US Congressman and Vice President. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 19th US Vice President from March 1877 until March 1881 under President Rutherford B. Hayes. After attending the Franklin Academy and the University of Vermont at Burlington, Vermont, he was forced him to drop out without graduating due to financial issues. In 1845 he was admitted to the bar and practiced law in Malone, New York and was District Attorney of Franklin County, New York from 1846 to 1849. He was a member of the New York State Assembly from Franklin County in 1850 and 1851 and of the New York State Senate from the 17th district in 1858 and 1859. In 1860 he was elected as a Republican to the US Congress from New York's 16th district, serving from March 1861 until March 1863. He was elected to Congress for four additional terms in 1868 (New York's 17th district), 1870 (New York's 17th district), 1872 (New York's 18th district), and 1874 (New York's 19th district), serving from March 1869 until March 1877. When the US Congress voted a pay raise in 1873 and made it retroactive for five years, he not only voted against the raise, but refused to accept it and returned his salary adjustment to the Treasury department. He was a delegate to the 1876 Republican National Convention, which had just nominated Rutherford B. Hayes on the 7th ballot. The convention was recessed for dinner, and as a favor to New York US Senator Roscoe Conkling, the party bosses announced that they would let the New York delegation pick the candidate for Vice President. As the delegation argued back and forth over prospective candidates and were unable to agree on any one of them, someone asked sarcastically "What about Wheeler?", and the next morning he was, much to everyone's surprise, nominated by acclamation and won the nomination with 366 votes to the 89 for his nearest rival New Jersey politician Frederick T. Frelinghuysen. He and Hayes were then elected as Vice President and President in one of the most contentious and confused elections in national history. When Hayes decided not to seek a second term at US President, Wheeler was not mentioned for the 1880 Republican presidential nomination. When his term was over, he retired from public life and active business pursuits because of ill health. He died at his home at the age of 67. He also served as President of the New York Northern Railroad.