Lincoln's Unfinished Journey From Slavery To Freedom Analysis

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Copyright © 2012 by Participant Media. Part of the chapter “‘A Sacred Effort”: Lincoln’s Unfinished Journey from Slavery to Freedom” is excerpted from Gates, Jr., Henry Louis (ed.): Lincoln on Race and Slavery © 2009 by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Published by Princeton University Press. Reprinted by permission of Princeton University Press. Photo of Abraham Lincoln on the title page: Sculpture/bust of Abraham Lincoln by Henry Kirke Bush-Brown at the Gettysburg National Cemetery, National Parks Service. Published in the United States by PublicAffairs™, a Member of the Perseus Books Group All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except…show more content…
Lincoln also declared a blockade of the Southern coast, an act of war that, arguably, recognized the status of the Confederacy as a belligerent nation rather than as a mere mass of individuals in rebellion against the Union (which Lincoln insisted they were). The suspension of habeas corpus was perhaps the most constitutionally significant of these acts. Often known as the Great Writ of Liberty, habeas corpus is the constitutionally authorized means by which a court may immediately assume jurisdiction over an arrested individual and inquire into the legality of the detention. If a court concludes that the detention is unlawful, it is empowered to immediately release the individual. In suspending the writ, Lincoln relied on the constitutional authorization that the framers had perceptively included years before in Article I, Section 9 (which reads, in part, “The privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it”). However, the Constitution implies that congressional action is required for such suspension. Despite the fact that Congress was in session at the time, Lincoln did not request its approval but personally authorized General Winfield Scott to suspend the writ along the railroad from Philadelphia to Washington, believing that his duty was to protect the…show more content…
Although the First Amendment was always an important part of the bill of rights, modern First Amendment law was not born until after World War I. For this reason, Lincoln and his subordinates imposed restrictions on speech during the Civil War that he likely would not have imposed if he had the benefit of the next 150 years of First Amendment jurisprudence. For example, on September 24, 1862, responding to the grave political and military climate, Lincoln issued a proclamation declaring martial law and authorizing the use of military tribunals to try civilians within the United States who were believed to be “guilty of disloyal practice” or who “afford[ed] aid and comfort to Rebels.” The following March, Major General Ambrose Burnside assumed command of the Department of the Ohio and issued General Order No. 38, authorizing imposition of the death penalty for those who aided the Confederacy and who “declared sympathies for the enemy.” When Democratic congressman Clement L. Vallandigham, perhaps Lincoln’s sharpest Northern critic, referred to Lincoln in a public speech as a political tyrant and called for his overthrow, he was arrested by 150 Union soldiers at his home in Dayton at 2:40 a.m. on May 5, 1863. He was escorted to Kemper Barracks, a military prison in Cincinnati, brought before a military tribunal a day after his arrest, found guilty, and sentenced to imprisonment for the duration of the war. Eventually, President Lincoln, concerned about the harshness
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