Hale, John Parker (1806-1873), an American politician from New Hampshire, was a leading opponent of slavery before the Civil War. Hale served in the United States House of Representatives from 1843 to 1845. In 1845, the Democratic Party refused to renominate him because he opposed the admission of new slave states into the Union. Hale served in the U.S. Senate from 1847 to 1853 and from 1855 to 1865. During the Civil War (1861-1865), he was chairman of the Senate Committee on Naval Affairs. He was nominated for president by the Liberty Party in 1848, but he withdrew when the party merged with the Free Soil Party. In 1852, he was unsuccessful in his bid for the presidency on the Free Soil ticket. He served as minister to Spain from 1865 until 1869. Hale was born on March 31, 1806, in Rochester, New Hampshire. He died on Nov. 19, 1873.
