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Document 16537

GROVER CLEVELAND
Five days before leaving office, the President commutes two sentences.
Partly Printed Presidential Warrant signed: "Grover Cleveland" as 22nd U.S. President, 1p, 8x10. Washington, 1889 February 26. In full: "I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of State [Thomas F. Bayard] to cause the Seal of the United States to be affixed to warrants for the commutation of the sentences of Kis-ku-da, alias Socate, and Daniel Corrigan dated this day, and signed by me; and for so doing this shall be his warrant." At the Constitutional Convention of 1787, the Committee on Detail added the power to grant pardons to people convicted of crimes to the presidential powers already conferred by the Convention. Article II Section 2 of the United States Constitution gives the President of the United States the "power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States." Typically, pardons go only to people who have long ago served their punishment and returned to a productive private life. An obvious exception was President Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon. Prisoners must wait at least five years after conviction to apply for a pardon, which clears a person's name. The Constitution specifically excludes pardoning in cases of impeachment. A President may also issue a reprieve or commute a sentence. Since a presidential pardon is an official U.S. government document, the President granting the pardon must order the Secretary of State to affix the seal of the United States to it. There is no limit on the number or timing of presidential pardons, but 19th century Presidents seemed to have issued a large number of pardons as their administrations came to an end, while recent Presidents have chosen the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons to grant them. The most recent President to leave office, Bill Clinton, chose the last day of his eight years in office to issue 140 pardons. Lightly soiled at upper left blank area. Fine condition.

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