Scandals in Presidential Administrations: Simon Cameron
When Abraham Lincoln became President in 1861, he formed a cabinet that was dubbed by historian and author Doris Kearns Goowin as a "Team of Rivals". He included those who had run against him for the Republican Party's presidential nomination, namely William Seward of New York, Salmon P. Chase of Ohio, and Edward Bates of Missouri. He also included a powerful Pennsylvania politician named Simon Cameron for the position of Secretary of War. He would come to regret his selection of Cameron, who proved to be dishonest and corrupt.
Cameron had made his fortune in railways, canals and banking. He was the founder of the Bank of Middletown. When he had conquered the world of business, he next set his sights on a life in politics. In 1845 he became a U.S. senator for Pennsylvania, succeeding James Buchanan. Cameron was a Democrat when elected, but he later joined the People's Party, the Pennsylvania branch of what became the Republican Party. He won the Senate seat in 1857, and became one of the candidates for the Republican nomination in the presidential election of 1860.
Cameron claimed to be orphaned at the age of nine, a story some dispute. He was apprenticed to a printer, Andrew Kennedy, editor of the Northumberland Gazette before entering the field of journalism. He was editor of the Bucks County Messenger in 1821. A year later, he moved to Washington, D.C., and worked for the printing firm of Gales and Seaton. Cameron served as state printer of Pennsylvania from 1825 until 1827, and was state adjutant general in 1826. The printing business was lucrative for Cameron and it enabled him to venture off into other businesses. He constructed several rail lines and merged them into the Northern Central Railway. He also founded the Bank of Middletown in 1832 and engaged in other business enterprises. In 1838, he was appointed as commissioner to settle claims of the Winnebago Indians. Accusations were leveled against Cameron that he was the leader of a financial scandal that cheated the Winnebago Indians out of land claims. These were never proven, but they were generally believed to be true, and they increased Cameron's reputation as a crook.
Cameron began his political career as a Democrat, supporting the campaigns of Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren. He was elected to replace James Buchanan in the United States Senate in 1845, after Buchanan became Secretary of State, but he only served until 1849. Unlike Buchanan, Cameron was a vocal opponent of slavery. He switched to the Know Nothing Party, before joining the Republican Party in 1856. In 1857, Cameron was once again elected to the US Senate.
At the 1860 Republican National Convention, Cameron controlled the votes of the Pennsylvania delegation. He had dreams of being the Republican Party candidate himself, but when he realized that he did not have support outside of his home state, he delivered those votes to Abraham Lincoln. In return, Lincoln's managers promised a Cabinet post for Cameron. They did so without Lincoln's knowledge or authority. When Lincoln became President, he reluctantly appointed Cameron to the post of Secretary of War.
When Lincoln was in the process of selecting his cabinet, he received a letter from Joseph Medill, a journalist with the Chicago Tribune. Medill wrote: “Republicans here all say, that Pennsylvania should have a good place in the Cabinet – Sec of Treasury or Interior: but that it should not be Cameron: that Simon Cameron and Honest Abe don’t sound well together. As Senator Kingsley Bingham observed to me, ‘Lincoln don’t want a thief in his cabinet, to have charge of the Treasury’." Medill was not alone in this opinion.
Vice President-elect Hannibal Hamlin also had no love for Cameron. On December 27,1860 Hamlin wrote to Lincoln protesting against Cameron’s possible appointment to the cabinet. Unfortunately Hamlin’s letter reached Lincoln only after Lincoln had already written to Cameron offering him the post of Secretary of War.
When word leaked out that he had been offered a Cabinet position, Lincoln was swamped by letters criticizing this choice.On January 3, 1861, President-elect Lincoln wrote Cameron, stating: “Since seeing you things have developed which make it impossible for me to take you into the cabinet. You will say this comes of an interview with McClure; and this is partly, but not wholly, true. The more potent matter is wholly outside of Pennsylvania, and yet I am not at liberty to specify it.” Lincoln had hoped that Cameron would decline the offer of a cabinet post, but Cameron did not take the bait.
Cameron's tenure as Secretary of War was marked by allegations of corruption and lax management, and he was forced to resign early in 1862. His corruption was so rampant that US Representative Thaddeus Stevens, who was also from Pennsylvania, famously disparaged his fellow Pennsylvanian. When he was asked whether Cameron would steal, Stevens famously said "I don't think that he would steal a red hot stove." When he learned of the remark, an angry Cameron demanded that Stevens retract this insult. In response, Stevens told Lincoln "I believe I told you he would not steal a red-hot stove. I will now take that back."
Cameron was not up to the challenge of preparing an army for the Civil War. He had problems in recruiting and supplying troops. There were also allegations of corruption and illegal profiteering made by suppliers of the army. By the end of 1861, it was evident that he needed to be replaced. A further controversy arose when Cameron tried to save his job by attempting to appease the Radical Republican faction of the party. In his report for the year 1861, to be submitted to Congress on December 1, Cameron included a passage recommending the creation of a slave army. He knew that Lincoln was opposed to this because he did not want to push the border states into joining the Confederacy. The report created a crisis when President Lincoln read the passage and found out that copies of Cameron’s report were already in the mail and that one copy had made its way into the New York Tribune. Within a month after this, Cameron submitted his resignation, which Lincoln accepted.
Cameron was succeeded as Secretary of War by Edwin Stanton, who had been serving as Cameron's legal advisor. Despite the grief that Cameron had caused him, Lincoln appointed Cameron as Minister to Russia. Lincoln would also later call on Cameron to help him to secure the Republican party nomination in 1864 and to win re-election.
Cameron made a political comeback after the Civil War, building a powerful state party machine that would dominate Pennsylvania politics for many years after. In 1866, Cameron was again elected to the Senate. Cameron convinced his close friend Ulysses S. Grant to appoint his son, James Donald Cameron, as Secretary of War in 1876. Cameron also helped Rutherford B. Hayes win the Republican nomination in 1876. Cameron resigned from the Senate in 1877 after assuring that his son would succeed him. Matthew Quay ultimately succeeded Cameron as the party boss.
Cameron retired to his farm at Donegal Springs Cameron Estate near Maytown, Pennsylvania. He died on June 26, 1889.
Cameron had made his fortune in railways, canals and banking. He was the founder of the Bank of Middletown. When he had conquered the world of business, he next set his sights on a life in politics. In 1845 he became a U.S. senator for Pennsylvania, succeeding James Buchanan. Cameron was a Democrat when elected, but he later joined the People's Party, the Pennsylvania branch of what became the Republican Party. He won the Senate seat in 1857, and became one of the candidates for the Republican nomination in the presidential election of 1860.
Cameron claimed to be orphaned at the age of nine, a story some dispute. He was apprenticed to a printer, Andrew Kennedy, editor of the Northumberland Gazette before entering the field of journalism. He was editor of the Bucks County Messenger in 1821. A year later, he moved to Washington, D.C., and worked for the printing firm of Gales and Seaton. Cameron served as state printer of Pennsylvania from 1825 until 1827, and was state adjutant general in 1826. The printing business was lucrative for Cameron and it enabled him to venture off into other businesses. He constructed several rail lines and merged them into the Northern Central Railway. He also founded the Bank of Middletown in 1832 and engaged in other business enterprises. In 1838, he was appointed as commissioner to settle claims of the Winnebago Indians. Accusations were leveled against Cameron that he was the leader of a financial scandal that cheated the Winnebago Indians out of land claims. These were never proven, but they were generally believed to be true, and they increased Cameron's reputation as a crook.
Cameron began his political career as a Democrat, supporting the campaigns of Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren. He was elected to replace James Buchanan in the United States Senate in 1845, after Buchanan became Secretary of State, but he only served until 1849. Unlike Buchanan, Cameron was a vocal opponent of slavery. He switched to the Know Nothing Party, before joining the Republican Party in 1856. In 1857, Cameron was once again elected to the US Senate.
At the 1860 Republican National Convention, Cameron controlled the votes of the Pennsylvania delegation. He had dreams of being the Republican Party candidate himself, but when he realized that he did not have support outside of his home state, he delivered those votes to Abraham Lincoln. In return, Lincoln's managers promised a Cabinet post for Cameron. They did so without Lincoln's knowledge or authority. When Lincoln became President, he reluctantly appointed Cameron to the post of Secretary of War.
When Lincoln was in the process of selecting his cabinet, he received a letter from Joseph Medill, a journalist with the Chicago Tribune. Medill wrote: “Republicans here all say, that Pennsylvania should have a good place in the Cabinet – Sec of Treasury or Interior: but that it should not be Cameron: that Simon Cameron and Honest Abe don’t sound well together. As Senator Kingsley Bingham observed to me, ‘Lincoln don’t want a thief in his cabinet, to have charge of the Treasury’." Medill was not alone in this opinion.
Vice President-elect Hannibal Hamlin also had no love for Cameron. On December 27,1860 Hamlin wrote to Lincoln protesting against Cameron’s possible appointment to the cabinet. Unfortunately Hamlin’s letter reached Lincoln only after Lincoln had already written to Cameron offering him the post of Secretary of War.
When word leaked out that he had been offered a Cabinet position, Lincoln was swamped by letters criticizing this choice.On January 3, 1861, President-elect Lincoln wrote Cameron, stating: “Since seeing you things have developed which make it impossible for me to take you into the cabinet. You will say this comes of an interview with McClure; and this is partly, but not wholly, true. The more potent matter is wholly outside of Pennsylvania, and yet I am not at liberty to specify it.” Lincoln had hoped that Cameron would decline the offer of a cabinet post, but Cameron did not take the bait.
Cameron's tenure as Secretary of War was marked by allegations of corruption and lax management, and he was forced to resign early in 1862. His corruption was so rampant that US Representative Thaddeus Stevens, who was also from Pennsylvania, famously disparaged his fellow Pennsylvanian. When he was asked whether Cameron would steal, Stevens famously said "I don't think that he would steal a red hot stove." When he learned of the remark, an angry Cameron demanded that Stevens retract this insult. In response, Stevens told Lincoln "I believe I told you he would not steal a red-hot stove. I will now take that back."
Cameron was not up to the challenge of preparing an army for the Civil War. He had problems in recruiting and supplying troops. There were also allegations of corruption and illegal profiteering made by suppliers of the army. By the end of 1861, it was evident that he needed to be replaced. A further controversy arose when Cameron tried to save his job by attempting to appease the Radical Republican faction of the party. In his report for the year 1861, to be submitted to Congress on December 1, Cameron included a passage recommending the creation of a slave army. He knew that Lincoln was opposed to this because he did not want to push the border states into joining the Confederacy. The report created a crisis when President Lincoln read the passage and found out that copies of Cameron’s report were already in the mail and that one copy had made its way into the New York Tribune. Within a month after this, Cameron submitted his resignation, which Lincoln accepted.
Cameron was succeeded as Secretary of War by Edwin Stanton, who had been serving as Cameron's legal advisor. Despite the grief that Cameron had caused him, Lincoln appointed Cameron as Minister to Russia. Lincoln would also later call on Cameron to help him to secure the Republican party nomination in 1864 and to win re-election.
Cameron made a political comeback after the Civil War, building a powerful state party machine that would dominate Pennsylvania politics for many years after. In 1866, Cameron was again elected to the Senate. Cameron convinced his close friend Ulysses S. Grant to appoint his son, James Donald Cameron, as Secretary of War in 1876. Cameron also helped Rutherford B. Hayes win the Republican nomination in 1876. Cameron resigned from the Senate in 1877 after assuring that his son would succeed him. Matthew Quay ultimately succeeded Cameron as the party boss.
Cameron retired to his farm at Donegal Springs Cameron Estate near Maytown, Pennsylvania. He died on June 26, 1889.