Hamilton Fish

Hamilton Fish ( born August 3, 1808 in New York City; † September 7, 1893 ) was an American politician.

Biography

Fish studied at Columbia College (now Columbia University ) Law and went, politically engaged, soon a name as a lawyer. From 1843 to 1845 he was a member of the Whig Party MP in the House of Representatives of the United States. In 1848 he was lieutenant governor and was elected Governor of the State of New York for the term 1849-1850. From 1851 to 1857 he was a U.S. Senator; during this time the Whigs went on in the Republican Party, founded in 1855. He then traveled with his family to Europe and remained there until the outbreak of the civil war in 1861.

On March 11, 1869, he was appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant to the Secretary of State. Became famous Fish mainly because of its skillful negotiations in the conflict with Spain and the UK. 1871 and 1872, he also led the difficult negotiations with Britain over the Alabama question the legality of the conditions attached to such indirect compensation claims of the United States. It did not succeed Fish, the latter prevail over the British government and the established for the settlement of this dispute Geneva arbitration in January 1872; nevertheless he attained at least a compensation in the amount of 15.5 million dollars in gold.

After the end of Grant 's second term as President on March 5, 1877 Fish also resigned and lived since then in New York.

Descendants

Fish had two sons: Hamilton Fish II (1848-1936) was a congressman, Stuyvesant Fish (1851-1923) from 1887 was president of the railroad company Illinois Central Railroad. His grandson Hamilton Fish III (1888-1991) and his great-grandson Hamilton Fish IV (1926-1996) were also members of Congress.