Lincoln's unconstitutional behavior

Now, abraham lincoln seems to have created a public opinion. Even Obama (Democratic Party) thinks that this * * * and party chairman is the greatest president in American history, but few people know that this great man has many amazing unconstitutional acts.

President abraham lincoln, a lawyer, tried to defend the foundation of the United States, the Constitution of the United States and its basic principles at the beginning of the Civil War. However, it turns out that this is an extremely difficult challenge.

When the extreme war environment suddenly appeared, President Lincoln, as the commander-in-chief of the three armed forces, first ran into the "habeas corpus" stipulated in the US Constitution.

Writ of habeas corpus (Latin) means that citizens can be arrested and handed over to the court only after the judge issues an arrest warrant, otherwise, no citizens can be detained. Habeas Corpus is an important means to protect personal freedom through legal procedures.

The Founding Fathers of the United States placed the suspension of habeas corpus in Article 1 of the Constitution, which stipulated the power of Congress: "The privilege of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, except in case of rebellion or invasion, which may be necessary for public security."

At the beginning of the war, Lincoln's biggest worry occurred in the first month after the war. A group of Massachusetts soldiers were attacked by angry thugs when they passed Baltimore on his orders.

Panicked soldiers were forced to shoot at the crowd, resulting in the death of 12 civilians and four soldiers. Ironically, they were the first victims of the American Civil War.

Compatriots in the south began to cut off the telegraph lines in Maryland and burn the bridges behind the Union Army. 186 1 April, Lincoln ordered the suspension of habeas corpus, allowing the army to arrest and detain those who were considered "disloyal" without trial.

At first, his orders were limited to the railway line between Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia, but it soon spread to other parts of the Northern Alliance. Legally speaking, Lincoln thought his practice was completely tenable.

Because of the full-scale uprising in the south and Maryland's wavering loyalty between Washington, D.C. and the Confederate District, Lincoln had reason to worry that the national capital was in extreme danger.

After all, the Constitution explicitly gives the government the power to suspend habeas corpus "in case of rebellion or invasion", although it is not clear whether this power belongs to Congress or the President.

In this regard, the then Chief Justice Roger Taney made a ruling in favor of Congress, but Lincoln ignored Roger Taney and extended the area where habeas corpus was suspended to Bangor, Maine.

In the following years, Lincoln further amplified these restrictions on constitutional rights, including imposing martial law in some unstable border areas and restricting freedom of speech and the press. In the northern States, he also expanded these wartime controls.

Lincoln believes that when the country is in a state of rebellion, he has certain "war power"-a concept that is not in the Constitution. At that time, some members of the House of Representatives criticized Lincoln the most severely, accusing the President of "executive usurpation of power" and trying to condemn Lincoln as "unconstitutional".

Lincoln questioned whether the country should be so bound by a law at any time that "in order to prevent it from being violated, even temporarily, we will not hesitate to let the government collapse?"

Although he privately worried that these new powers would be abused, Lincoln publicly laughed at the idea that his government's suspension of civil liberties would have any long-term consequences.

Lincoln compared this wartime measure to the bitter medicine taken by patients when they were sick. He can't believe that a person will use emetic when he is temporarily ill, which will make him insist on taking these drugs with poor experience for the rest of his healthy life.

In fact, before the end of the war, the Federation faced rebellion and invasion, and Lincoln's behavior conformed to the provisions of Article 1 of the Constitution. Therefore, in 1863, Congress passed a law, namely habeas corpus, to support Lincoln.

In order to win this war, Lincoln is willing to do whatever he thinks is right. He hopes to take the most powerful and positive measures to end the war quickly and completely opposes any form or nature of compromise. "Lincoln acted resolutely and never backed down.

However, his process is often gradual, which makes him not overreact or overreact. He repeatedly expanded the scope of suspension of habeas corpus, and finally, in 1862, he declared martial law throughout the country for the rest of the war.

Lincoln was elected president in June. At that time, he had no ambition to expand the power of the president. However, after the Yugoslav army opened fire on Fort Sumter in April 186 1, he quickly summoned 75,000 militiamen and ordered the closure of the southern port.

You know, blockade is to declare a state of war, and only Congress can declare it. Then, he called for the recruitment of more than 40,000 volunteers for three years, although according to the Constitution, Congress has the right to recruit soldiers.

Another thing Lincoln was criticized for: 1862, he chose military courts to try cases involving civilians. This is the closest the Lincoln administration has come to systematic abuse of power. But historical evidence shows that Lincoln's decision is rational.

During the civil war, there was a logic that the defendant should be handed over to a jury composed of government loyalists in uniform, instead of letting judges and juries decide against the government in court, because they might support the enemy.

During the war, nearly half of the federal military trials took place in Missouri, the most chaotic border state. The number of military trials here is nine times that of the other two turbulent border States-Kentucky and Maryland.

The Supreme Court abolished this practice after the war. The Supreme Court ruled that if the civil courts can operate, civilians must be tried there, not in military courts.

After the most comprehensive study on this issue, historian Mark Neely concluded that most arrests would have taken place even without the suspension of habeas corpus-most cases involved contract fraud, evasion of military service, espionage or treason.

The most important thing here is that the vast majority of arrests and military trials take place in border States adjacent to southern States, where the loyalty of civilians is uncertain.

At that time, Lincoln faced a lot of criticism from the press, mainly because he was elected with few popular votes. 1860 general election is a rare four-person duel. Lincoln didn't win in the southern states. He won less than 40% of the votes.

Therefore, from the beginning, Lincoln had an unusually high media slander rate. Editors of the Democratic Party in the north, editors in the south and even radical abolitionists spared no effort to attack him and create all kinds of false news against him.

To a certain extent, one of the purposes of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation was to hedge the negative impact of his government's expansion of administrative power in wartime.

Lincoln knew that his critics would soon attack his unconstitutional acts, so he wrote this declaration as a masterpiece to demonstrate the rationality of these acts, emphasizing that he took these measures out of military needs and that he could do the same as commander-in-chief

At the end of the civil war, an unprecedented powerful centralized government appeared in the United States. Lincoln always insisted that the power he advocated was a means of war, and once the war was over, he would give it up.

He and his successor, andrew johnson, and many state institutions that supported Lincoln's expansion of power did so after the war. Lincoln ruthlessly replaced those officials who clung to power.

In contrast, the Wilson administration systematically pursued leftists, immigrants and dissidents, not because of their actions, but because of their political beliefs. Roosevelt imprisoned the whole Japanese-Americans on the grounds of race. Roosevelt's actions were also systematic.

Lincoln's reputation is not so bad, because his power accumulation is accompanied by threats facing the country. His authority is gradually increasing, and his government tends not to exceed its authority. Some high-profile cases involving politicians and journalists are obviously exceptions.

Lincoln's gentle attitude and slow way of doing things made him avoid the embarrassing excesses of his successors and did not defile his legacy to future generations.