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Title: Amos T. Akerman to Henry Hopkins, 2 March 1871
Date: March 2, 1871
Whitman Archive ID: nar.01771
Source: National Archives and Records Administration. Transcribed from digital images or a microfilm reproduction of the original item. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.
Contributors to digital file: Elizabeth Lorang, Nima Najafi Kianfar, Kevin McMullen, and John Schwaninger
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March 2, 1871.
Henry Hopkins, Esq.
Warden of the Kansas State Penitentiary.
Leavenworth, Kansas.
Sir:
The President has referred to me your letter to him of the 17th ult.
It is impossible under present rules to grant indiscriminate pardons in advance to all convicts who shall have behaved well during their imprisonment. But whenever a pardon is asked in an individual case, the application will receive a respectful consideration. The application should always set forth what rights of citizenship are forfeited by the conviction,— and also there should be a reference to the particular laws which impose such forfeiture.
Very respectfully,
A. T. Akerman,
Attorney General.
pardons to U. S. convicts in Kansas prison.