William A. Wheeler
William Almon Wheeler (June 30, 1819 – June 4, 1887) was an American politician and attorney. He served as a United States representative from New York from 1861 to 1863 and 1869 to 1877, and the 19th vice president of the United States from 1877 to 1881.
For other people named William Wheeler, see William Wheeler (disambiguation).
William A. Wheeler
17th district (1869–1873)
18th district (1873–1875)
19th district (1875–1877)
George Gove
Darius Lawrence
June 4, 1887 (aged 67)
Malone, New York, U.S.
Morningside Cemetery,
Malone, New York, U.S.
- Almon Wheeler
- Eliza Woodworth
Attorney
Born in Malone, New York, Wheeler pursued a legal career after attending the University of Vermont. After serving in various local positions, he won election to the New York State Legislature. He served in Congress from 1861 to 1863 and from 1869 to 1877. He was widely respected for his integrity and refused a salary increase after Congress passed an 1873 pay raise that he opposed.
After the 1876 Republican National Convention settled on Rutherford B. Hayes as the party's presidential nominee after seven ballots, the delegates nominated Wheeler for vice president. Nominated by Congressman Luke P. Poland, Wheeler surged into an early lead over Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, Marshall Jewell, and Stewart L. Woodford to clinch the nomination on the first ballot. Wheeler was nominated because he was popular among his colleagues and had worked to avoid making enemies in Congress. In addition, as a resident of the populous Eastern state of New York, he provided geographical balance to the ticket, since Hayes was from the populous Midwest state of Ohio. The Republican ticket prevailed in the contentious 1876 presidential election, though they lost the popular vote. Though they had not known each other before the convention, Wheeler and Hayes got along amicably while in office. They chose not to seek second terms, and Wheeler returned to Malone, New York, after the end of his term. He died in 1887 and was buried at Morningside Cemetery in Malone.
During Wheeler's vice presidency, the Hayes administration abandoned post-Civil War Reconstruction and pursued an alliance between Northern Republicans and Old Southern Whigs. Hayes hoped former Whigs who made up the South's business and merchant classes would supplant the Democratic plantation owners who dominated politics and government. This scenario did not materialize, and the end of Republican efforts to ensure civil rights and social equality for former slaves doomed Southern blacks to oppression by white supremacists, who enacted Jim Crow laws that lasted for decades.
Post-vice presidency (1881–1887)[edit]
In January 1881, Wheeler received 10 votes in the New York State Legislature's Republican caucus to determine a nominee for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Francis Kernan.[15] The Republican nomination went to Thomas C. Platt, who received 54 caucus votes.[15] The Republicans controlled the legislature, and Platt defeated Kernan 104 votes to 50.[15]
Wheeler retired to Malone following the end of his vice presidential term on March 4, 1881.[16] In May 1881, Platt and Roscoe Conkling resigned their U.S. Senate seats in a dispute with President James A. Garfield over control of patronage in New York, triggering two special elections.[17] In the legislative election for Platt's seat, it took six weeks of balloting to elect a candidate.[17] Wheeler's name was in consideration, and he received as many as 23 votes before Warner Miller was elected with 76 votes on the 46th ballot.[17]
Wheeler was also a candidate for Conkling's seat.[17] The voting went on for several weeks and Wheeler received as many as 50 votes on some ballots before Elbridge G. Lapham won with 92 votes on the 56th ballot.[17]
Wheeler suffered from several illnesses throughout his life and was in increasingly poor health during his later years.[18] He died at his home at 10:10 a.m. on Saturday, June 4, 1887.[19] The funeral was held at the Congregational church in Malone.[20] He was interred next to his wife in Malone's Morningside Cemetery on June 7, 1887.[21]