Hannibal Hamlin was a vice president of the United States when Abraham Lincoln was president. He was one the the best known political persons from the state of Maine. He was known as dependable and steady.

Hannibal Hamlin was born in 1809. He grew up in a frontier area. He lost his parents at an early age and had to work hard to earn an education. Hannibal's father died and Hannibal had to quit college to take care of his family. He didn't stop studying however. He would even take his law books with him while he worked and study when he could.

He was a Democrat and published newspapers to say how he felt about things. Later he went to Portland to study law and he began to believe that slavery was wrong. He became a lawyer and moved to Bangor. After that he ran for the legislature and ended up winning 5 two year terms in Washington. It was there that he first saw Abraham Lincoln. They both believed that slavery was wrong.

In 1848 he ran for the Senate. He won and continued fighting to stop slavery. He even quit the Democratic Party because they would not change their plan on slavery. He was governor of Maine for a short while and then went back to the Senate. He was chosen to run for vice president along with Abraham Lincoln for president. They won and a difficult time in our history started.

Hamlin and Lincoln were never close friends. In fact Hannibal did some things that made President Lincoln mad. After four years of Civil War fought to free the slaves, Lincoln decided to choose another man to run as the vice president. Hannibal went home to Bangor.

Hannibal was very sad when President Lincoln was killed a short time later. Hamlin was then elected to the Senate again where he worked for the state of Maine. After that he was chosen to represent the United States in the country of Spain.

He died in 1891 and at that time was probably Maine's best known person.

Adams, Herb and Verde, Tom. Maine's Claim to Fame. Augusta: Maine Department of Education, date on publication not available.