William Daniel (January 24, 1826 – October 13, 1897) was an American politician from the state of Maryland. A lawyer, he was a noted prohibitionist and abolitionist. He served in both houses of the Maryland state legislature, first as a Whig, and later as a member of the American Party. Later, as a Republican, he was a member of the convention that wrote Maryland's constitution in 1864. He helped found the Maryland Temperance Alliance in 1872 and served as its president for twelve years. Daniel was the vice presidential nominee and running mate of John St. John on the Prohibition Party ticket in the presidential election of 1884. Placing third in the election that year, he continued his involvement with the cause of temperance until his death in 1897. Early life and education Daniel was born on Deal Island in Somerset County, Maryland on January 24, 1826, the son of Travers Daniel and his wife, Mary Wallace Daniel. Travers Daniel arrived at Deal Island at the age of eighteen to teach school but soon turned to farming after marrying Mary Wallace. William Daniel and his siblings were raised on the farm and attended the local school. He attended Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, graduating in 1848. While in college, he became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church; he would remain affiliated with the church for the rest of his life. After finishing third in a class of twenty-eight, Daniel returned to Maryland to study law in the office of William S. Waters, a Somerset County lawyer who had recently served as Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates. Daniel was admitted to the bar in 1851. State legislator Like the rest of his family, Daniel was a member of the Whig Party, and soon became involved in local politics. While maintaining his law practice, he was elected to a two-year term in the Maryland House of Delegates in 1853. While there he introduced a bill based on the Maine law, which would have prohibited the sale and production of alcoholic beverages in the state, but it did not pass. By this time, the Whig Party was falling apart over sectional issues, but Daniel was reelected in 1855 as a member of the American Party (also known as the "Know Nothings"). The Know Nothings' main political issue was nativism, but Daniel remained focused more on prohibition. In 1857, he promoted