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. Leasing farmers in New York refused to pay rent to large land tract owners and sometimes resorted to violence and intimidation.
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. However, Fish's supporters, the
William H. Seward-
Thurlow Weed Whigs, in January 1851 nominated him as a candidate for U.S. Senator. 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. Fish became friends with President
Franklin Pierce's Secretary of State
William L. Marcy and Attorney General
Caleb Cushing. During the 1850s, the Republican Party replaced the Whig Party as the central party against the Democratic Party. In February 1855, merchants represented by
Moses H. Grinnell, criticized Fish's bill on immigration and maritime commerce. Fish's bill was designed to protect Irish and German immigrants who were dying on merchant ships during oceanic passage to America. The merchants believed that Fish's bill was oppressive to commercial interests over human interests. During his tenure, the nation and
Congress were in tremendous political upheaval over slavery, that included violence, disorder, and disturbances of the peace. In May 1856, Senator Charles Sumner was viciously attacked by
Preston Brooks in the Senate Chamber. In 1861–1862, Fish participated in the Union Defense Committee of the State of New York, which cooperated with
New York City in raising and equipping
Union Army troops, and disbursed more than $1 million for the relief of New York volunteers and their families. The committee included chairman John A. Dix,
William M. Evarts,
William E. Dodge,
A.T. Stewart,
John Jacob Astor, and other New York men. Fish was appointed chairman of the committee after Dix joined the Union Army.
U.S. Secretary of State Fish was appointed
Secretary of State by President
Ulysses S. Grant and served between March 17, 1869, and March 12, 1877. He was President Grant's longest-serving
Cabinet officer. Upon assuming office in 1869, Fish was initially underrated by some statesmen including former Secretaries of State William H. Seward and
John Bigelow. Fish, however, immediately took on the responsibilities of his office with diligence, zeal, and intelligence. Fish's tenure as Secretary of State was lengthy, almost eight years, and he had to contend with many foreign policy issues including the Cuban insurrection, the
Alabama Claims, and the
Franco-Prussian War. When Fish assumed office he immediately began a series of reforms in the
Department of State. After appropriations were given to his office by Congress, Fish cataloged and organized 700 volumes of miscellaneous State Department documents and created the
Bureau of Indexes and Archives. Fish introduced indexing of State Department files so subordinates could easily find documents. In February 1870, Senator
John Sherman authored a Senate resolution that would have recognized Cuban belligerency. Working behind the scenes Fish counseled Sherman that Cuban recognition would ultimately lead to war with Spain. The resolution went to the House of Representatives and was ready to pass, however, Fish worked out an agreement with President Grant to send a special message to Congress that urged not to acknowledge the Cuban rebels. On June 13, 1870, the message written by Fish was sent to Congress by the President and Congress, after much debate, decided not to recognize Cuban belligerency. President Grant continued the policy of Cuban belligerent non recognition for the rest of his two administrations. This policy, however, was tested in 1873 with the
Virginius Affair.
Annexation of Santo Domingo was determined to annex
Santo Domingo After President Grant assumed office on March 4, 1869, one of his immediate foreign policy interests was the annexation of the Caribbean island nation of the Dominican Republic, at that time referred to as Santo Domingo, to the United States. Grant believed the annexation of Santo Domingo would increase the United States' mineral resources and alleviate the effects of racism against African Americans in the South. Hamilton Fish, though loyal to Grant, racially opposed annexation of Latin American countries, saying "the incorporation of those peopled by the Latin race would be but the beginnings of years of conflict and anarchy." The divided island nation, run by mulatto leader President
Buenaventura Báez, had been troubled with civil strife. Báez had controversially imprisoned an American citizen, Davis Hatch, for speaking out against the Báez government, susceptible to a
Haitian military take over. Fish told Grant that the U.S. Senate would not be ready to pass a Santo Domingo annexation treaty. In a private conference with Grant, Fish agreed to support the Santo Domingo annexation if Grant sent Congress a non-belligerency statement not to get involved with the Cuban rebellion against Spain.
Charles Sumner, chairman of the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was against the treaty, believing that Santo Domingo needed to remain independent, and that racism against U.S. black citizens in the South needed to be dealt with in the continental United States. Sumner believed that blacks on Santo Domingo did not share Anglo-American values. On January 10, 1870, Grant submitted the Santo Domingo treaty to the United States Senate. Fish believed senators would vote for annexation only if statehood was withdrawn; however, President Grant refused this option. The Senate took its time deliberating, and finally rejected the treaty on June 30, 1870. Eighteen senators led by Charles Sumner defeated the treaty.
1870: Colombian inter-oceanic canal treaty President Grant and Secretary Fish were interested in establishing an inter-oceanic canal through
Panama. Secretary Fish organized a treaty signing on January 26, 1870, in
Bogotá between the United States and
Colombia that established a Panama route for the inter-oceanic canal. As such, Sumner demanded that Britain pay $2 billion or simply cede Canada to the United States for the
Alabama Claims. The Johnson-Clarendon treaty, presented to Congress by President Ulysses S. Grant, was overwhelmingly defeated by the Senate and the claims remained unresolved. Anglophobia led by Charles Sumner was at an all-time high when Fish became Secretary of State. In late 1870, an opportunity arrived to settle the
Alabama Claims under Prime Minister
William Gladstone. Fish, who was determined to improve relations with Britain, along with President Grant and Senate supporters, had Charles Sumner removed by vote from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and the door was open for renewed negotiations with Britain. On January 9, 1871, Fish met with British representative
Sir John Rose in Washington and an agreement was made, after much negotiation, to establish a Joint Commission to settle the
Alabama Claims to be held in Washington under the direction of Hamilton Fish. At stake was the financing of America's debt with British bankers during the Civil War, and peace with Britain was required. On February 14, 1871, both distinguished High Commissioners representing Britain, led by the
Earl of Ripon,
George Robinson, and the United States, led by Fish, met in Washington, D.C., and negotiations over settlement went remarkably well. Also representing Britain was Canadian Prime Minister
John A. Macdonald. After 37 meetings, on May 8, 1871, the
Treaty of Washington was signed at the State Department and became a "landmark of international conciliation". The Senate ratified the treaty on May 24, 1871. On August 25, 1872, the settlement for the
Alabama claims was made by an international
arbitration committee meeting in Geneva and the United States was awarded $15,500,000 (~$ in ) in gold only for damage done by the Confederate warships.
1871: South American détente and armistice '' in 1872 On April 11, 1871, a peace-trade conference, presided over by Hamilton Fish, was held in Washington D.C., between Spain and the South American republics of
Peru,
Chile,
Ecuador, and
Bolivia, which resulted in an armistice between the countries. In 1866, U.S. relations with Korea were troubled when Christian missionaries were beheaded by the Korean
Daewongun, regent to
King Kojong, and the crew of the
General Sherman, a U.S. trading ship, were massacred. A privately owned ship, the
Virginius, was used to run guns, ammunition, and vital supplies to the Cuban rebels. The captain of the
Virginius was Joseph Fry, former officer of the Confederate and Federal Navies. On October 31, 1873, the
Virginius was run down in neutral waters by the Spanish warship, the Tornado, off of
Morant Bay, Jamaica. By opening Hawaii to free trade the process for annexation and eventual statehood into the United States had begun.
1876: Liberian-Grebo War in Grant's Cabinet The U.S. settled the Liberian-Grebo War in 1876 when Hamilton Fish dispatched the
USS Alaska, under President Grant's authority, to
Liberia. Liberia was in practice an American colony. U.S. envoy
James Milton Turner, the first African American ambassador, requested a warship to protect American property in Liberia. Turner, bolstered by U.S. naval presence in harbor and support of the USS
Alaska captain, negotiated the incorporation of Grebo people into Liberian society and the ousting of foreign traders from Liberia.
1877: Nicaragua inter-oceanic canal negotiations President Grant at the close of his second term, and Secretary Fish, remained interested in establishing an inter-oceanic canal treaty. Fish and the State Department negotiated with a special envoy from
Nicaragua in February 1877 for an inter-oceanic treaty. Negotiations, however, failed as the status of the neutral zone could not be established. ==Later life and health==