Thomas Andrews Hendricks was an American politician and lawyer from Indiana who served as the 16th Governor of Indiana (1873-1877) and the 21st Vice President of the United States (1885).
Background
Hendricks was born on September 7, 1819 in Fultonham, Ohio, the second of eight children born to John and Jane (Thomson) Hendricks, who were originally from Pennsylvania. In 1820 Hendricks moved with his parents and older brother to Madison in Jefferson County, Indiana. His father, a successful farmer who operated a general store, became involved in politics, including appointment from President Andrew Jackson as deputy surveyor of public lands for his district.
Education
Hendricks attended Shelby County Seminary and Greensburg Academy. He graduated from Hanover College in Hanover, Indiana, in 1841.
Career
In 1843 Hendricks began a successful career at the bar. Identifying himself with the Democratic party, he served in the state House of Representatives in 1848, and was a prominent member of the convention for the revision of the state constitution in 1850-1851, a representative in Congress (1851-1855), commissioner of the United States General Land Office (1855-1859), a United States senator (1863-1869), and governor of Indiana (1873-1877). From 1868 until his death he was put forward for nomination for the presidency at every national Democratic Convention save in 1872. Both in 1876 and 1884, after his failure to receive the nomination for the presidency, he was nominated by the Democratic National Convention for vice-president, his nomination in each of these conventions being made partly, it seems, with the hope of gaining "greenback" votes-Hendricks had opposed the immediate resumption of specie payments. In 1876, with S. J. Tilden, he lost the disputed election by the decision of the electoral commission, but he was elected with Grover Cleveland in 1884. He died at Indianapolis on the 25th of November 1885.
Achievements
Politics
Hendricks challenged what he thought was radical legislation, including the military draft and issuing greenbacks; however, he supported the Union and prosecution of the war, consistently voting in favor of wartime appropriations. Hendricks adamantly opposed Radical Reconstruction. After the war he argued that the Southern states had never been out of the Union and were therefore entitled to representation in the U. S. Congress. Hendricks also maintained that Congress had no authority over the affairs of state governments. Hendricks voted against the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the U. S. Constitution that would, upon ratification, grant voting rights to males of all races and abolish slavery. He felt it was not the right time, so soon after the Civil War, to make fundamental changes to the U. S. Constitution. Although Hendricks supported freedom for African Americans, he unsuccessfully opposed reconstruction legislation. Hendricks also opposed the attempt to remove President Andrew Johnson from office following his impeachment in the U. S. House of Representatives.
Membership
Member of the Indiana General Assembly (1848-1850), Member of the U. S. House of Representatives (1851-1855)
Personality
Hendricks was a fiscal conservative and a powerful orator who was known for his honesty and firm convictions.
Connections
Hendricks married Eliza Carol Morgan of North Bend, Ohio, on September 26, 1845, after a two-year courtship. The couple met when Eliza was visiting her married sister, Mrs. Daniel West, in Shelbyville. The couple's only child, a son named Morgan, was born on January 16, 1848, and died in 1851, at the age of three. Thomas and Eliza Hendricks moved to Indianapolis in 1860.