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Stanbery was born in New York City. He graduated from Washington College (Pennsylvania) in
1819, was admitted to the bar in 1824, then established a legal practice in Ohio. He
served as Ohio’s attorney general, 1846-1851, and as a delegate to the Ohio
constitutional convention in 1850. President Andrew Johnson unsuccessfully nominated him
to the Supreme Court, but was able to garner Senate confirmation of Stanbery as Attorney
General. Stanbery was a conservative Republican and came to the office with little
influence in national political affairs. The new Attorney General played a key role in
Johnson’s Reconstruction and impeachment battles against the Radical Republican
Congress. In early 1867, he joined former Attorney General Jeremiah Black in preparing
Johnson’ s veto message of the first Military Reconstruction Act, which they deemed
to be unconstitutional. In May, Stanbery prepared an opinion on Congressional
Reconstruction policies that he presented before President Johnson and the Cabinet. The
Attorney General accused military officials of violating the rights of state officials and
state governments without proper authority, and upheld the efforts of the President to
control the Reconstruction process. The entire cabinet supported Stanbery’s position
except for Secretary of War Stanton. The Congress, however, ignored all of the Attorney
General’s arguments and passed the Third Military Reconstruction Act in July.
In early 1868, Stanbery advised Johnson not to remove Stanton from office, but the
president chose not to listen. When impeachment proceeding began, Stanbery resigned as
Attorney General to head Johnson’s team of defense lawyers. His first act was to
insist that the president should heed counsel on all points and stop talking to the press.
After the Senate acquitted Johnson, the president placed Stanbery’s name before them
for reappointment as Attorney General. The Senate rejected the proposal, but quickly
approved another member of Johnson’s defense counsel, Republican William Evarts, for
the position. Stanbery died in New York City.
Robert C. Kennedy, HarpWeek
Sources consulted: Harper’s Encyclopedia of United States History ; Albert
Castel, The Presidency of Andrew Johnson.
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Henry Stanbery
(20 February 1803 - 26 June 1881)
Source: Harper's Weekly
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