text: Pope ordered that all detained warriors be tried.When it was done, 303 had been given death sentences that were subject to Presidential review.Lincoln ordered Gen Pope send all of the trial transcripts to Washington where he and two of his staff pored over the trials.The lawyer in Lincoln saw issues.He slowly realized that the trials could be divided into two groups: combat between combatants and combat against civilians.The groups could be identified by their transcripts, the first group were all just three pages in length while the second group had more pages, some up to twelve.He placed 263 cases into the first group and commuted their sentences for the largest mass commutation in history.Into the second group went forty.One he commuted for turning state's witness.Sibley dismissed another when overwhelming proof surfaced exonerating the man.The remaining 38 were executed in the largest mass hanging in U.S.history.Very quickly questions arose concerning three of the executions that have not been answered.Less than four months after the executions, Lincoln issued General Order 100 that relates more to the Minnesota War than the Civil War.Now a congressman, Alexander Ramsey told Lincoln, in 1864, that he would have gotten more re-election support in Minnesota had he executed all 303 of the Mdewakanton.Lincoln responded, "I could not afford to hang men for votes." The men whose sentences he commuted were sent to a military prison at Davenport, Iowa.A few of those he had released due to the efforts of Bishop Henry Whipple.Whig theory of a presidency Lincoln adhered to the Whig theory of a presidency focused on executing laws while deferring to Congress' responsibility for legislating.Lincoln vetoed only four bills, including the Wade-Davis Bill with its harsh Reconstruction program.The 1862 Homestead Act made millions of acres of Western government-held land available for purchase at low cost.