The big political issue that year was the annexation of Texas as a slave state, which Hale strongly denounced. Although he ultimately failed to regain his congressional seat, he succeeded in influencing public opinion through the anti-slavery speeches he delivered that summer throughout the state. This “Hale Storm of 1845” led to his political ascent.

Overwhelmed by popular support for a coalition of Whigs, Liberty Party men, and Independent Democrats, the Democratic Party lost control of the state’s government in the election of March 10, 1846. On that day, Hale was elected as a Dover representative to the New Hampshire House, and on June 3 he was chosen by his peers as the Speaker of the House.

Prior to 1913, when the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was enacted, U.S. senators were not chosen by popular vote, but by the state legislatures. On June 9, 1846, Hale was elected as a U.S. senator by a majority of votes cast in both houses of the New Hampshire Legislature. Hale was the first anti-slavery candidate elected to the Senate.

While many people admired Hale, others saw him as an opportunist, and as a threat to the status quo. A scathing piece titled “The Traitor Rewarded,” in the Democratic-leaning New Hampshire Patriot newspaper in Concord, claimed that the men who had voted for Hale had “laid themselves in the dust at the feet of John P. Hale…They have humbled their proud spirit before this arrogant pretender, and submitted to the slightest of his imperious demands.”

Texas had been annexed to the United States on Dec. 29, 1845, and on April 25, 1846, war had broken out between the United States and Mexico over control of the territory. In June 1846, Hale proposed a joint resolution of the New Hampshire Legislature denouncing both the annexation and the war. According to historian Richard H. Sewell in his 1965 book, “John P. Hale and the Politics of Abolition,” Hale’s resolution also signaled that the state would actively cooperate “in every just and well-directed effort for the suppression and extermination of that terrible scourge of our race, human slavery.”

In July, the resolution was approved by both houses. Unfortunately, this triumph of the anti-slavery forces in New Hampshire would be short-lived. State officials were elected annually in those days, and the election of March 1847 would return the Democrats to power.

In the months between his election to the U.S. Senate and his swearing-in, which would not take place until December 1847, Hale continued to speak out against the scourges of slavery. He gained a great deal of notice and approval in anti-slavery circles.

Although Hale expressed reluctance to run for president, in October 1847 the abolitionist Liberty Party chose him as its nominee for the presidential election of 1848. He accepted the nomination, but also expressed his willingness to step aside if the party were to become part of a larger coalition of anti-slavery interests.

In August 1848, a convention was held in Buffalo, New York attended by members of the Whig and Liberty parties. Also taking part were constituents of the Free Soil Party, which opposed the expansion of slavery into the western territories. These delegates banned together under the Free Soil banner, and nominations were made for the that year’s presidential election. Former President Martin Van Buren of New York won with 244 votes, while Hale came in second with 183 votes. Van Buren was then proclaimed the unanimous winner by acclimation.

The national election of Nov. 7, 1848, was won by a pro-slavery Whig, General Zachary Taylor of Kentucky, the hero of the Mexican-American War. Democratic Sen. Lewis Cass of Michigan (originally from Exeter, N.H.) came in second. Van Buren, with Charles F. Adams Sr. of Massachusetts as his vice presidential candidate, received only 10% of the vote.

Next week: United States Sen. John P. Hale enters the political fray in Washington, D.C.