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William Almon Wheeler

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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WILLIAM ALMON WHEELER (1819-1887), vice-president of the United States from 1877 to 1881, was born at Malone, New York, on the 30th of June 1819. He studied at the university of Vermont for two years (1833-1835), and in 1845 was admitted to the bar. First as a Whig, and then, after 1856, as a Republican, he was prominent for many years in state and national politics. He was a member of the state Assembly in 1849-1850, a member and president pro tempore of the state Senate in 1858-1859, and a member of the national House of Representatives in 1861-1863, and again from 1869 until 1877. He was the author of the socalled "Wheeler Compromise," by which the difficulties between contending political factions in Louisiana were adjusted in 1875. Nominated for vice-president by the Republicans in 1876 on the ticket with President Hayes, he was installed in office through the decision of the Electoral Commission, and at the end of his term he retired from public life. He died at Malone on the 4th of June 1887.