"A New Bust of the Great Emancipator: James S. J. Novelli." Image sourced here.
The Effects of Lincoln's Clemency
Lincoln's tendency toward sympathy did not go unnoticed in regard to his presidential image. From the beginning of his political career he had crafted for himself the image of the humble, masculine, self-made man. This image rests on the assumption of Lincoln as a sure and rational leader. To a great extent this is accurate. Though Lincoln was prone to changing his mind and position on issues that surfaced throughout his administration, his goal of preserving the Union always remained central (1). He was and is still praised for his mastery of reason and logic in his writings and policies. But Lincoln's pardons of Unionists in the cases of the Santee Sioux and Union soldiers reflect the reality of a less politically advantageous empathy that existed separately from Lincoln's intended image of reassuring reason.
As to how much this particular image affected his greater political goals, the public, members of his administration, and historians never failed to give their opinions. Some critiques of Lincoln's pardons are altogether disapproving. Of the many complaints of his pardoning of the Sioux, Lincoln received a letter from a citizen that stated, "The Indians, if unpunished, will not give the Great Father as they term you, credit for magnanimity, or generosity; they will boast in their Wigwams, and as they dance around their war fires, decorated with the scalps of our hardy pioneers & their daughters & wives, & children, that we dared not punish them" (2). This sentiment summarizes the overwhelming public opinion at the time that not only were the Sioux undeserving of pardon, but the act of pardoning them in itself would cause great damage for the enforcement and reputation of the law in the United States.
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One of two confirmed photos of Lincoln taken right after the Gettysburg Address, highlight of Lincoln added later. Image sourced here.
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Others weighed in on his commutation of death sentences for deserters and other Unionist crimes with a similar disapproval. When asked why the war took so long, General Benjamin Butler claimed that “Pusillanimity and want of executive force in the government" were to blame (3). In this context, Lincoln's empathy is seen a weakness that allowed for the continuation of a bloody struggle and the greater loss of human life. Despite these completely negative perceptions of Lincoln's pardons, the critics within Lincoln's cabinet, even those who disagreed with the president's pardons, make the same undisputed acknowledgement of the president's overwhelming sympathy for human life. Salmon P. Chase stated that “Such kindness to the criminal [meaning the pardons] is cruelty to the army, for it encourages the bad to leave the brave and patriotic unsupported” (4). Gideon Welles stated that "[Lincoln] is always disposed to mitigate punishment, and to grant favors. Sometimes this is a weakness" (5). Though these opinions disagree with an execessive use of the pardon power, none can deny the wealth of sympathy of a president who was faced with the difficult question of a human life.
Lincoln in his office, 1864. Image sourced here.
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“He had a very great kindness of heart. His mind was full of tender sensibilities; he was extremely humane, yet while these attributes were fully developed in his character and unless intercepted by his judgement controlled him, they never did control him contrary to his judgements. He would strain a point to be kind, but he never strained to breaking...He would be just as kind and generous as his judgement would let him be--no more.” |
Contrary to these beliefs of Lincoln's overwhelming sympathy, the pardons Lincoln granted have all the more weight in that he was not overcome by his emotions and purposefully derailed American civil and military legal systems for them. Rather, in each case of pardon, Lincoln found the initially intended sentence not only troublesome but completely unjust. Above all human empathy, he was in opposition to capital punishment for unfair conviction in the lack of due process of law (in the case of the Sioux) and for crimes understandable and sometimes excusable in nature (in the case of Union deserters). When he made the decision to grant a pardon, his natural desire to preserve human life was governed by the calm reason of a just, legal mind. Throughout a presidency ecplised by a bloody civil war and massive political, economic, and social unrest, Lincoln's increased reliance on the presidential pardon suggests a resistance to the strict application of the law and the favoring of a more human approach to government (7). In Lincoln's hands, the pardoning power, though traditionally exercised as an unchecked and dictatorial power holding remnants of the era of the divine right of kings, sought to remove some degree of the bureaucracy present in the American legal and political systems and to better serve a confused and suffering public.
1. McPherson, James M. "The Hedgehog and the Foxes." Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution. New York: Oxford UP, 1990. Print.
2. Miller, William Lee. President Lincoln: The Duty of a Statesman. 1st ed. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008. Print.
3. ibid. p. 347.
4. ibid. p. 341.
5. Welles, Gideon. "Full Text of "Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy under Lincoln and Johnson, with an Introd. by John T. Morse"" Full Text of "Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy under Lincoln and Johnson, with an Introd. by John T. Morse" Internet Archive, 2007. Web. 15 Dec. 2015. <https://archive.org/stream/diaryofgideonwel02welluoft/diaryofgideonwel02welluoft_djvu.txt>.
6. President Lincoln: The Duty of a Statesman. p. 337.
7. ibid. p. 349.
2. Miller, William Lee. President Lincoln: The Duty of a Statesman. 1st ed. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008. Print.
3. ibid. p. 347.
4. ibid. p. 341.
5. Welles, Gideon. "Full Text of "Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy under Lincoln and Johnson, with an Introd. by John T. Morse"" Full Text of "Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy under Lincoln and Johnson, with an Introd. by John T. Morse" Internet Archive, 2007. Web. 15 Dec. 2015. <https://archive.org/stream/diaryofgideonwel02welluoft/diaryofgideonwel02welluoft_djvu.txt>.
6. President Lincoln: The Duty of a Statesman. p. 337.
7. ibid. p. 349.