Most significant positive evidence
The strongest evidence concerns repeated personal risk, practical relief for wounded people and creation of a durable national humanitarian institution.
Person
Clara Barton
The assessment covers battlefield nursing and supply work, identification of missing soldiers, relief during war and disaster, and establishment of the American Red Cross.
This is a contemporary assessment current to 26 June 2026. It must be revised as later conduct and evidence become available.
Ethical assessment categories
Current published result
Overall ethical score
+92.13
Reasoned summary
Barton repeatedly placed skill, persistence and personal safety at the service of people in crisis. Organisational limitations reduce but do not seriously undermine a highly positive record.
This assessment presents six separate ethical dimensions rather than one overall moral score. Each result must be read with its evidence, plausible range, confidence, disputes, exclusions, severe-harm findings and sources.
Most significant negative evidence
The score is moderated by centralised leadership, governance conflict and the need to distinguish Barton’s achievements from the work of thousands of volunteers and successors.
Read the full Clara Barton ethical assessment, evidence and sources
Six-dimensional ethical profile
The overall figure is the equal-weight average of the applicable dimensions. It does not replace the separate scores, evidence or uncertainty.
- Personal moral conduct
- +96.00
- Rights and dignity
- +84.03
- Nonviolence and harm
- +98.00
- Stewardship of power
- +97.00
- Wisdom and truthfulness
- +83.77
- Consequential legacy
- +94.00
- Severe-harm record
- No separate finding recorded
Assessment history
Ethical assessment: Clara Barton (1861–1904)
1861–1904 · Published assessment · reviewed June 26, 2026
Result: Six-dimensional ethical profile