Abraham Lincoln During The Civil War Analysis

not have much real effect at the time, it pointed a way to a brighter

Abraham Lincoln is one of the most well known presidents in the history of the United States of America. He as thought to be the man who led this great country through the toughest times it had to encounter. His determination to get the United States through the Civil War is one of the best things that have ever happened for this country. Lincoln’s argument about the relationship between slavery, the Constitution, and the Union changed throughout the Civil War. Lincoln’s view of the purpose of the war was to save the Union because of the southern states seceding from the Union. However, the argument changed to the war being about slavery because of Fredrick Douglass’s speeches and the Confederates surrendering at

A biography book is usually easy to write and publish. However, according to the preface in “Abraham Lincoln and Civil War America”, author William E. Gienapp describes Lincoln as being a man who “carefully guarded his feelings and kept his personal affair’s out of the public gaze” (x). Because of his rough childhood, being a private person and not sharing his thoughts is considered to be normal. On top of moving several times as a child and the death of his mother, Nancy Hanks would explain why he didn’t talk much about his upbringing. More so, instead of getting a good education, Lincoln was taught how to do basic farm work. It wasn’t till his father married Sarah Bush Johnston, who actually encouraged Lincoln’s interest in learning. Sarah

o Lincoln 's reputation as the great emancipator rests largely on his emancipation proclamation, an executive order which went into effect on January 1st, 1863. This order ostensibly freed all the slaves in territory currently rebelling against the United States, i.e. in areas where the US government had no authority to free slaves. This is rather like the United States announcing that, from here on out, North Korea would be ruled by Lady Gaga. Sure, it 's a great idea, but it 's not really your jurisdiction. In areas where the US did have the authority to free slaves--the border states and some of the areas of the Confederacy that had been effectively conquered and occupied by federal troops, those slaves were not freed. So Lincoln

The power was explicitly given to the Legislative branch of the government since it was mentioned in Article I; however, the argument can be made that this was an exigency that was granted for a particular emergency, in this case an insurrection. Even knowing that he had a basis to take action on his own, he waited for Congress to make the final decision and grant him the privilege to not overstep any boundary. When Congress made a decision “it was imposed upon the President for the very reason that the courts and the marshals are too weak to perform it (the suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus)” (Bates 295). President Lincoln was just upholding and living up to the oath that he “will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and will…preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. When all else fails the President is the “Guardian of the Constitution” and must not be denied due to believing that a power can be easily abused, when every law is subject to good and bad, it’s the chances that must be taken (Bates 295). The circumstances all pointed to the the executive branch, the president, to step in and enact the suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus indicating that the power, although given only to the legislative, it seems that the framers knew that when the time came congress would not be able to perform such actions. The only grounds that indicated that the president wasn’t automatically given the power was

Early on in Lincoln’s political career he “expressed his devotion to the cause of protectionist tariffs, taxpayer subsidies for railroads and other corporations, and the nationalization of the money supply” (2). According to Lincoln, “the constitution stood in the way of his political ambitions” (3). If you cannot already tell, Lincoln seemed maybe he did not really care for the constitution or people like he said he did. He did not care to have equality between the races and wanted to put all the blacks in one place besides the United States. We should all be treated equally but Lincoln did not feel this way. Lincoln’s primary agenda for a Civil War was not to end slavery but to save the Union (8).

"So when Lincoln suspended the writ of Habeas corpus in order to arrest those accused of treason, the "Peace Democrats" had more ammunition against the president. There was much controversy as to whether the president had the power to suspend habaes corpus, and it was argued that only Congress had that right. The writ of habeas corpus protects people from arbitrary arrest and detainment. The power to do so was both that of the legislative branch as well as the judicial branch. It was unclear whether the Philadelphia convention placed it in Article I, just to identify it or define it as a legislative function. Either way, Lincoln did so, and the suspension of the writ of Habeas corpus brought on thousands of arbitrary arrests. Many of those who were arrested were spies, foreigners and smugglers. The question is: Did Lincoln go too far and unlawfully exercise his executive powers to manipulate constitutional limits?

Lincoln actions to save the Union are well in good but this good precedent would later be changed by other president to act in what they believe to be state of crisis. Unilateral Presidential action in this case was a good thing as it saved the Union from a total separation of the formed United States. Article 2 Section 3 is the state of the Union address where Lincoln expresses his reasons for his actions. “He shall from time to time give tot the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures.” The reasons for Lincoln to do what he did can also be found in Article 4 Section 4 “Shall protect

Lincoln had been unenthusiastic to come to this position. Not only did he believe he had no legal right to

This illegally increased the size of the army, which was also a power only reserved for the Congress, and authorized illegal voting methods for the Union border states. Congress had generally supported all of these decisions, but Lincoln further justified them by claiming that desperate times called for the measures he took.He also later promised to obey the Constitution once the war was over.

On September 15, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln temporarily suspended Habeas Corpus, which is the right to due process. Anyone who was a confederate sympathiser or spoke out against the war were arrested, put in jail and weren 't given a trial until after the war was over. Lincoln suspended Habeas Corpus because he wanted to suppress dissenters to strengthen the War effort. More than 13,000 civilians in the Union were arrested under martial law throughout the War. Lincoln viewed his action as justified since he believed the country was in a time of crisis.

     What did Abraham Lincoln do and think regarding slavery during the Civil War? In Abraham's First Inaugural Address he states "I do but quote from one of those speeches when I declare that I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so."" (Pg 53-54) Lincoln did not want the South to be afraid of his Republican Presidency either. That was why he made these statements at his Inauguration about slavery. Lincoln also talks about leaving the returning of fugitive slave clause alone, and keeping it in the Constitution. He

Lincoln held firm to the idea that the United States’ defining quality was its uniquely democratic government. The Constitution was cherished by Lincoln, and it was for the preservation of this document that Lincoln was willing to carry out whatever task necessary. However, Lincoln’s interpretation of the Constitution legitimized the ownership of slaves, and he was not willing to sidestep the constitution unless it became absolutely necessary to do so (as a war measure). Only after the United States had been immutably split and hundreds of thousands of lives had been lost did Lincoln finally take decisive action.

Lincoln wasn’t always the one pulling the strings to shut down the media and the things they wrote about him. A lot of the time his assistants where the ones that took the law into their own hands. In March of 1863 Lincoln appointed General Ambrose Burnside as the Union commander to oversee the state of Ohio. Burnside thought that the newspapers were full of “treasonous expression”, and that any criticism of the president was to be considered an act of treason itself.

The Civil War was a war between the union, and confederate states in the United States that occurred from 1861-1865. Many people believed that the Civil War was about slavery and southern states right to defend their states’ rights. The confederates were fighting for their liberty and independence under the leadership of Abraham Lincoln, who they felt was a tyrant. However, the union, was fighting to preserve their territory, that was created by their founding fathers from chaos and dismemberment. President Jefferson Davis believed that the civil war was based on the confederate rights to secede from the union. Jefferson also felt that Abraham Lincoln was to blamed for the start of the civil war, since he was against slavery. Lincoln’s intended goal was to preserve the union, he claimed slavery was not the reason. “If I could save the union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all slaves I would do it, and if I could slave it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that (Shi &Tindall, 2015, pg.465)”. Lincoln told everyone that if the southern states were to return to the union that slavery would still exist. However, many people believed that Lincoln wasn’t being truthful.