hannibal hamlin and the relationship. >> hannibal hamlin was quite a bit older than blaine.e was born in '89 on paris hill in oxford county, and he was a highly skilled lawyer who had served as governor of maine briefly and then became a senator and then in 1860 he's chosen as lincoln's running mate for vice president and serves as the vice president of the united states from 1861 to off65, and then after the war he goes back into political life again as a senator and he would have been very much a part of blaine's world in the republican party in maine. hannibal hamlin was a powerful, a towering figure in that period and he would have interacted constantly with blaine. >> and he was someone who stood against chinese exclusion. he was a republican against blaine on the issue of chinese exclusion. >> i would like to have -- since we're in a period of time when you hear people bring up the question of maybe it's time for a new party, that the two-party system is failing us and the like. this is a period when we saw the evolution of political parties from the whigs to the repub

hannibal hamlin was a -- powerful towering figure in that period.uld have interacted constantly with blaine. >> he was someone who stood against chinese exclusion. he was a republican who stood against blaine on the issue of chinese exclusion. >> elizabeth, i would like to have you -- since we are in a period of time that you hear people bring up the question of maybe it is time for a new party. that the two-party system is failing us. this was a period when we saw the evolution of political parties from the -- to the republicans take a minute or so and explain about the demise of the wigs. >> very much associated with the person you were talking about in your program last week with henry clay. when henry clay died, that was very -- he was so closely linked to the wig party that the wig party really collapsed. it wasn't just about henry clay. it was also about the slavery issue and the anti-immigrant issue. a number of other issues that led to the development of this sort of political chaos which gave way to the republican party but also the split i