Four Members of Lincoln’s Cabinet
Thoms Allen
In To the Victor Go the Myths & Monuments: The History of the First 100 Years of the War Against God and the Constitution, 1776 - 1876, and Its Modern Impact (Appleton, Wisconsin: American Opinion Foundation Publishing, 2016), Arthur R. Thompson provides some interesting information about four members of Lincoln’s cabinet: William Seward, Montgomery Blair, Salmon Chase, and Edwin Stanton.
William Seward
William Seward (1801–1872) was Lincoln’s Secretary of State from 1861 to 1865. He remained President Andrew Johnson’s Secretary of State until 1869.
As part of the anti-Masonic movement, Seward helped form the Anti-Masonic Party in 1828. Later, he became a Whig, and as a Whig Senator, he wanted the United States to annex Canada.
Although he knew about John Brown’s raid on Harper's Ferry beforehand, he lied and claimed he did not learn about it until after it happened.
Though the first choice of the abolitionists for the president of the Radical Republicans at the 1860 Republican Convention was Salmon Chase, they also supported Seward, who was the front-runner for the Republican nomination for president.
Further, he opposed the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson.
Montgomery Blair
Montgomery Blair (1813–1883) was Lincoln’s Postmaster-General from 1861 to 1864. Among Lincoln’s cabinet, he was the most adamant in supporting resupplying Fort Sumter, which precipitated Lincoln’s War.
Also, Blair raised money for John Brown’s defense after his failed raid on Harper’s Ferry.
After Lincoln’s War began, Blair urged Lincoln to confiscate the estates of slave owners loyal to the South and to use the money from the sale of these estates to pay slave owners loyal to the North for their manumitted slaves. (Congress later enacted a law authorizing the confiscation of slave owners’ estates, but without compensating slave owners who emancipated their slaves. This law followed the fourth plank of the Communist Manifesto.)
Salmon Chase
Salmon Chase (1808–1873) was Secretary of the Treasury in President Lincoln's cabinet from 1861 to 1864. As Secretary of the Treasury, he supported and implemented the National Banking Act (for more about this act, see “National Banking System” by Thomas Allen) and the issuance of greenbacks (for more about greenbacks, see “The U.S. Note, 1862 – 1879" by Thomas Allen).
Chase began his political career as a radical. He was a leader of the Liberty Party and the Anti-Slavery Society. (The Liberty Party was an abolitionist party. As its name implies, the Anti-Slavery Society promoted the abolition of slavery.) Also, he helped form the Free Soil Party in 1848 and became a Senator for Ohio the following year, serving until 1855. (The Free Soil Party opposed expanding slavery into the western territories and supported preserving them for White settlers). Later, the Free Soil Party merged into the Republican Party, and Chase became the Republican Governor of Ohio from 1856 to 1860. As the governor of Ohio, Chase embraced John Brown and expressed his support for Brown.
Additionally, Chase was part of the conspiracy to submerge the Know-Nothing Party into the Republican Party. (The Know-Nothing Party opposed immigration, especially Roman Catholic immigrants. It officially became known as the American Party.)
In 1860, the Radical Republicans promoted him as the Republican presidential candidate until he declared his support for Lincoln. In 1868, he sought unsuccessfully the presidential nomination for the Democratic Party.
After Lincoln’s War, he wanted to keep the Southern States from returning to the Union with full voting power to prevent the Radical Republicans from losing power. However, since this plan failed (it was replaced with disenfranchising many Southerners), he toured the South soliciting the Negro vote for the Radical Republicans.
In 1864, Lincoln appointed Chase as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, where he served until 1873. As Chief Justice, he ruled against the greenback, which he had promoted when he was Secretary of the Treasury. The Court ruled that the greenback was constitutional, i.e., the US government can lawfully issue legal tender paper notes, which was contrary to the understanding of the drafters of the Constitution (see “Constitutional Money” by Thomas Allen).
Edwin Stanton
Edwin Stanton (1814–1869) was Lincoln’s Secretary of War from 1861 to 1865. When Johnson succeeded Lincoln as President, Johnson fired Stanton.
Stanton was a member of President Buchanan’s Southern Rights Cabinet. Some accused him of supporting the secessionists before he joined the Radical Republicans and became Lincoln’s Secretary of War.
Like many abolitionists, Stanton supported secession until the Southern States seceded. Then, he became a Unionist. Blair and others noted Stanton’s complete lack of character.
Stanton was a close friend of Adam Gurowski. Gurowski was a student of Hegel and participated in the Polish rebellion against Russia. Also, he was a Fourierist and promoted Fourierist socialism. (As defined by Merriam-Webster, Fourierism is “a system for reorganizing society into cooperative communities of small self-sustaining groups.”) Later, he became a Russophile and promoted Russia as the head of a Pan-Slavic empire. Stanton was well aware of Gurowski’s background. Moreover, Lincoln feared Gurowski would assassinate him.
These four men could easily be part of any post-World War II cabinet. Little philosophical differences exist between them and most other post-World War II cabinet officers.
Copyright © 2026 by Thomas Allen.
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