View source for John P. Hale

{{short description|American politician (1806-1873)}}
{{other people|John Hale}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = John P. Hale
| caption             = Portrait, {{circa|1860–1865}}
| image               = Hale, Hon. John P., M.C. N.H.jpg
| office              = 18th [[United States Ambassador to Spain|United States Minister to Spain]]
| president           = [[Andrew Johnson]]<br>[[Ulysses S. Grant]]
| term_start          = September 30, 1865
| term_end            = July 29, 1869
| predecessor         = [[Gustav Koerner]]
| successor           = [[Daniel Sickles]]
| office1             = [[Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference]]
| term_start1         = 1859
| term_end1           = December 1862
| predecessor1        = Position established
| successor1          = [[Henry B. Anthony]]
| jr/sr2              = United States Senator
| state2              = [[New Hampshire]]
| term_start2         = July 30, 1855
| term_end2           = March 3, 1865
| predecessor2        = [[Jared W. Williams]]
| successor2          = [[Aaron H. Cragin]]
| term_start3         = March 4, 1847
| term_end3           = March 3, 1853
| predecessor3        = [[Joseph Cilley (senator)|Joseph Cilley]]
| successor3          = [[Charles G. Atherton]]
| state4              = [[New Hampshire]]
| district4           = {{ushr|NH|AL|at-large}}
| term_start4         = March 4, 1843
| term_end4           = March 3, 1845<br>Seat 4
| predecessor4        = [[Ira Allen Eastman|Ira Eastman]]
| successor4          = Seat abolished
| birth_name          = John Parker Hale
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1806|3|31}}
| birth_place         = [[Rochester, New Hampshire]], U.S.
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1873|11|19|1806|3|31}}
| death_place         = [[Dover, New Hampshire]], U.S.
| party               = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] (Before 1847)<br>[[Liberty Party (United States, 1840)|Liberty]] (1847–1848)<br>[[Free Soil Party|Free Soil]] (1848–1854)<br>[[Opposition Party (Northern U.S.)|Opposition]] (1854–1855)<br>[[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] (1855–1873)
| spouse              = Lucy Hill Lambert
| education           = [[Bowdoin College]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])
| signature           = Appletons' Hale John Parker signature.png
}}
'''John Parker Hale''' (March 31, 1806{{spaced ndash}}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 [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]], but helped establish the anti-slavery [[Free Soil Party]] and eventually joined the [[Republican Party (United States)|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 [[Texas annexation|annexation of Texas]]. After losing his seat, he continued to campaign against [[slavery in the United States|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 [[1848 Free Soil & Liberty national Conventions|1848 Free Soil Convention]] instead nominated former President Van Buren. He won the party's presidential nomination in [[1852 United States presidential election|1852]], receiving 4.9% of the popular vote in the general election. After the passage of the [[Kansas–Nebraska Act]], Hale joined the nascent Republican Party and returned to the Senate. He served until 1865, at which point he accepted an appointment from President [[Abraham Lincoln]] to serve as the [[United States Ambassador to Spain|Minister to Spain]]. He held that post until he was recalled in April 1869, at which point he retired from public office.

==Early years==
Hale was born in [[Rochester, New Hampshire|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, New Hampshire|Dover]].  He passed the [[bar examination]] in 1830 and practiced law in Dover.<ref name=appletons>{{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Hale, John Parker|year=1892}}</ref> 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 [[New Hampshire House of Representatives]] as a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]].  In 1834, President [[Andrew Jackson]] appointed him as [[U.S. District Attorney]] for New Hampshire.  This appointment was renewed by President [[Martin Van Buren]] in 1838, but in 1841, Hale was removed on party grounds by President [[John Tyler]], a [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]].<ref name="appletons"/>

Hale was elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-eighth [[United States Congress|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.<ref name=nie>{{Cite NIE|wstitle=Hale, Joseph Parker|year=1905}}</ref>

==Anti-slavery transition==
Hale supported the Democratic candidates [[James K. Polk]] and [[George M. Dallas]] in the [[1844 United States presidential election|1844 presidential election]], and was renominated for his congressional seat without opposition. Before the congressional election, Texas annexation was adopted by the Democratic Party as part of its platform.  In December 1844 the [[New Hampshire Legislature]] passed resolutions instructing its senators and congressmen to favor Texas annexation.  Instead, Hale made a public statement opposing annexation on anti-slavery grounds.

The Democratic state convention was then reassembled in [[Concord, New Hampshire|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.<ref name=appletons/><ref name="nie"/>

==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.<ref name=appletons/><ref name=nie/> In 1846, Hale was able to use New Hampshire's unusual electoral rules to his advantage. Under the [[Constitution of New Hampshire|state constitution]], candidates for [[Governor of New Hampshire|Governor]] and [[New Hampshire State Senate|State Senate]] required a majority of the vote to win; if no candidate won a majority, the [[New Hampshire General Court|General Court]] would pick among the top two candidates.<ref name="new england state senates">{{cite journal |last=Yeargain|first=Tyler|date=2021|title=New England State Senates: Case Studies for Revisiting the Indirect Election of Legislators|url=https://scholars.unh.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1405&context=unh_lr|journal=University of New Hampshire Law Review|volume=19|issue=2|pages=381|doi= |access-date=April 28, 2021}}</ref>

The strong performance of the anti-slavery [[Free Soil Party]] resulted in no majority winner in the 1846 gubernatorial election or in seven out of twelve State Senate seats. Accordingly, Hale's coalition of Whigs, [[Liberty Party (United States, 1840)|Liberty Party]] members and Independent Democrats were able to join to win control of state government after the election. The coalition selected seven Whig candidates to fill the State Senate vacancies, ensuring coalition control of the chamber. It then elected Whig [[Anthony Colby]] as Governor (despite him winning just 32% of the vote to Democrat [[Jared W. Williams]]'s 48%), Liberty Party member [[Joseph Cilley (senator)|Joseph Cilley]] to a vacancy in the U.S. Senate, and Hale as Speaker of the State House. When Cilley's term expired in 1847, Hale was elected as his successor.<ref name="new england state senates"/>

==United States Senate==
[[File:Hon. John P. Hale, N.H - NARA - 528278.jpg|thumb|right|Hale as photographed by [[Mathew Brady]]]]

===First term as Senator===
Hale was elected June 9, 1846, as an [[Independent Democratic]] Candidate to the [[United States Senate]] and served from March 4, 1847, to March 3, 1853, later becoming a  [[Free Soil Party|Free Soil]]er.
{{more|1846–47 United States Senate elections}}
He was among the strongest opponents of the [[Mexican–American War]] in the Senate and is considered "the first U.S. Senator with an openly anti-slavery (or [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionist]]) platform".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.seacoastnh.com/blackhistory/whittier.html |title=J. Dennis Robinson |access-date=2007-01-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070205073653/http://www.seacoastnh.com/blackhistory/whittier.html |archive-date=2007-02-05 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Hale 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 was later joined by [[Charles Sumner]] in 1851.<ref name=nie />

Hale also opposed [[Flagellation#United States|flogging]] and the [[United States military ration|spirit ration]] in the [[United States Navy]], and secured the abolition of flogging in September 1850.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20151011114623/http://legisworks.org/congress/31/session-1/chap-80.pdf 31st Congress, Session 1, Chapter 80 (1850), p515.]}} 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."''</ref>

In 1851, Hale served as counsel in the trials of anti-slavery activists that arose out of their forcible rescue of fugitive slave [[Shadrach Minkins]] from the custody of the [[United States Marshal]] in [[Boston]].<ref name=appletons />

===Presidential candidate===
Hale was an unsuccessful candidate for [[President of the United States]] on the Free Soil ticket in 1852, finishing behind Democratic candidate Franklin Pierce and Whig candidate Winfield Scott.<ref>{{Cite NIE|wstitle=Pierce, Franklin|year=1905}}</ref>
{{main|1852 United States presidential election}}

In March 1853, Hale was succeeded in the Senate by Democrat [[Charles G. Atherton]] and began practicing law in New York City.<ref name=appletons/>

===Return to the Senate===
Following the repeal of the [[Missouri Compromise]], Democrats were again ousted in New Hampshire. Hale was elected to the Senate as a member of the new [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] in 1855, replacing [[Jared W. Williams]], who had been appointed following the death of [[Charles G. Atherton]]. [[James Bell (New Hampshire politician)|James Bell]], a fellow Republican, was elected to New Hampshire's other Senate seat in the same election. Hale entered the Senate on July 30, 1855, was re-elected in 1859, and served until March 3, 1865.
{{more|1854–55 United States Senate elections|1858–59 United States Senate elections}}

Hale served as the [[Republican Conference Chairman of the United States Senate|chair]] of the [[Senate Republican Conference]] until 1862. That year, 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 [[United States Ambassador to Spain|minister to Spain]] and he served in that capacity 1865–1869.<ref name="ambassador">[https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/po/com/11278.htm United States Department of State list of ambassadors]</ref> Hale attributed his April 1869 recall to a quarrel with Horatio J. Perry, his secretary of legation.  Perry had accused Hale of violating his diplomatic privilege of importing free of duty merchandise for his official or personal use by putting some goods up for sale and pocketing the proceeds. Hale's answer was that he had been misled about the rules by a commission merchant friendly to Perry. Perry was himself removed from his post in June 1869.<ref name=appletons/>

== Death and burial ==
Hale died in Dover, New Hampshire on November 19, 1873.  He was buried at [[Pine Hill Cemetery (Dover, New Hampshire)|Pine Hill Cemetery]] in Dover.

==Legacy==
Hale's [[Federal style architecture|Federal style]] house, built in 1813, is now part of the [[Woodman Institute Museum]]. [[List of New Hampshire historical markers (251–275)#264|New Hampshire Historical Marker No. 264]] on Central Avenue in [[Dover, New Hampshire|Dover]] marks the site of his home.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nh.gov/nhdhr/markers/documents/markers_bynumber.pdf |title=New Hampshire Historical Highway Markers – List of Markers by Marker Number |website=NH.gov |date=June 20, 2020 |access-date=June 30, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite press release |url=https://www.dncr.nh.gov/news_events/2020_hale_home_historical_highway_marker/ |title=New NH Historical Highway Marker in Dover marks the home of John Parker Hale |publisher=[[New Hampshire Department of Natural and Cultural Resources]] |first1=Shelly |last1=Angers |first2=Eileen P. |last2=Meaney |via=NH.gov |date=July 6, 2020 |access-date=July 13, 2020 |archive-date=July 15, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200715040940/https://www.dncr.nh.gov/news_events/2020_hale_home_historical_highway_marker/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Longtime Washington journalist [[Benjamin Perley Poore]] wrote that Hale, as Senator in the late 1850s, "never failed to command attention":<blockquote>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.<ref name=Poore>[https://archive.org/details/perleysreminisce00poor/page/n467/mode/1up?view=theater Poore, Ben. Perley, ''Perley's Reminiscences of Sixty Years in the National Metropolis'', Vol.1, p.458 (1886)].</ref></blockquote>

Hale is one of several prominent New Hampshire politicians with a statue at the [[New Hampshire State House |New Hampshire State House Complex]] in [[Concord, New Hampshire|Concord]].<ref>[https://www.nh.gov/nhdhr/publications/esm/hale.html “John P. Hale - Exterior Statues and Memorials at the New Hampshire State House Complex”.] ''New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources.'' Accessed April 12, 2023.</ref> Portraits of President Lincoln and John P. Hale hang next to each other in the chamber of the [[New Hampshire House of Representatives]].

==Family==
[[File:Lucy Hale.jpg|thumb|upright|The picture of Lucy Hale found on the body of [[John Wilkes Booth]]]]

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.<ref name=Kunhardt>{{cite book|title=Twenty Days|publisher=Newcastle|location=North Hollywood, Calif.|year=1965|pages=178–179|lccn=62015660|author=Kunhardt, Dorothy and Philip, Jr.}}</ref>  Booth had a picture of Lucy Hale with him when he was shot and killed by Sergeant [[Boston Corbett]] on April 26, 1865.<ref name=Kunhardt /><ref name="booth">[https://archive.today/19970421061716/http://www.nps.gov/foth/booth.htm Ford's Theater National Historic Site – National Park Service]</ref> Lucy Hale eventually married Senator [[William E. Chandler]].

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{EB1911 poster|Hale, John Parker|John P. Hale}}
* {{Biographical Directory of Congress|H000034|John Parker Hale}}
* {{Find a Grave|7084373|John Parker Hale}}
* [https://archives-manuscripts.dartmouth.edu/repositories/2/resources/1631 Hale-Chandler Papers] at Dartmouth College Library

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{{Republican Party (United States)}}
{{United States senators from New Hampshire}}
{{US Senate Republican Conference chairs}}
{{US Senate Armed Services chairs}}
{{Third-party US senators}}
{{US ambassadors to Spain}}
{{1848 United States presidential election}}
{{Historical anti-slavery parties (U.S.)}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hale, John P.}}
[[Category:1806 births]]
[[Category:1873 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century American diplomats]]
[[Category:19th-century American lawyers]]
[[Category:Activists from New Hampshire]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of the United States to Spain]]
[[Category:Abolitionists from New Hampshire]]
[[Category:American political party founders]]
[[Category:Bowdoin College alumni]]
[[Category:Independent United States senators]]
[[Category:Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New Hampshire]]
[[Category:Free Soil Party United States senators]]
[[Category:New Hampshire Free Soilers]]
[[Category:New Hampshire independents]]
[[Category:New Hampshire lawyers]]
[[Category:New Hampshire Oppositionists]]
[[Category:Republican Party members of the New Hampshire House of Representatives]]
[[Category:People from Rochester, New Hampshire]]
[[Category:People of New Hampshire in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Phillips Exeter Academy alumni]]
[[Category:Republican Party United States senators from New Hampshire]]
[[Category:Speakers of the New Hampshire House of Representatives]]
[[Category:United States attorneys for the District of New Hampshire]]
[[Category:Candidates in the 1848 United States presidential election]]
[[Category:Candidates in the 1852 United States presidential election]]
[[Category:People from Dover, New Hampshire]]
[[Category:19th-century United States representatives]]
[[Category:19th-century members of the New Hampshire General Court]]
[[Category:19th-century United States senators]]