Thomas A. Hendricks

Who was Thomas A. Hendricks?

Thomas Andrews Hendricks was lawyer and an American politician from Indiana who served as the 16th governor of Indiana and the 21st Vice President of the United States.

Born in Muskingum County, Ohio, Hendricks moved to Madison, in Jefferson County, Indiana, with his parents in 1820; the family settled in Shelby County, Indiana, in 1822. After graduating from Hanover College, class of 1841, Hendricks studied law in Shelbyville, Indiana, and Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and was admitted to the Indiana bar in 1843. Hendricks was a member of the Indiana General Assembly and a delegate to the state constitutional convention of 1851. He represented Indiana in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. After Hendricks lost his re-election bid to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1854, President Franklin Pierce appointed him commissioner of the General Land Office. Hendricks resigned as land office commissioner in 1859, returned to Indianapolis, set up a private law practice, and ran for Indiana governor. In 1872, on his third attempt to become governor, Hendricks defeated General Thomas M.