Background
Fish, Hamilton was born on August 3, 1808 in New York, United States. Son of Nicholas and Elizabeth (Stuyvesant) Fish.
politician secretary of state senator
Fish, Hamilton was born on August 3, 1808 in New York, United States. Son of Nicholas and Elizabeth (Stuyvesant) Fish.
Graduate with highest honors Columbia, 1827.
Admitted to New York bar, 1830. Member United States House of Representatives (Whig) from New York, 28th Congress, 1843-1845. Lieutenant governor New York, 1847, governor, 1848.
Member United States Senate from New York, 1851-1853. Member Union Defense Committee, also United States commissioner for relief of prisoners during Civil War. United States sec state under Grant, 1869-1877, a pillar of the administration, settled controversy with Great Britain over damages suffered by Northern commerce (Alabama claims) through British government conduct as neutral during Civil War (treaty of Washington, 1871).
Trustee Columbia, president-general Society of Cincinnati. President Union League Club, New York History Society.
As secretary of state under President U. S. Grant from 1869 to 1877, Fish was instrumental in settling four vexing international disputes. Two of these were between the United States and Great Britain: the Alabama claims, for damages caused to American shipping during the Civil War by the Alabama and other British-built Confederate raiding craft; and the San Juan boundary dispute, concerning the ownership of Washington Sound, between British Columbia and the state of Washington, and of San Juan and other islands lying within lieutenant The Treaty of Washington (District of Columbia), signed in 1871, provided that these matters be arbitrated by an international commission and by the emperor of Germany, respectively, and both were decided in favor of the United States. The third dispute, a sporadic war between Spain and the allied republics of Peru, Chile, Ecuador, and Bolivia, was ended in 1871 by a peace conference at Washington over which Fish presided. The fourth dispute, the Virginius Affair, was between the United States and Spain. It concerned the execution in November 1873 of 57 persons, including 8 American citizens, who had been aboard the American-owned vessel Virginius, which had flown the American flag while transporting arms to the Cuban insurgents. Spain surrendered the ship and its survivors to the United States, and made a limited financial compensation. In 1875, Fish virtually incorporated the kingdom of Hawaii into the economic system of the United States by a reciprocity treaty with the islands. He also was an early proponent of the merit system in governmental service, requiring that candidates for the consular service take civil-service examinations.
As president of the Union League Club, the Society of the Cincinnati, the Columbia University board of trustees, and the New York Historical Society, Fish was a man of importance in many spheres.
Member United States House of Representatives (Whig) from New York, 28th Congress, 1843-1845. Member United States Senate from New York, 1851-1853. Member Union Defense Committee, also United States commissioner for relief of prisoners during Civil War.
Married Julia Kean, December 15, 1836, 8 children including Stuyvesant.
