• General Notes

  Edwin McMasters Stanton
  By Maddy Joshi
  School report 2009
  I was not a well liked man, but after I joined the cabinet, I became Lincoln's loyal and trusted friend. Lincoln named me Secretary of War in 1862. It was during that time, I decided to name Ulysses S. Grant head of all Union Armies. Hello, my name is Edwin McMasters Stanton.
  I studied law right after I graduated from college. I became a lawyer after my twenty-first birthday. I started a successful law career and was elected Prosecuting Attorney as a Democrat. After the election of 1860, I gave up my law practice to become Attorney General. During my time as Attorney General, I got to know Lincoln. I supported his actions to keep the nation united, and I too was strongly against slavery. I became Secretary of War under Lincoln and changed my political status to Republican. Lincoln was quoted as saying "So great is my confidence in Stanton's judgment and patriotism, that I never wish to take an important step without consulting him first."
  Lincoln was my friend and colleague. I was greatly saddened by Lincoln's untimely death. I was quoted as saying "He now belongs to the ages."
  After Lincoln's death, I continued to serve as President Johnson's secretary of War, but he and I did not agree on several issues. Johnson wanted to fire me, but I locked myself in the War Department until the Senate voted whether to remove Johnson from office. The Senate did not vote to remove the president, so I resigned and returned to my law practice.
  When Ulysses S. Grant became president, he granted my life long dream to sit on the Supreme Court. Sadly, I died just four days later and only one day before I would assume office. At the time of my death, I knew I had done all I could for my country.
  
  
  Edwin McMasters Stanton
  Attorney General under James Buchanan 1860-1891.
  Secretary of War under Abraham Lincoln, Jan. 20,1862-1868.
  Admitted to the Bar in 1836.
  Edwin's partner in law was Daniel McCook who served during the Civil War as paymaster & volunteer aid. He was killed in 1862 during Morgan's Ohio raid at age 65. Daniel was a brother of John McCook. The 2 brothers fathered 14 men who fought in the Civil War as members of the Union Army.
  Edwin Stanton, of Quaker descent, his ancestors coming from Rhode Island to N. Carolina, was born in Steubenville, Ohio, to devout Methodist parents, David & Lucy Latham Norman Stanton. Beginning in childhood, he suffered from asthma for the rest of his life. After graduating from Kenyon College in 1833, he studied law under a judge. He was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1835, but had to wait several months until his 21st birthday before he could begin to practice. He developed a very successful legal career in Ohio, then Pittsburgh, and finally Washington, D. C.While in Ohio, Stanton became active in the local antislavery society and was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Harrison county as a Democrat. In 1857, he was appointed by U.S. Attorney General Jeremiah Black to represent the federal government in California land cases. Two years later, he was one of the lead attorneys on the defense team of Congressman Daniel Sickles, who stood accused of murdering his wife's lover. Stanton and his colleagues convinced the jury to acquit Sickles on the grounds of temporary insanity, marking one of the earliest uses of that plea. After the 1860 presidential election, Stanton gave up a lucrative law practice to become Attorney General in the lame-duck presidential administration of James Buchanan. He advised Buchanan to act forcefully against the South, but when the president did not, Stanton clandestinely keep the Republicans, particularly William Henry Seward, informed about White House policy decisions. In 1862, President Lincoln decided to remove the corrupt and ineffective Secretary of War, Simon Cameron, by appointing him Minister to Russia. Seward and Salmon Chase successfully lobbied the President to name Stanton as his new Secretary of War. He once again gave up a prosperous law practice to enter public service. He proved to be a strong and effective cabinet officer, instituting practices to rid the War Department of waste and corruption. When Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney died in October 1864, Stanton wanted to be named as his replacement. Lincoln believed, though, that he was more important to the Union cause as Secretary of War, so the President appointed Chase, instead. Upon the assassination of Lincoln, Stanton uttered the memorable line, "Now he belongs to the ages."It was Stanton who was at the center of the battle to impeach and remove President Andrew Johnson from office. After Lincoln's assassination, Stanton had continued to serve as Johnson's Secretary of War. However, he became vehemently opposed to Johnson's lenient Reconstruction policies, and consequently worked with Republican Congressmen to implement Radical Reconstruction in the South. After first suspending Stanton in August 1867, Johnson fired the Secretary in February 1868. Stanton refused to leave office, claiming job protection under the Tenure of Office Act. He locked himself in the War Department until the Senate voted against the President's removal. Stanton resigned in May 1868 and returned to his private practice. His wish to sit on the Supreme Court appeared to be fulfilled when President Grant appointed him and the Senate confirmed him on the same day, 20 December 1868. He died, however, four days later in Washington, D.C.
  Robert C. Kennedy, HarpWeek
  Sources consulted: Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History;
  William Degregorio, The Complete Book of the U.S. Presidents; Harper's
  Weekly; and Lydia L. Rapoza, "Edwin Stanton," on the Revolution to
  Reconstruction website.
  3rd cousin 3 times removed to Madeleine Joshi

Details of Edwin Mcmasters' family with Mary LAMSON

Details of Edwin Mcmasters' family with Ellen HUTCHISON