The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil LibertiesIf Abraham Lincoln was known as the Great Emancipator, he was also the only president to suspend the writ of habeas corpus. Indeed, Lincoln's record on the Constitution and individual rights has fueled a century of debate, from charges that Democrats were singled out for harrassment to Gore Vidal's depiction of Lincoln as an "absolute dictator." Now, in the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Fate of Liberty, one of America's leading authorities on Lincoln wades straight into this controversy, showing just who was jailed and why, even as he explores the whole range of Lincoln's constitutional policies. Mark Neely depicts Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus as a well-intentioned attempt to deal with a floodtide of unforeseen events: the threat to Washington as Maryland flirted with secession, disintegrating public order in the border states, corruption among military contractors, the occupation of hostile Confederate territory, contraband trade with the South, and the outcry against the first draft in U.S. history. Drawing on letters from prisoners, records of military courts and federal prisons, memoirs, and federal archives, he paints a vivid picture of how Lincoln responded to these problems, how his policies were actually executed, and the virulent political debates that followed. Lincoln emerges from this account with this legendary statesmanship intact--mindful of political realities and prone to temper the sentences of military courts, concerned not with persecuting his opponents but with prosecuting the war efficiently. In addition, Neely explores the abuses of power under the regime of martial law: the routine torture of suspected deserters, widespread antisemitism among Union generals and officials, the common practice of seizing civilian hostages. He finds that though the system of military justice was flawed, it suffered less from merciless zeal, or political partisanship, than from inefficiency and the friction and complexities of modern war. Informed by a deep understanding of a unique period in American history, this incisive book takes a comprehensive look at the issues of civil liberties during Lincoln's administration, placing them firmly in the political context of the time. Written with keen insight and an intimate grasp of the original sources, The Fate of Liberty offers a vivid picture of the crises and chaos of a nation at war with itself, changing our understanding of this president and his most controversial policies. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 22
Page 25
You have reached your viewing limit for this book.
You have reached your viewing limit for this book.
Page 26
You have reached your viewing limit for this book.
You have reached your viewing limit for this book.
Page 28
You have reached your viewing limit for this book.
You have reached your viewing limit for this book.
Page 123
You have reached your viewing limit for this book.
You have reached your viewing limit for this book.
Page 130
You have reached your viewing limit for this book.
You have reached your viewing limit for this book.
Contents
| 3 | |
2 Missouri and Martial Law | 32 |
3 Low Tide for Liberty | 51 |
4 Arrests Move South | 75 |
5 The Dark Side of the Civil War | 93 |
6 Numbers and Definitions | 113 |
7 The Revival of International Law | 139 |
8 The Irrelevance of the Milligan Decision | 160 |
9 The Democratic Opposition | 185 |
10 Lincoln and the Constitution | 210 |
Epilogue | 223 |
Notes | 237 |
Index of Prisoners of State | 269 |
Index | 273 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Abraham Lincoln American arbitrary arrests army arrests of civilians Baltimore blockade blockade-runners captured citizens civil liberties civilian prisoners Coll commander Confederacy Confederate Congress conscription Constitution defendants Democratic Department deserters disloyal draft emancipation Emancipation Proclamation enemy Ex parte Milligan example federal Fort Lafayette fraud Frémont Grant guerrilla habeas corpus Halleck held historians Holt hostages imprisonment international law issue James John judge advocate justice Kentucky letter Lincoln administration martial law Maryland military arrests military authority military commission military prisons Milligan decision Missouri necessity North Northern officers Old Capitol prison partisan party persons Philadelphia President Lincoln Press prisoners of war proclamation provost marshal punishment question Randall rebel rebellion records release Republican secretary sentence Seward slavery soldiers Southern speech Stanton Supreme Court suspend the writ trials by military Turner Turner-Baker Papers microfilm Union United Univ Vallandigham violation War Department Washington writ of habeas York
Popular passages
Page 214 - Let reverence for the laws be breathed by every American mother to the lisping babe that prattles on her lap; let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges; let it be written in primers, spelling books, and in almanacs; let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice. And, in short, let it become the political religion of the nation...
Page 72 - President the public safety does require that the privilege of the said writ shall now be suspended throughout the United States in the cases where, by the authority of the President of the United States, military, naval, and civil officers of the United States, or any of them, hold persons under their command or in their custody either as prisoners of war, spies, or aiders or abettors of the enemy...
Page 67 - Inasmuch, however, as the Constitution itself makes no such distinction, I am unable to believe that there is any such constitutional distinction. I concede that the class of arrests complained of can be constitutional only when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require them ; and I insist that in such cases they are constitutional wherever the public safety does require them, as well in places to which they may prevent the rebellion extending, as in those where it may be...
Page 12 - ... should not himself violate them. Of course some consideration was given to the questions of power and propriety before this matter was acted upon. The whole of the laws which were required to be faithfully executed were being resisted, and failing of execution in nearly one-third of the States.
Page 213 - The provision of the Constitution giving the war-making power to Congress was dictated, as I understand it, by the following reasons: Kings had always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars, pretending generally, if not always, that the good of the people was the object.
Page 206 - This rebellion has assumed the character of a war ; as such it should be regarded, and it should be conducted upon the highest principles known to Christian civilization. It should not be a war looking to the subjugation of the people of any State, in any event. It should not be at all a war upon population, but against armed forces and political organizations. Neither confiscation of property, political executions of persons^ territorial organization of States, or forcible abolition of slavery,...
Page 200 - It may be remarked: First, that we had the same Constitution then as now; secondly, that we then had a case of invasion, and now we have a case of rebellion; and, thirdly, that the permanent right of the People to Public Discussion, the Liberty of Speech and...
Page 219 - From the instant that your slaveholding states become the theatre of war, civil, servile, or foreign, from that instant the war powers of Congress extend to interference with the institution of slavery in every way by which it can be interfered with, from a claim of indemnity for slaves taken or destroyed, to the cession of the state burdened with slavery to a foreign power.