A Pardon is an Act of Grace

In 1826, two men named were sentenced to hang for robbing the US Postal Service. One man, Porter, was hanged in July 1830. Three weeks later, President Andrew Jackson pardoned the second perpetrator, named Wilson—his death sentence was lifted. But in a bizarre twist, Wilson refused the pardon. It sent the court system into confusion and took three years to resolve. Finally, in the Supreme Court, the Chief Justice passed a historic decision regarding the acceptance or rejection of a pardon:

“A pardon is an act of grace . . . which exempts the individual on whom it is bestowed from the punishment the law inflicts for a crime he has committed . . . A pardon is a deed to the validity of which delivery is essential, and delivery is not complete without acceptance. It may then be rejected by the person to whom it is tendered, and if it be rejected, we have discovered no power in a court to force it on him.”