Henry Wilson

Henry Wilson
Wilson in 1873
18th Vice President of the United States
In office March 4, 1873 – November 22, 1875
President	Ulysses S. Grant
Preceded by	Schuyler Colfax
Succeeded by	William A. Wheeler
United States Senator from Massachusetts
In office January 31, 1855 – March 3, 1873
Preceded by	Julius Rockwell
Succeeded by	George S. Boutwell
Chair of the Senate Military Affairs Committee
In office March 4, 1861 – March 3, 1873
Preceded by	Jefferson Davis
Succeeded by	John A. Logan
President of the Massachusetts Senate
In office January 2, 1851 – January 6, 1853
Preceded by	Marshall Wilder
Succeeded by	Charles Henry Warren
Member of the Massachusetts Senate
In office January 2, 1851 – January 6, 1853
In office January 2, 1845 – January 7, 1847
Personal details
Born	Jeremiah Jones Colbath (1812-02-16)February 16, 1812 Farmington, New Hampshire, U.S.
Died	November 22, 1875(1875-11-22) (aged 63) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Resting place	Old Dell Park Cemetery, Natick, Massachusetts
Political party	Whig (before 1848) Free Soil (1848–1854) Know Nothing (1854–1855) Republican (1855–1875)
Spouse	Harriet Howe ​ ​ (m. 1840; died 1870)​
Children	2
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	Massachusetts United States Union
Branch/service	Massachusetts Militia (MM) Union Army (UA)
Years of service	1843–1852 (MM) 1861 (UA)
Rank	Brigadier general (MM) Colonel (UA)
Commands	1st Artillery Regiment (MM) 3rd Brigade (MM) 22nd Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry (UA)
Battles/wars	American Civil War

Henry Wilson (born Jeremiah Jones Colbath; February 16, 1812 – November 22, 1875) was an American politician who was the 18th vice president of the United States from 1873 until his death in 1875 and a senator from Massachusetts from 1855 to 1873. Before and during the American Civil War, he was a leading Republican, and a strong opponent of slavery. Wilson devoted his energies to the destruction of "Slave Power", the faction of slave owners and their political allies which anti-slavery Americans saw as dominating the country.

Originally a Whig, Wilson was a founder of the Free Soil Party in 1848. He served as the party chairman before and during the 1852 presidential election. Wilson worked diligently to build an anti-slavery coalition, which came to include the Free Soil Party, anti-slavery Democrats, New York Barnburners, the Liberty Party, anti-slavery members of the Native American Party (Know Nothings), and anti-slavery Whigs (called Conscience Whigs). When the Free Soil party dissolved in the mid-1850s, Wilson joined the Republican Party, which he helped found, and which was organized largely in line with the anti-slavery coalition he had nurtured in the 1840s and 1850s.

While a senator during the Civil War, Wilson was considered a "Radical Republican", and his experience as a militia general, organizer, commander of a Union Army regiment, and chairman of the Senate military committees enabled him to assist the Abraham Lincoln administration in the organization and oversight of the Union Army and Union Navy. Wilson successfully authored bills that outlawed slavery in Washington, D.C., and incorporated African Americans in the Union Civil War effort in 1862.

After the Civil War, he supported the Radical Republican program for Reconstruction. In 1872, Wilson was elected vice president as the running mate of Ulysses S. Grant, the incumbent president of the United States, who was running for a second term. The Grant and Wilson ticket was successful, and Wilson served as vice president from March 4, 1873, until his death on November 22, 1875. Wilson's effectiveness as vice president was limited after he suffered a debilitating stroke in May 1873, and his health continued to decline until he was the victim of a fatal stroke while working in the United States Capitol in late 1875.

Throughout his career, Wilson was known for championing causes that were unpopular, including workers' rights for both blacks and whites and the abolition of slavery. Massachusetts politician George Frisbie Hoar, who served in the United States House of Representatives while Wilson was a senator and later served in the Senate himself, believed Wilson to be the most skilled political organizer in the country. However, Wilson's reputation for personal integrity and principled politics was somewhat damaged late in his Senate career by his involvement in the Crédit Mobilier scandal.