During the presidency of Andrew Jackson, George Wilson, a postal clerk, robbed a federal payroll from a train and in the process killed a guard. The court convicted him and sentenced him to hang. Because of public sentiment against capital punishment however, a movement began to secure a presidential pardon for Wilson (first offence), and eventually President Jackson intervened with a pardon. Amazingly, Wilson refused.
Since this had never happened before, the Supreme Court was asked to rule on whether someone could indeed refuse a presidential pardon. Chief Justice John Marshall handed down the court’s decision: “A pardon is a parchment whose only value must be determined by the receiver of the pardon. It has no value apart from that which the receiver gives to it. George Wilson has refused to accept the pardon… We cannot conceive why he would do so, but he has. Therefore, George Wilson must die.”
George Wilson, as punishment for his crime, was hanged.
Pardon, declared the Supreme Court, must not only be granted, it must be accepted.
[see also HolwickID #12321]
=================================
Another version from IllustrationExchange.com (5/30/11):
George Wilson was a career criminal who, in the 1830s, was indicted on six counts of obstructing and robbing the U.S. mail, including threatening a carrier with bodily harm, and violent assault (wounding a carrier). The violent assault carried a penalty of death. Rising public petition against the death penalty prompted then president, Andrew Jackson, to issue a pardon for the assault conviction.
Amazingly, Wilson declined the pardon. “And now, to-wit, this 21 October, 1830, the defendant, George Wilson, being in person before the court, was asked by the court … whether he wished in any manner to avail himself of the pardon referred to, and the said defendant answered in person that … he did not wish in any manner to avail himself, in order to avoid sentence in this particular case, of the pardon referred to.”
The district court was not sure how to handle the complexities of the case, and eventually the matter was referred to the U.S. Supreme Court which later ruled that, “A pardon is an act of grace, proceeding from the power entrusted with the execution of the laws, 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. It may be supposed that no being condemned to death would reject a pardon, but the rule must be the same in capital cases and in misdemeanors.”
Further, Chief Justice John Marshall purportedly pronounced that the value of a pardon “must be determined by the receiver … It has no value apart from that which the receiver gives it … therefore, George Wilson must die.” He was subsequently executed for his crime.
Who in their right mind would reject an opportunity to be pardoned? We would assume, as the Supreme Court did, that no person “condemned to death would reject a pardon.” Yet, the Bible tells us that “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life’ (John 3:16). In Christ, God has offered to pardon everyone of us for our sins. Nevertheless, a pardon “has no value apart from that which the receiver gives it.” How many in our world allow day after day to pass without receiving God’s pardon? Sadly, George Wilson had to die. But you don’t!
God has, “canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14, NLT).
=================================
Another version:
God is gracious, but he will not force the acceptance of His grace upon men. In 1829 George Wilson, in Pennsylvania, was sentenced to be hanged by a United States Court for robbing the mails and for murder. President Andrew Jackson pardoned him, but this was refused, and Wilson insisted that it was not a pardon unless he accepted it. That was a point of law never before raised, and the President called the Supreme Court to decide. Chief Justice John Marshall gave the following decision: “A pardon is a paper, the value of which depends upon its acceptance by the person implicated. It is hardly to be supposed that one under sentence of death would refuse to accept a pardon, but if it is refused, it is no pardon. George Wilson must be hanged!” And he was hanged.
Provisionally the Gospel of Christ which is the power of God unto salvation is for every one, irrespective of what he may be or what he may have done. potentially, it is only to “every one that believeth.”
________
Sunday School Times
Bible teacher William McCarrell often used this illustration to point out what a person has to do to be saved: “While Andrew Jackson was President of the United States, a man was given a court trial and condemned to die. President Jackson offered to pardon him but the condemned man refused the pardon. Prison authorities, the Attorney General of the United States, and others earnestly endeavored to convince the man to accept the pardon. They tried to impress upon him that it would not only spare his life, but that if he did not accept the pardon, it would be an insult to the President. The man persisted . . The Attorney General consulted the Supreme Court, asking whether legal authorities could not force the man to receive the pardon. The court ruled that the pardon was merely a printed statement until the man accepted it. If he rejected the pardon, it remained printed matter.”
=================================
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Wilson
United States V. Wilson , 32 U.S. 150 (1833), was a case in the United States in which the defendant, George Wilson, was convicted of robbing the US Mail in Pennsylvania and sentenced to death. Due to his friends’ influence, Wilson was pardoned by Andrew Jackson. Wilson, however, refused the pardon. The Supreme Court was thus asked to rule on the case.
The decision was that if the prisoner does not accept the pardon, it is not in effect: “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 is rejected, we have discovered no power in this court to force it upon him.” Therefore, Wilson was hanged.[1]
________
1. http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/a2_2_1s29.html