A Rare Spotlight on the Relationship Between Lincoln and Stanton

Lincoln had the rare quality of not taking opposition personally. During the Civil War, he was vilified more than any other public figure in American history, yet saw the issues as so great that they transcended any personal aspect. He bore no resentments because, as he said, he “never thought it paid.” He appointed men to high office because he perceived that they would be useful to the war effort. When Gen. George B. McClellan was insufferably rude to him, he was willing to suffer the personal indignity if only McClellan would win. His most important civilian appointment shows this management principal in operation. Edwin Stanton had met Abraham Lincoln before the war when they had served as co-counsel in a famous lawsuit involving the McCormick reaper. Stanton, who had a reputation for being stern, imperious, hot-tempered and controlling, had snubbed him, and then ridiculed him publicly as a gorilla and an imbecile. But Lincoln saw Stanton as honest, dedicated and extremely competent. Carrying no grudges, he appointed Stanton to be Secretary of War, and it was a brilliant choice. The two men came to respect and even like each other as they worked together daily to achieve victory. Yet there were still frictions, and there has been much conjecture and much written about the precise nature of their relationship.

Stanton looked on the War Dept. as his fiefdom, and Lincoln had to be careful about how he dealt with military situations lest Stanton consider his actions interference. His letters and notes to Stanton are respectful, and for Stanton’s part, it is known that he would sometimes try to ignore Lincoln’s requests. Lincoln himself papered over the issue, claiming “I want to oblige everybody when I can; and Stanton and I have an understanding that if I send an order to him which cannot be consistently granted, he is to refuse it. This he sometimes does.” The renowned historian David Donald wrote that Lincoln, for his own purposes, “pretended” that Stanton exerted a veto over his actions, but that Lincoln could readily control Stanton when he desired. This is consistent with Lincoln’s statement of Stanton, “I can overrule his decision if I will.”

This brief note throws a light onto the actual state of the relationship between these two men, and raises some significant questions about presidential authority over the War Dept. Autograph Note Signed, on his desk card, Washington, January 29, 1863, to Stanton, concerning the army’s seizure of goods belonging to the prominent and well-connected Washington lawyer and businessman, J. Carter Marbury. “Sec. of War, please let me know why the goods were taken from J. Carter Marbury of Georgetown. Jan. 26, 1863. A. Lincoln.” For the President to involve himself shows Marbury was a man of influence.

On the verso of the card, Stanton responds by asserting his own authority, “They were taken in the act of being smuggled within our lines without a pass and were seized by own order. Edwin M. Stanton, Sec. of War.”” Likelihood is that Lincoln took the matter no further, as it seems to have dropped there. The note is unpublished.

Nobody would claim that Stanton was in control of Lincoln, nor that Lincoln was actually afraid of Stanton. However, the nature of Lincoln’s request (saying that he wants an explanation,) and Stanton’s assumption of authority in response (saying he himself was responsible), shows us the manner in which they dealt. Stanton will make these decisions and wants the President to butt out. And Lincoln will usually take it (as indeed he often did). This shows a fascinating side of Lincoln, as his wife was an imperious, hot-tempered and controlling person from whom he had to take a similar kind of treatment, and had learned just how to cope with it. The accommodations he made in his private life promoted his domestic tranquility, and those to Stanton in his public life the Union victory he desired above all else.

This note is remarkable in three respects. It offers an uncommon glimpse of their interaction, and of Lincoln’s attitude; has both handwritings on one piece of paper; and is also a rarity. This is only the second note or letter of Lincoln relating to his relationship we have ever carried, and the first in 19 years.