Thomas A. Hendricks

Thomas Andrews Hendricks ( born September 7, 1819 Zanesville, Ohio; † November 25, 1885 in Indianapolis, Indiana ) was an American politician. He represented the State of Indiana in both houses of Congress and was its 16th Governor, before he became the 21st Vice President of the United States under President Grover Cleveland.

Early years

Hendricks was born in Muskingum County, Ohio and moved to Indiana, where his uncle, William Hendricks, 1822-1825 governor was with his parents in 1820. He attended Hanover College in Hanover and studied in Chambersburg (Pennsylvania) law. After qualifying as a lawyer in 1843, he practiced in Shelbyville in his new profession.

Policy

State parliamentarians and Congressman

Hendricks ' political career began in 1848 with his election to the House of Representatives from Indiana. In 1850 he was a delegate at a meeting on the revision of the Constitution of that State. Then Hendricks was elected as a member of the Democratic Party in the U.S. House of Representatives. There he remained 1851-1855 and was a member of several committees. His re-election in 1854 failed. Between 1855 and 1859 he was Federal Commissioner for the state-owned land in Washington, DC ( Commissioner of the General Land Office ). In 1860, he ran unsuccessfully for the governorship of Indiana: He defeated Republican Henry Smith Lane with 48:52 percent of the vote. In the same year he moved to Indianapolis and practiced law. From March 4, 1863 until March 3, 1869 Hendricks was a U.S. Senator.

In 1868, he ran again unsuccessfully for the governorship of Indiana; this time, the residue was not even 1,000 votes on the Republican Conrad Baker. Four years later he succeeded but then the jump in the Office of the Governor, as he, in turn, with only a little more than 1,100 votes prevailed ahead of Thomas M. Browne.

Governor of Indiana

After the election victory Hendricks could take up his post on 13 January 1873. In his four-year tenure, he had to deal with labor unrest in Logansport and in Clay County. A Prohibition law was put into effect, but this was declared two years later invalidated. Otherwise Hendricks ' tenure as governor was without significant incidents.

Vice President of the United States

1876 ​​Hendricks applied unsuccessfully for the post of vice-president: He and presidential candidate Samuel J. Tilden lost very narrowly to the Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and William A. Wheeler. In 1884 he was again nominated on the side of Grover Cleveland as vice presidential candidate. After the election victory in November 1884 against Republican James G. Blaine and John A. Logan, he was sworn in on March 4, 1885 as the new U.S. Vice President. However, Hendricks died at the November 1885 during his tenure. The remaining period of office was the office thus vacated because no successor could be named before the next election.

He is the only vice president who has ever been featured on a U.S. banknote ( 10 - $ bill from 1886). Hendricks was married to Eliza Morgan, the couple had a child.