Maine Atlas, the Office of the Maine Secretary of State
A vintage color illustration of the residence of Hannibal Hamlin in South Paris, Maine, showing a large white house and adjacent barn surrounded by tall, bare trees and a green lawn under a cloudy sky.

Hannibal Hamlin

Colored postcard of the Hamlin homestead. Photo: Collections of Hamlin Memorial Library and Museum.

Hannibal Hamlin was an attorney, politician, and American vice president to Abraham Lincoln. Born in the Town of Paris when Maine was still a district of Massachusetts, Hamlin was a descendent of Plymouth colonists. He studied law under Samuel Fessenden, and after being admitted to the bar, opened his own firm in Hampden.

Hamlin served in a number of political offices over the course of his career, first in the Maine House of Representatives where he helped negotiate the end of hostilities during the Aroostook War. Later, he served in the US House of Representatives and Senate as a Democrat, but his staunch abolitionist sentiments pushed him from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party in 1856.

In 1857, Hamlin served Maine as governor, but after about six weeks, he resigned to return to the Senate. In 1860, he was nominated as the Republican party's pick for vice president on the ticket with Abraham Lincoln. They won the election and worked well together, with Hamlin supporting the Emancipation Proclamation.

After his term as vice president, Hamlin continued serving as a senator until 1881, then as ambassador to Spain from 1881 to 1882, and subsequently retired from public service to Bangor. Hamlin purchased the Italianate house that now bears his name in 1851, and he lived there until his death in 1891. The house, located on 5th Street, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

Hamlin is remembered today as Maine's only vice president and for his support of abolitionist causes. Towns and parks throughout the country are named in Hamlin's honor, and Maine honors his memory through Hamlin Peak in Piscataquis County, a building at University of Maine at Orono, the Hannibal Hamlin Memorial Library in Paris, as well as a bronze statue in downtown Bangor.

 

Paris Hill Historic District Association
A full-length, black and white historical photograph of Hannibal Hamlin standing next to a small table covered in fabric, dressed in a mid-19th-century formal suit and bowtie.
Hon. Hannibal Hamlin, Me 1860-1865. Photo: National Archives.
A black and white photograph of a large, two-story colonial estate with white pillars, partially obscured by bare trees. Deep snow banks line the ground in the foreground.
Birthplace of Hannibal Hamlin, Paris Hill, 1948. Photo: Maine HIstorical Society.
A political campaign banner designed like an American flag with text that reads "LINCOLN AND HAMLIN" in bold black letters over the red and white stripes. The blue canton features white stars arranged in a large star pattern.
Lincoln/Hamlin Campaign Flag, 1860. Photo: Hamlin Memorial Library and Museum.
A round, metallic political medalet against a dark background, attached to a light-colored string. The center features a portrait of Hannibal Hamlin with his name printed in an arch above his head.
Political campaign button for 1860 presidential election showing bust portrait of Abraham Lincoln on one side and bust portrait of Hannibal Hamlin on the other side. Photo: Library of Congress.
A sepia-toned portrait of Hannibal Hamlin contained within a decorative, ornate gold frame. He is dressed in formal 19th-century attire and looks forward with a neutral expression.
Hannibal Hamlin, ca. 1860. the image is a hand-colored ambrotype that was made from a lithograph image of Hamlin. Photo: Maine Historical Society.
Two matching brass 1860 campaign badges with photographic portraits, one reading "Abraham Lincoln 1860" and the other "Hannibal Hamlin 1860."
1860 Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin Campaign Pin. Photo: Maine State Museum.
A close-up, sepia-toned oval portrait of Hannibal Hamlin from 1857, shown from the chest up, wearing a dark coat and looking off to the left side.
1857, Hannibal Hamlin. Photo: Maine State Archives.
A black and white photograph of a bronze statue of Hannibal Hamlin standing on a stone pedestal. He is depicted in formal attire with a long cape, holding a cane and a top hat, with buildings visible in the background.
Statue of Hannibal Hamlin (Vice President Under Lincoln) in Norumbega Mall, Bangor. Photo: Penobscot Marine Museum.

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