(
December 19 ,
1814 –
December 24 ,
1869 ), was an
American lawyer, politician,
United States Attorney General in 1860-61 and
Secretary Of War through most of the
American Civil War and
Reconstruction era.
Stanton was born in
Steubenville, Ohio , the eldest of the four children of David and Lucy (Norman) Stanton. His father was a physician of
Quaker stock. Stanton began his political life as a lawyer in Ohio and an
Antislavery Democrat . After graduating from
Kenyon College in 1833, he was admitted to the Ohio
Bar in 1836. Stanton built a house in the small town of
Cadiz, Ohio , and practiced law there until
1847 , when he moved to
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania .
In 1856 Stanton moved to
Washington, D.C. , where he had a large practice before the
Supreme Court . In
1859 , Stanton was the defense attorney in the sensational trial of
Daniel E. Sickles , a politician and later a
Union general, who was tried on a charge of
Murder ing his wife's lover (
Philip Barton Key , son of
Francis Scott Key ), but was acquitted after Stanton invoked the first use of the
Insanity Defense in U.S. history. In
1860 he was appointed as
Attorney General by
President James Buchanan . Although a staunch conservative Democrat, he strongly opposed secession, and is credited by historians for changing Buchanan's position away from tolerating secession to denouncing it as unconstitutional and illegal.
Stanton was politically opposed to
Republican Abraham Lincoln in
1860 and referred to him as the "original gorilla". After Lincoln was elected president, Stanton agreed to work as a legal adviser to the inefficient Secretary of War,
Simon Cameron , whom he replaced on
January 15 ,
1862 . He accepted the position only to "to help save the country." He was very effective in administering the huge War Department, but he devoted considerable amounts of his energy to the persecution of Union officers whom he suspected of having traitorous sympathies for the South and the Civil War was a time of great political intrigue within the
U.S. Army . The president recognized Stanton's ability, but whenever necessary Lincoln managed to "plow around him." When pressure was exerted to remove the unpopular secretary from office, Lincoln replied, "If you will find another secretary of war like him, I will gladly appoint him." Stanton became a Republican and changed his opinion of Lincoln. At Lincoln's death Stanton remarked, "Now he belongs to the ages," and lamented, "There lies the most perfect ruler of men the world has ever seen." He vigorously pursued the apprehension and prosecution of the conspirators involved in the assassination of President Lincoln. These proceedings were not handled by the civil courts, but by a
Military Tribunal , and therefore under Stanton's tutelage. Stanton has subsequently been accused of
Witness Tampering , most notably of
Louis J. Weichmann , and of other activities that skewed the outcome of the trials.
Stanton continued to hold the position of secretary of war under President
Andrew Johnson until
1868 . His relations with the president were not good and Johnson attempted to remove Stanton from the
Cabinet . Stanton, however, barricaded himself in his office, and the radicals in Congress, claiming that Johnson's actions violated the
Tenure Of Office Act , initiated impeachment proceedings against him. This was the primary count for which Johnson was
Impeached . After this Stanton resigned and returned to the practice of law. The next year he was appointed by
President Grant to the Supreme Court, but he died four days after he was confirmed by the
U.S. Senate . He died in Washington, D.C., and is buried there in Oak Hill Cemetery.
In the
1930s a book written by
Otto Eisenschiml accused Stanton of arranging the assassination of Lincoln. Although these charges remain largely unsubstantiated, Eisenschim's book inspired considerable debate and the
1977 book and movie, ''The Lincoln Conspiracy''.
Stanton College Preparatory School in
Jacksonville, Florida is named in his honor.
