William Almon Wheeler's life is an American success story about how a poor boy living near the Canadian border in Malone, New York, achieved fame and fortune. Often referred to as "the New York Lincoln," Wheeler was a lawyer, banker, railroad president, state legislator, five-term congressman, and the nineteenth vice president of the United States under Rutherford B. Hayes.Using a variety of sources, including newspapers, letters, government reports, county histories, and biographies of Wheeler's contemporaries, Herbert C. Hallas examines Wheeler's role in shaping state and national public policy. Highlights include construction of the North Country and transcontinental railroads, the creation of the Adirondack and Niagara Falls state parks, the extension of voting rights in New York, the termination of racial civil war in Louisiana, and the curtailment of unnecessary government spending. The book traces Wheeler's path as he wound his way through the minefields of county, state, and national politics and helped found the Republican Party, without compromising his integrity or religious principles. Hallas rescues Wheeler's story from the dustbin of history. Along the way he debunks long-held myths about Wheeler and restores his place as an influential nineteenth-century political force.

List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Tragedy in Malone 2. The Making of a "Cultivated" Man 3. Love and the New District Attorney 4. "Here Lies an Honest Man" 5. "Old Hunkerism" Is Dead 6. A "Mere Act of Justice" 7. "Grinding" It Out in Albany 8. A Pen "Dipped in Gall" 9. An Early-Morning Knock on the Door 10. Suddenly, a "Junior Partner" 11. A Sporting Gentleman Gets the Itch 12. "True to Our Trust, True to Ourselves, and True to Truth" 13. "Ho! For California" 14. Spreading "Law, Order, Population, Industry and Wealth" 15. "Common Justice" for the South 16. Returning the Salary Grab 17. No "Unproductive and Useless Park" 18. An "Earnest Champion of the Right" 19. The "New York Lincoln" 20. "God's Hand Is in This Work" 21. "Hayes the True and Wheeler, Too!" 22. "As Righteous as an Edict of God" 23. "A Wild and Joyous Time" 24.  The Frozen Snake and the "Greatest of Humbugs" 25. "The Machine Always Slaughters Its New Converts" 26. Delivering a "Paroxysm" of Partisan Fury 27. U.S. Senate Election Round One: The Double-Cross 28. U.S. Senate Election Round Two: Caught in a Crossfire 29. "Distressing Malady of My Bladder" 30. Negotiating "Simple Justice" Epilogue: From "Sterling Gold" to Neurotic Timidity Notes Bibliography Index