New Hampshire Governor. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1823 and became an attorney. A Democratic-Republican, and later a Democrat, he served as New Hampshire's Secretary of State from 1831 to 1838, and then worked for two years in the US Treasury Department when New Hampshire's Levi Woodbury was Secretary. He was appointed Sullivan County's Register of Probate in 1845, and served in the New Hampshire House of Representatives from 1852 to 1853. He was against slavery, and opposed President Franklin Pierce's efforts to obtain approval of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. In 1855 he was nominated for Governor as a Know Nothing by a coalition of Free Soil Democrats and other slavery opponents, and defeated incumbent Nathaniel B. Baker and two others. In 1856 he was reelected, but did not obtain a majority in a three way race, so the election was decided by the Legislature. In addition to opposing slavery, Metcalf favored temperance, and the Prohibition law passed during his governorship remained on the books for over 30 years. He became identified with the Republican Party at its founding in the mid 1850s, and retired at the end of his second term.
New Hampshire Governor. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1823 and became an attorney. A Democratic-Republican, and later a Democrat, he served as New Hampshire's Secretary of State from 1831 to 1838, and then worked for two years in the US Treasury Department when New Hampshire's Levi Woodbury was Secretary. He was appointed Sullivan County's Register of Probate in 1845, and served in the New Hampshire House of Representatives from 1852 to 1853. He was against slavery, and opposed President Franklin Pierce's efforts to obtain approval of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. In 1855 he was nominated for Governor as a Know Nothing by a coalition of Free Soil Democrats and other slavery opponents, and defeated incumbent Nathaniel B. Baker and two others. In 1856 he was reelected, but did not obtain a majority in a three way race, so the election was decided by the Legislature. In addition to opposing slavery, Metcalf favored temperance, and the Prohibition law passed during his governorship remained on the books for over 30 years. He became identified with the Republican Party at its founding in the mid 1850s, and retired at the end of his second term.
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