Edwin Stanton
The nice thing about the stamps for this page is that there are several new people depicted on them, and not just presidents. There’s Henry Clay (see next page), Daniel Webster, Winfield Scott, Alexander Hamilton, Oliver Perry, and Edwin Stanton.
Edwin Stanton
Stanton was a lawyer from Ohio. He became involved in politics by way of the Attoney General’s office. He assisted President John Buchanan’s first Attorney General, Jeremiah Black – who was also Stanton’s friend.
In 1860, at the request of Black, Stanton wrote a speech for President Buchanan condemning discussions by Southern congressmen that the slaveholder states should secede from the union. This led to resignations by some of Buchanan’s cabinet members, including the Secretary of State. That resulted in Black being made the new Secretary of State and then Stanton was made Attorney General to replace him.
When Lincoln was sworn in as president in 1861, he appointed Simon_Cameron to the position of Secretary of War. Standon was his advisor, something of a second in command. Cameron’s job quickly became an important one since only a few months later the American Civil War began. He was not very effective, though, in the position. He had many conflicts with Congress, the War Department, and the Generals. In January of 1862, Cameron agreed to resign because Lincoln agreed to replace him with Stanton.
Stanton quickly resolved conflicts with the Congress and the War Department. He improved the telegraph system to be able to communicate easily with commanders and military suppliers. He implemented a better transportation network for the movement of troops, weapons and supplies for the war effort. All of this greatly assisted in the winning of the war.
In 1864, Lincoln was re-elected with a new Vice President, Andrew Johnson. Not long afterwards, the war ended, but then Lincoln was assassinated by an actor, John Booth. Stanton led the manhunt for Booth and his accomplices. In so doing, he indicted several Confederate leaders and sympathizers.
His voracity in the pursuit of justice, as well as his opposition of allowing the Confederate states quickly to rejoin the union, angered the new president. Johnson removed Stanton as Secretary of War. At the time, it was felt that since the U.S. Senate had approved Stanton’s apppointment, and under the Tenure of Office Act, he could not be removed without Senate approval – which Johnson did not have. Therefore, the U.S. House of Representatives in 1868 impeached Johnson, the first president to be impeached. The Senate, though, did not remove Johnson from office.
The result of the impeachment was that Johnson lost his attempt to be re-elected later that year. Instead, General Grant was elected. He appointed Stanton to the Supreme Court, but Stanton died before he could take office.
Note
This page is completely empty. I have none of these stamps, not even the one of Edwin Stanton. One of these day I’ll get some of these. The Stanton stamp costs about $ 1100 unused and at least $300 unused, depending on the condition and how marred the stamp is from the cancelation.
Contains 11 spots: own 1 – 0 unused, 1 used.
Album or Web Page Last changed Mar 22, 2025
Stamp Details
The table below lists information about the stamps shown on this page of Lighthouse’s stamp album. For more details about a particular stamp, click on its description. That will take you to the related web page of Colnect.
spot |
own |
catalog |
subject |
description |
comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
134 |
1c (apr 1870) |
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135 |
2c (jul 1870) |
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✗ |
136 |
3c (mar 1870) |
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137 |
6c (apr 1870) |
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138 |
7c (feb 1871) |
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139 |
10c (may 1870) |
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140 |
12c (jun 1870) |
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141 |
15c (jun 1870) |
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142 |
24c (jul 1872) |
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143 |
30c (aug 1870) |
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144 |
90c (apr 1870) |
Footnotes
Spot refers to the postion of the stamp on the album page (e.g., 3.2 indicates row 3, position 2).
Amt. is an abbreviation for the face amount of the stamp.
Own indicates the stamp status: ✓ for unused; ✗ for used or canceled; ⭑ signifies I ordered one; ; ✨ indicates it was bought recently; ✠ means an auction bid is pending; and ◎ is used, and it costs too much for unused.
To search by catalog number, go to the search box and enter it in the catalog number box. However, it’s a bit broken; I need to fix it.
