a millworker by background, banks was prominent in local debating societies, and his oratorical skills were noted by the democratic party. however, his abolitionist views fitted him better for the nascent republican party, through which he became speaker of the united states house of representatives and governor of massachusetts in the 1850s. always a political chameleon (for which he was criticized by contemporaries), banks was the first professional politician (with no outside business or other interests) to serve as massachusetts governor.