Representative Artemas Hale

Artemas Hale (October 20, 1783 – August 3, 1882) was a United States representative from Massachusetts and a long-serving figure in that state’s public life during the first half of the nineteenth century. Born in Winchendon, Worcester County, Massachusetts, he grew up in a rural setting and received only a limited formal education. In his youth he worked on a farm, an experience that grounded him in the agricultural life that would remain important to him throughout his career. Despite the modest scope of his schooling, he developed sufficient learning and discipline to enter the teaching profession as a young man.

Around the turn of the nineteenth century, Hale moved to Hingham, Massachusetts, where he taught school from 1804 to 1814. His decade in Hingham as a schoolteacher reflected both his commitment to education and the common New England pattern of combining teaching with other pursuits. After leaving Hingham, he settled in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, where he became interested in the manufacture of cotton gins. This involvement placed him within the early industrial and mechanical development of New England, as cotton processing and textile production were becoming central to the region’s economy. His work in manufacturing, together with his agricultural background, gave him practical experience in two of the key sectors of the antebellum Massachusetts economy.

Hale’s entry into public life came through state politics. A member of the Whig Party in its formative years, he was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1824, 1825, 1827, and 1828, representing his community in the lower chamber of the General Court. His service in the state legislature coincided with a period of economic and political change in Massachusetts, as the state adjusted to industrialization and evolving party structures. After several terms in the House, he advanced to the Massachusetts Senate, where he served in 1833 and 1834. Returning to the lower house later in his career, he again served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1838 to 1842, thereby accumulating extensive legislative experience over nearly two decades.

Hale’s state-level prominence led to his election to the United States House of Representatives. Running as a Whig, he was elected to the Twenty-ninth and Thirtieth Congresses and served from March 4, 1845, to March 3, 1849. During his tenure in Congress, he represented a Massachusetts district at a time when national debates over territorial expansion, economic policy, and the future of slavery were intensifying. As a Whig, he was aligned with a party that generally favored congressional supremacy, economic development, and internal improvements, although specific details of his committee assignments and legislative initiatives are not extensively documented in the surviving record. His four years in Congress marked the peak of his federal public service.

After leaving Congress in 1849, Hale returned to Massachusetts and resumed a more local and private life, while remaining engaged in civic affairs. He continued to reside in Bridgewater, where he engaged in agricultural pursuits, reflecting both his early background and the enduring importance of farming in his life. His experience in manufacturing and agriculture, combined with his legislative service, made him a respected elder statesman in his community. In 1853 he was chosen as a delegate to the Massachusetts state constitutional convention, which was convened to consider revisions to the state’s fundamental law, further underscoring his continued influence in state political affairs.

In the later years of his life, Hale’s political affiliations reflected the broader realignment of parties in the 1850s and 1860s. With the collapse of the Whig Party and the rise of the Republican Party, he aligned himself with the new antislavery and Unionist coalition. In 1864, during the Civil War, he served as a presidential elector on the Republican ticket, participating in the Electoral College that supported the reelection of President Abraham Lincoln. This role demonstrated his ongoing engagement with national politics well into his eighties.

Artemas Hale lived to an advanced age, witnessing the transformation of the United States from the early republic through the Civil War era. He died in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, on August 3, 1882, at the age of ninety-eight. He was interred in Mount Prospect Cemetery in Bridgewater. His long life and career, spanning teaching, manufacturing, agriculture, state legislation, and service in the United States Congress, reflected the trajectory of a New England public man shaped by both local concerns and national developments in the nineteenth century.