Following on the 10% of the popular vote garnered by Martin Van Buren in 1848 as a member of the Free Soil Party, John P. Hale (1806-1873), a Representative and Senator from NH was selected as the 1852 candidate for the office of presidency. A senator for the party elected in 1847, Hale seemed the idealhigh profile choice to take the reins. He served as US Attorney under Andrew Jackson in 1834, and was removed by John Tyler in 1841. Elected as a Democrat to Congress and serving from 1843-1845, he left the Senate after his unsuccessful Presidential bid (his term had expired), but returned in 1855 and served until 1865. In 1865, he was appointed the Minister to Spain, where he served until 1869.