Editing Hannibal Hamlin (section)

==Vice presidency (1861–1865)==

[[File:Hamlin button 1860.jpg|left|thumb|1860 election campaign button for [[Abraham Lincoln]] and Hannibal Hamlin.  The other side of the button has Lincoln's portrait.]]
Hamlin was nominated by the Republican Party for [[Vice President of the United States]] in the [[1860 United States presidential election|1860 presidential election]] on a ticket with former Representative [[Abraham Lincoln]], the presidential nominee.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://millercenter.org/president/biography/lincoln-campaigns-and-elections |title=Abraham Lincoln: Campaigns and Elections (Winning Republican Support) |publisher= The Miller Center |access-date=August 27, 2016}}</ref> Given that Lincoln was from Illinois, a vice presidential nominee from [[Maine]] provided regional balance. As a former Democrat, Hamlin could persuade other anti-slavery Democrats that joining the Republican Party was the only way to ensure slavery's demise.{{citation needed|date=December 2016}}

Hamlin and Lincoln were not close personally but had a good working relationship. At the time, the vice president was part of the legislative branch in his role as president of the Senate and did not attend cabinet meetings; Hamlin did not regularly visit the White House. [[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."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mrlincolnswhitehouse.org/inside.asp?ID=89&subjectID=2|title=Abraham Lincoln's White House – Hannibal Hamlin (1809–1891)|publisher=Mrlincolnswhitehouse.org|access-date=October 1, 2012|archive-date=March 9, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309162345/http://mrlincolnswhitehouse.org/inside.asp?id=89&subjectid=2|url-status=dead}}</ref>

He had little influence in the Lincoln administration, although he urged both the [[Emancipation Proclamation]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Eicher |first=David J. |date=2001 |title=The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1p94XzYASDAC&pg=PA366 |location=New York |publisher=Simon & Schuster |page=366 |isbn=978-0-7432-1846-7}}</ref> and the arming of [[Black Americans]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Dray |first=Philip |date=2008 |title=Capitol Men: The Epic Story of Reconstruction Through the Lives of the First Black Congressmen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hrebAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA14 |location=Boston, MA |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |page=14 |isbn=978-0-618-56370-8}}</ref> He strongly supported [[Joseph Hooker]]'s appointment as commander of the [[Army of the Potomac]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Taaffe |first=Stephen R. |date=2006 |title=Commanding the Army of the Potomac |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5QN3AAAAMAAJ&q=%22as+did+vice+president+hannibal+hamlin%22 |location=Lawrence, KS |publisher=University Press of Kansas |page=55 |isbn=978-0-7006-1451-6}}</ref> which ended in failure at the [[Battle of Chancellorsville]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Steers |first=Edward Jr. |date=2007 |title=Lincoln Legends: Myths, Hoaxes, and Confabulations Associated with Our Greatest President  |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wYmvvEeuAi0C&pg=PA109 |location=Lexington, KY |publisher=University Press of KY |page=109 |isbn=978-0-8131-2466-7}}</ref>

Beginning in 1860, Hamlin was a member of Company A of the [[Maine State Guard]], a [[Militia (United States)|militia]] unit.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1864/07/08/archives/fort-mcclary-garrisoned-vicepresident-hamlin-among-the-privates.html|title=Fort McClary Garrisoned; Vice-President Hamlin Among the Privates|newspaper=The New York Times|date=July 8, 1864}}</ref> When the company was called up in the summer of 1864, militia leaders informed Hamlin that because of his position as vice president, he did not have to take part in the muster. He opted to serve, arguing that he could set an example by doing the duty expected of any citizen, and the only concession made because of his office was that he was quartered with the officers. He reported to [[Fort McClary]], in [[Kittery, Maine|Kittery]], in July, initially taking part in routine assignments including guard duty, and later taking over as company cook. He was promoted to [[Corporal#United States|corporal]] during his service, and mustered out with the rest of his unit in mid-September.<ref>{{cite book|last=Laird|first=Archibald|date=1980|title=The Near Great – Chronicle of the Vice Presidents|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xJoMAQAAMAAJ&q=%22maine+coast+guard%22|location=Boston, MA|publisher=Christopher Publishing House|page=141|isbn=978-0-8158-0381-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Scroggins|first=Mark|date=1994|title=Hannibal: The Life of Abraham Lincoln's First Vice President|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OsAZ-50Hbe4C&pg=PA210|location=Lanham, MD|publisher=University Press of America|pages=210–11|isbn=978-0-8191-9440-4}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://civilwarindex.com/armyme/1st_me_state_guards.html|title=Civil War Index – 1st Maine State Guards|website=civilwarindex.com}}</ref>

In 1862, Hamlin presided over the [[Federal impeachment trial in the United States|impeachment trial]] in the Senate of Judge [[West Hughes Humphreys]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Hinds' Precedents, Volume 3 - Chapter 74 - The Impeachment and Trial of West H. Humphreys |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-HPREC-HINDS-V3/html/GPO-HPREC-HINDS-V3-23.htm |website=www.govinfo.gov |access-date=18 December 2022}}</ref>

In June 1864, the Republicans and [[War Democrat]]s joined to form the [[National Union Party (United States)|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 of support and was also looking ahead to Southern [[Reconstruction era of the United States|Reconstruction]], at which Johnson had proven himself adept as military governor of occupied Tennessee. Hamlin, by contrast, was an ally of the Northern "[[Radical Republicans]]" (who later [[Impeachment of Andrew Johnson|impeached Johnson]]). Lincoln and Johnson were elected in November 1864, and Hamlin's term expired on March 4, 1865. Hamlin swore Johnson in as Vice President. Johnson, who was drunk, subsequently gave an [[Andrew Johnson's drunk vice-presidential inaugural address|incoherent speech]].

Although Hamlin narrowly missed becoming president, his vice presidency ushered in a half-century of sustained national influence for the [[Maine Republican Party]]. In the period 1861–1911, Maine Republicans occupied the offices of vice president, [[United States Secretary of the Treasury|Secretary of the Treasury]] (twice), [[United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]], [[President pro tempore of the United States Senate]], and [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives]] (twice), and fielded a presidential nominee in [[James G. Blaine]], a level of influence in national politics unmatched by subsequent Maine political delegations.