Hamilton Fish
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Hamilton Fish | |
|---|---|
 Photograph by Mathew Brady | |
| 26th United States Secretary of State | |
| In office March 17, 1869 – March 12, 1877 | |
| President | Ulysses S. Grant Rutherford B. Hayes |
| Preceded by | Elihu B. Washburne |
| Succeeded by | William M. Evarts |
| United States Senator from New York | |
| In office December 1, 1851 – March 3, 1857 | |
| Preceded by | Daniel S. Dickinson |
| Succeeded by | Preston King |
| 16th Governor of New York | |
| In office January 1, 1849 – December 31, 1850 | |
| Lieutenant | George W. Patterson |
| Preceded by | John Young |
| Succeeded by | Washington Hunt |
| Lieutenant Governor of New York | |
| In office January 1, 1848 – December 31, 1848 | |
| Governor | John Young |
| Preceded by | Albert Lester (acting) |
| Succeeded by | George W. Patterson |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 6th district | |
| In office March 4, 1843 – March 3, 1845 | |
| Preceded by | James G. Clinton |
| Succeeded by | William Campbell |
| Personal details | |
| Born | August 3, 1808 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | September 7, 1893 (aged 85) Garrison, New York, U.S. |
| Party | Whig (before 1857) Republican (1857–1893) |
| Spouse | Julia Kean |
| Children | Sarah, Julia, Susan, Nicholas II, Hamilton II, Stuyvesant and Edith |
| Education | Columbia College (BA) |
| Signature |  |
Hamilton Fish (August 3, 1808 – September 7, 1893) was an American statesman who served as the sixteenth governor of New York from 1849 to 1850, a United States senator from New York from 1851 to 1857, and the 26th U.S. secretary of state from 1869 to 1877. Fish was the most trusted advisor to President Ulysses S. Grant and recognized as the pillar of Grant's presidency.[1][2][3] He is considered one of the nation's most effective U.S. secretaries of state by scholars, known for his judiciousness and efforts towards reform and diplomatic moderation.[1][2][3] He settled the controversial Alabama Claims with the United Kingdom, developing the concept of international arbitration and avoided war with Spain over Cuban independence by coolly handling the volatile Virginius incident.[2] He also organized a peace conference and treaty between South American countries and Spain.[4] In 1875, Fish negotiated a reciprocal trade treaty for sugar production with the Kingdom of Hawai'i, initiating the process which ended in the 1893 overthrow of the House of Kalākaua and statehood.[2] Fish worked with James Milton Turner to settle the Liberia-Grebo War in 1876.[5]
Fish came from prominence and wealth. His Dutch American family was long-established in New York City. He attended Columbia College and later passed the New York state bar. Initially working as commissioner of deeds, he ran unsuccessfully for New York State Assembly as a Whig candidate in 1834. After marrying, he returned to politics and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1843. Fish ran for New York's lieutenant governor in 1846, falling to a Democratic Anti-Rent Party contender. When the office was vacated in 1847, Fish ran and was elected to the position. In 1848, he ran and was elected governor of New York, serving one term. In 1851, he was elected U.S. Senator for New York, serving one term. Fish gained valuable experience serving on Committee on Foreign Relations. Fish was a moderate on the question of maintaining or dissolving slavery; he opposed the Kansas–Nebraska Act and the expansion of slavery.
After traveling to Europe, Fish returned to the United States and supported Abraham Lincoln, the Republican nominee for president in the 1860 U.S. presidential election. During the American Civil War, Fish raised money for the Union war effort and served on Lincoln's presidential commission that made successful arrangements for Union and Confederate troop prisoner exchanges. Fish returned to his law practice after the Civil War and was thought to have retired from political life. When Ulysses S. Grant was elected president in 1868, he appointed Fish as U.S. secretary of state in 1869. Fish took on the State Department with vigor, reorganized the office, and established civil service reform. During his tenure, Fish had to contend with Cuban belligerency, the settlement of the Alabama claims, Canada–U.S. border disputes, and the Virginius incident. Fish implemented the new concept of international arbitration, where disputes between countries were settled by negotiations, rather than military conflicts. Fish was involved in a political feud between U.S. senator Charles Sumner and President Grant in the latter's unsuccessful efforts to annex the Dominican Republic. Fish organized a naval expedition in an unsuccessful attempt to open trade with Korea in 1871. Leaving office and politics in 1877, Fish returned to private life and continued to serve on various historical associations. Fish died quietly of old age in his luxurious New York State home in 1893.
Fish has been praised by historians for his calm demeanor under pressure, honesty, loyalty, modesty, and talented statesmanship during his tenure under President Grant, as well as his brief service under President Hayes. The hallmark of his career was the Treaty of Washington, which peacefully settled the Alabama Claims. Fish also ably handled the Virginius incident, keeping the United States out of war with Spain. Fish, while Secretary of State, lacked empathy for the plight of African Americans,[6] and opposed annexation of Latin American countries.[7] Fish has been traditionally viewed to be one of America's top ranked Secretaries of State by historians. Fish's male descendants would later serve in the U.S. House of Representatives for three generations.
Early life and education
[edit]Fish was born on August 3, 1808, in what is the present-day Hamilton Fish House in Greenwich Village in New York City, to Nicholas Fish and Elizabeth Stuyvesant, a daughter of Peter Stuyvesant and direct descendant of New Amsterdam's Director-General Peter Stuyvesant. He was named after his parents' friend Alexander Hamilton, a Founding Father and the nation's first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury under George Washington.[8] Nicholas Fish (1758–1833) was a leading Federalist politician and notable figure of the American Revolutionary War. Colonel Fish was active in the Yorktown Campaign, which featured the final battles of the American Revolutionary War and led to the surrender of Lord Cornwallis and American independence.[8] Peter Stuyvesant was a prominent founder of New York, then a Dutch Colony, and his family owned much property in Manhattan.[9]
Fish received his primary education at M. Bancel, a private school.[10] In 1827, Fish graduated from Columbia College, having obtained high honors.[10] At Columbia, Fish became fluent in French, a language that would later help him as U.S. Secretary of State.[11] After his graduation, Fish studied law for three years in the law office of Peter A. Jay, served as president of the Philolexian Society, and was admitted to the New York bar in 1830, practicing briefly with William Beach Lawrence.[10][11] Influenced politically by his father, Fish aligned himself to the Whig Party.[10] He served as commissioner of deeds for the city and county of New York from 1831[12] through 1833, and was an unsuccessful Whig candidate for New York State Assembly in 1834.[11]
On December 15, 1836, Fish married Julia Kean, a sister of Col. John Kean, both descendants of William Livingston, a New Yorker who went on to become New Jersey's first governor.[13] The couple's lengthy married life was described as happy, and Mrs. Fish was known for her "sagacity and judgement."[13] The couple had three sons and five daughters.[13]
- Sarah Morris Fish (1838–1923), m. 1860: Sidney Webster (1828–1910)
- Elizabeth Stuyvesant Fish (1839–1864) m. 1863: Frederick Sears Grand d'Hauteville (1838–1918), son of Paul Daniel Gonzalve Grand d'Hauteville and grandson of David Sears
- Julia Kean Fish Benjamin (1841–1908) m. 1868: Samuel Nicoll Benjamin (1839–1886)
- Susan Le Roy Fish Rogers (1844–1909) m. 1868: William Evans Rogers (1846–1913)
- Nicholas Fish II (1846–1902). m. 1869: Clemence Stephens Bryce (1847–1908), sister of Lloyd Bryce
- Hamilton Fish II (1849–1936) m1. 1880: Emily Maria Mann (1854–1899). m2. 1912: Florence Delaplaine (1849–1926), daughter of Isaac C. Delaplaine
- Stuyvesant Fish (1851–1923) m. 1876: Marian Graves Anthon (1853–1915)
- Edith Livingston Fish (1856–1887) m. 1833: Hugh Oliver Northcote (1854–1900), son of Stafford Northcote, 1st Earl of Iddesleigh
Career
[edit]New York political career
[edit]
U.S. Congress
[edit]For eight years after his defeat as a Representative in the New York State Assembly, Fish was reluctant to run for office.[14] However, Whig party leaders in 1842 convinced him to run for the House of Representatives.[14] In November, Fish was elected to the House of Representatives, having defeated Democrat John McKeon and serving in the 28th Congress from New York's 6th district between 1843 and 1845.[14] The Whigs at this time were in the minority in the House; however, Fish gained valuable national experience serving on the Committee of Military Affairs.[14] Fish failed to win a re-election bid for a second term in the House.[10]
Lieutenant governor
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Fish was the Whig candidate for Lieutenant Governor of New York in 1846, but was defeated by Democrat Addison Gardiner, who had been endorsed by the Anti-Rent Party.[15] Leasing farmers in New York refused to pay rent to large land tract owners and sometimes resorted to violence and intimidation.[15] Fish had opposed the Anti-Rent Party for the use of illegal tactics, not to pay rent.[15][10] Gardiner was elected in May 1847 a judge of the New York Court of Appeals and vacated the office of lieutenant governor.[15] Fish was then in November 1847 elected to fill the vacancy, and was Lieutenant Governor in 1848.[15] Lieut. Gov. Fish had a favorable reputation for being "conciliatory" and for his "firmness" over the New York Senate.[16]
Governor
[edit]In November 1848, he was elected Governor of New York, defeating John A. Dix and Reuben H. Walworth, and served from January 1, 1849, to December 31, 1850.[17] At 40 years of age, Fish was one of the youngest governors to be elected in New York history.[17] Fish advocated and signed into law free public education facilities throughout New York state.[17] He also advocated and signed into law the building of an asylum and school for the intellectually disabled.[17] During his tenure, the canal system in the state of New York was increased.[10] In 1850, Fish recommended that the state legislature form a committee to collect and publish the Colonial Laws of New York.[17] None of the bills that Governor Fish vetoed were overturned by the New York legislature.[17] In his annual messages, Fish spoke out against the extension of slavery from land acquired from the Mexican–American War, including California and New Mexico.[17][10] His anti-slavery messages gave Fish national attention, and President Zachary Taylor, also a Whig, was going to nominate Fish to the Treasury Department in a cabinet shakeup.[10] However, Taylor died in office before he could nominate Fish.[10] Despite his national popularity, Fish was not renominated for Governor.[10]
U.S. Senator
[edit]
After Fish retired from office as governor, he did not openly seek the nomination to be elected U.S. Senator.[18] However, Fish's supporters, the William H. Seward-Thurlow Weed Whigs, in January 1851 nominated him as a candidate for U.S. Senator.[10] A deadlock ensued over his nomination because one New York legislature Whig Senator was upset about Fish not publicly supporting the Compromise of 1850.[18][19][10] Before the election, Fish had only stated that the government should enforce the laws.[18] Although Fish did not favor the spread of slavery, he was hesitant to support the free soil movement.[20] Finally, when two Democratic Senators who were against Fish's nomination were conspicuously absent, the Senate took action and voted.[21] On March 19, 1851, Fish was elected a U.S. Senator from New York and he took his seat on December 1, serving alongside future Secretary of State William H. Seward.[18]
In the U.S. Senate, he was a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations until the end of his term on March 4, 1857.[22] Fish became friends with President Franklin Pierce's Secretary of State William L. Marcy and Attorney General Caleb Cushing.[22] He was a Republican for the latter part of his term and was part of a moderately anti-slavery faction.[23] During the 1850s, the Republican Party replaced the Whig Party as the central party against the Democratic Party.[18] By 1856, Fish privately considered himself a Whig although he knew that the Whig Party was no longer viable politically. Fish was a quiet Senator, rather than an orator, who liked to keep to himself.[18] Fish often was in disagreement with Senator Sumner, who was firmly opposed to slavery and advocated equality for blacks.[18] His policy was to vote for legislation on the side of "justice, economy, and public virtue."[18] He strongly opposed the repeal of the Missouri Compromise.[18] Fish often voted with the Free Soil faction and was strongly against the Kansas-Nebraska Bill.[24] In February 1855, merchants represented by Moses H. Grinnell, criticized Fish's bill on immigration and maritime commerce. Fish's bill was designed to protect Irish and German immigrants who were dying on merchant ships during oceanic passage to America. The merchants believed that Fish's bill was oppressive to commercial interests over human interests.[25]
During his tenure, the nation and Congress were in tremendous political upheaval over slavery, that included violence, disorder, and disturbances of the peace.[18] In 1856, pro-slavery advocates invaded Kansas and used violent tactics against those who were anti-slavery.[18][26] In May 1856, Senator Charles Sumner was viciously attacked by Preston Brooks in the Senate Chamber.[26] At the expiration of his term, he traveled with his family to Europe and remained there until shortly before the opening of the American Civil War, when he returned to begin actively campaigning for the election of Abraham Lincoln.[18] While in France, Fish studied foreign policy with diplomats and distinguished Americans, and gained valuable experience that would eventually benefit his tenure as U.S. Secretary of State.[18]
American Civil War
[edit]
Fish had several important roles during the American Civil War. Fish's private secretary was involved in the attempt of the merchant ship Star of the West to bring relief supplies to Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor. During this period, Fish often met with General Winfield Scott, commander-in-chief of the US Army. Fish was dining with Scott in New York when a telegram reported that Confederates had fired on Star of the West. Fish said that this meant war; Scott replied "Don't utter that word, my friend. You don't know what a horrid thing war is."[27]
In 1861–1862, Fish participated in the Union Defense Committee of the State of New York, which cooperated with New York City in raising and equipping Union Army troops, and disbursed more than $1 million for the relief of New York volunteers and their families. The committee included chairman John A. Dix, William M. Evarts, William E. Dodge, A.T. Stewart, John Jacob Astor, and other New York men. Fish was appointed chairman of the committee after Dix joined the Union Army.[27]
In 1862, President Lincoln appointed Fish and Bishop Edward R. Ames as commissioners to visit Union prisoners in Richmond, Virginia. The Confederate government, however, would not allow them to enter the city. Instead, Fish and Rev. Ames started the prisoner exchange program which continued virtually unchanged throughout the war. After the war ended, Fish went back to private practice as a lawyer in New York.[27]
From 1860 to 1869, Fish was trustee of The Bank for Savings in the City of New-York stepping down from that role when he became US Secretary of State.[28]
U.S. Secretary of State
[edit]Fish was appointed Secretary of State by President Ulysses S. Grant and served between March 17, 1869, and March 12, 1877. He was President Grant's longest-serving Cabinet officer. Upon assuming office in 1869, Fish was initially underrated by some statesmen including former Secretaries of State William H. Seward and John Bigelow. Fish, however, immediately took on the responsibilities of his office with diligence, zeal, and intelligence.[29] Fish's tenure as Secretary of State was lengthy, almost eight years, and he had to contend with many foreign policy issues including the Cuban insurrection, the Alabama Claims, and the Franco-Prussian War.[30]
During Reconstruction, Fish was not known to sympathize with Grant's policy to eradicate the Ku Klux Klan, racism in the Southern states, and promote African American equality. Fish complained of being bored at Grant's cabinet meetings when Grant's U.S. Attorney General Amos T. Akerman told of atrocities of the Klan against black citizens.[6]
Alabama Claims
[edit]Throughout Fish's tenure during Grant's first term in office, Fish periodically threatened to resign. After Fish's and Grant's high-water mark accomplishment of settling the Alabama Claims, Fish told Grant he would resign on August 1, 1871. Grant, however, needed Fish's professional advice and pleaded with Fish to remain in office. Grant told Fish he could not replace him. Fish remained in office, 13 years Grant's senior, even under ill health.[31]
When Fish assumed office he immediately began a series of reforms in the Department of State.[32] After appropriations were given to his office by Congress, Fish cataloged and organized 700 volumes of miscellaneous State Department documents and created the Bureau of Indexes and Archives.[32][33] Fish introduced indexing of State Department files so subordinates could easily find documents.[32] Fish implemented civil service reform by having State Department applicants be required to pass an entry examination before being appointed consultant.[32] This policy was sometimes hampered, since President Grant could appoint any person to office without the person having to take an examination.[32] However, the policy of testing overall improved the staff at the State Department.[32] Fish's methods of organization included disciplined staff and prompt copying of dispatches.[33]
The method of record keeping, however, was cumbersome and had remained unchanged since John Quincy Adams' presidency.[33] Rather than world regions, countries were listed in alphabetical order; the correspondence was embedded in bound diplomatic and consular category archives, rather than by subject matter.[33] Added to countries' information was a miscellaneous category filed chronologically.[33] This resulted in a tedious and time-consuming process to make briefings for Congress.[33] Diplomatic ministers, only 23 in 1877, were not kept informed of current world events that took place in other parts of the world.[33]
By 1869, Cuban nationals were in open rebellion against their mother country Spain, due to the unpopularity of Spanish rule. American sentiment favored the Cuban rebels and President Grant appeared to be on the verge of acknowledging Cuban belligerency. Fish, who desired settlement over the Alabama Claims, did not approve of recognizing the Cuban rebels, since Queen Victoria and her government had recognized Confederate belligerency in 1861. Recognizing Cuban belligerency would have jeopardized settlement and arbitration with Great Britain.[34] In February 1870, Senator John Sherman authored a Senate resolution that would have recognized Cuban belligerency. Working behind the scenes Fish counseled Sherman that Cuban recognition would ultimately lead to war with Spain. The resolution went to the House of Representatives and was ready to pass, however, Fish worked out an agreement with President Grant to send a special message to Congress that urged not to acknowledge the Cuban rebels.