HALE, John Parker, American legislator and diplomat: b. Rochester, N. H., 31 March 1806; d. Dover, N. H., 19 Nov. 1873. After graduation from Bowdoin in 1827 and study of the law at Rochester and Dover, he was ad mitted to the 'bar in 1830, in 1832 was elected a Democratic representative in the State legis lature, and in 1834-41 was United States Dis trict Attorney. In 1842 he was elected to Con gress, where, though remaining a Democrat, he stoutly opposed the "gag-rule" which sought the exclusion of anti-slavery petitions. He was renominated; but previous to the election the annexation of Texas was made a plank of the Democratic platform, and the State legislature of New Hampshire directed its congressmen and senators to support the measure. Hale in a public statement refused to do this and the Democratic State Convention was then reas sembled and his name stricken from the ticket. Hale ran as an independent Democrat, but no candidate received a majority. In 1846, after
a spirited canvass known as the "Hale storm of 1845,° he was elected to the lower house of the legislature, and became its speaker. In 1847 he was elected to the United States Senate, where he was the first, and, until joined by Salmon P. Chase in 1849, the only avowed anti slavery member. He was an orator of fine abilities, and besides opposing the slave system, secured laws abolishing flogging and grog ration in the navy. He was nominated for president by the Free-Soil Democrats in 1852, and received 157,685 votes. In 1855 he was elected to the Senate for the four years of the unexpired term of C. G. Atherton, deceased. and in 1858 for a full term. During the Civil War he supported the Lincoln administration. He was United States minister to Spain in 1865-69.