Paul Kahan - Amiable Scoundrel: Simon Cameron, Lincolns Scandalous Secretary of War

His contemporaries called him the greatest of wire-pullers and corrupt as a dunghill.

Camerons career highlights three key themes about American political life during the nineteenth century. First is the centrality of the spoils system to accruing and consolidating political power in nineteenth-century America. Second is the

The third theme is the fluidity of political identity until the Civil War. Historians have often cited Camerons migration from the Democratic Party to the Know-Nothing and then finally the Republican Party as proof of opportunism and lack of principle. In truth, the key to understanding Camerons long career is that he was, first and foremost, a protector of Pennsylvanias business interests. Seen through this lens, his migration from the Democratic Party to the Know-Nothing and then finally the Republican Party can best be understood as an attempt to forward and protect Pennsylvanias interests as he perceived them.

Moreover, despite his reputation as a craven and unprincipled scoundrel willing to do or say anything to win an election, Camerons trademark virtues were loyalty and generosity. Gideon Welles, who served as Lincolns secretary of the navy and disliked Cameron personally, nevertheless recalled no man was more faithful to true and abiding friends than Simon Cameron. He never abandoned or neglected to serve if he had the opportunity those who had supported him.former Confederates as his friends. Generous to his friendsand even to complete strangershe was a devoted family man who passionately loved his wife and children.

At the same time, Cameron had an acerbic wit and was combative to people he perceived as enemies, seeing political conflict as a form of take-no-prisoners warfare. Thurlow Weed, the influential newspaper publisher, noted that, Mr. Cameron during a long and stirring political life had made warm friends and bitter enemies.

Amiable Scoundrels most surprising revelation is that Cameron had rather progressive attitudes on race. Though historians have noted the fact that Lincoln forced Cameron out of the cabinet over the latters recommendation that the government enlist slaves, many have argued that this was a smokescreen covering the real reason the president wanted to remove Cameron (corruption). Others have argued that Camerons recommendation was a cynical attempt to ingratiate himself to congressional abolitionists, and thereby prevent Lincoln from firing him. Both explanations miss the mark; in reality, from the moment he became secretary of war, Cameron argued that attacking slavery was essential to winning the war. Though as a senator he had been a conservative on the issue of slavery, arguing that the federal government had no power to regulate it in states where it already existed, as a private citizen he paid to educate at least one escaped slave and, after the war, he used his political influence to improve conditions for former slaves. Put another way, there is substantial evidence to suggest that while Cameron may have used corrupt means to achieve political power and wealth, he frequently used both to further positive social change.

The point here, then, is not to defend Camerons actions, many of which will strike modern readers as unprincipled, unscrupulous, and corrupt. Instead,