shafts of the Southerners, aimed at him, fell harmlessly to his feet, and his wonderful good nature disarmed malicious opposition. Those who felt that he had gone far astray in his political opinions did not accuse him of selfish motives, sordid purposes, or degraded intrigues. His was the "chasseur" style of oratory—now skirmishing on the outskirts of an opponent's position, then rallying on some strange point, pouring in a rattling fire, standing firm against a charge, and ever displaying a perfect independence of action and a disregard of partisan drill.[10]
Hale is one of several prominent New Hampshire politicians with a statue at the New Hampshire State House Complex in Concord.[11] Portraits of President Lincoln and John P. Hale hang next to each other in the chamber of the New Hampshire House of Representatives.
Family
On September 2, 1834, Hale married Lucy Hill Lambert (1814–1902) in Berwick, Maine. They were the parents of two daughters, Elizabeth (Lizzie) (1835–1895) and Lucy (1841–1915).
Elizabeth Hale first married Edward Kinsley (1825–1888). Their only child died shortly after birth. Her second husband was William Henry 'Harry' Jacques (1847–1916).
Lucy Lambert Hale was secretly betrothed in 1865 to John Wilkes Booth, Abraham Lincoln's assassin.[12] Booth had a picture of Lucy Hale with him when he was shot and killed by Sergeant Boston Corbett on April 26, 1865.[12][13] Lucy Hale eventually married Senator William E. Chandler.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1892). . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.
- ^ New International Encyclopedia(1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
- ^ a b Yeargain, Tyler (2021). "New England State Senates: Case Studies for Revisiting the Indirect Election of Legislators". University of New Hampshire Law Review. 19 (2): 381. Retrieved April 28, 2021.
- ^ "J. Dennis Robinson". Archived from the original on 2007-02-05. Retrieved 2007-01-30.
- ^ 31st Congress, Session 1, Chapter 80 (1850), p515. Archived 2015-10-11 at the Wayback Machine Quote: "Provided, That flogging in the navy, and on board vessels of commerce, be, and the same is hereby, abolished from and after the passage of this act."
- New International Encyclopedia(1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
- ^ United States Department of State list of ambassadors
- ^ "New Hampshire Historical Highway Markers – List of Markers by Marker Number" (PDF). NH.gov. June 20, 2020. Retrieved June 30, 2020.
- ^ Angers, Shelly; Meaney, Eileen P. (July 6, 2020). "New NH Historical Highway Marker in Dover marks the home of John Parker Hale" (Press release). New Hampshire Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. Archived from the original on July 15, 2020. Retrieved July 13, 2020 – via NH.gov.
- ^ Poore, Ben. Perley, Perley's Reminiscences of Sixty Years in the National Metropolis, Vol.1, p.458 (1886).
- ^ “John P. Hale - Exterior Statues and Memorials at the New Hampshire State House Complex”. New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources. Accessed April 12, 2023.
- ^ )
- ^ Ford's Theater National Historic Site – National Park Service
External links
- United States Congress. "John Parker Hale (id: H000034)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- John Parker Hale at Find a Grave
- Hale-Chandler Papers at Dartmouth College Library