Hamilton Fish (August 3, 1808September 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. 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.(December 1981), The Ten Best Secretaries Of State.... 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. He also organized a peace conference and treaty between South American countries and Spain.United States Department of State (December 4, 1871), Foreign relations of the United States, pp. 775–777. 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. Fish worked with James Milton Turner to settle the Liberia-Grebo War in 1876.
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, and opposed annexation of Latin American countries.; 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 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. 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. Peter Stuyvesant was a prominent founder of New York, then a Dutch Colony, and his family owned much property in Manhattan.
Fish received his primary education at M. Bancel, a private school. In 1827, Fish graduated from Columbia College, having obtained high honors. At Columbia, Fish became fluent in French, a language that would later help him as U.S. Secretary of State. 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. Influenced politically by his father, Fish aligned himself to the Whig Party. He served as commissioner of deeds for the city and county of New York from 1831Fish was Commissioner of Deeds from 1831 through 1833, and was an unsuccessful Whig candidate for New York State Assembly in 1834.
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. The couple's lengthy married life was described as happy, and Mrs. Fish was known for her "sagacity and judgement." The couple had three sons and five daughters. 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 New York political career
U.S. Congress For eight years after his defeat as a Representative in the New York State Assembly, Fish was reluctant to run for office. However, Whig party leaders in 1842 convinced him to run for the House of Representatives. 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. 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. Fish failed to win a re-election bid for a second term in the House.
Lieutenant governor
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. Leasing farmers in New York refused to pay rent to large land tract owners and sometimes resorted to violence and intimidation. Fish had opposed the Anti-Rent Party for the use of illegal tactics, not to pay rent. Gardiner was elected in May 1847 a judge of the New York Court of Appeals and vacated the office of lieutenant governor. Fish was then in November 1847 elected to fill the vacancy, and was Lieutenant Governor in 1848. Lieut. Gov. Fish had a favorable reputation for being "conciliatory" and for his "firmness" over the New York Senate.
Governor 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. At 40 years of age, Fish was one of the youngest governors to be elected in New York history. Fish advocated and signed into law free public education facilities throughout New York state. He also advocated and signed into law the building of an asylum and school for the intellectually disabled. During his tenure, the canal system in the state of New York was increased. In 1850, Fish recommended that the state legislature form a committee to collect and publish the Colonial Laws of New York. None of the bills that Governor Fish vetoed were overturned by the New York legislature. 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. 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. However, Taylor died in office before he could nominate Fish. Despite his national popularity, Fish was not renominated for Governor.
U.S. Senator
After Fish retired from office as governor, he did not openly seek the nomination to be elected U.S. Senator. However, Fish's supporters, the William H. Seward-Thurlow Weed Whigs, in January 1851 nominated him as a candidate for U.S. Senator. A deadlock ensued over his nomination because one New York legislature Whig Senator was upset about Fish not publicly supporting the Compromise of 1850. Before the election, Fish had only stated that the government should enforce the laws. Although Fish did not favor the spread of slavery, he was hesitant to support the free soil movement. Finally, when two Democratic Senators who were against Fish's nomination were conspicuously absent, the Senate took action and voted. 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.