Perpetual

 Address at Independence Hall, Philadelphia, 1861  First Inaugural Address, 1861  Message to Congress in Special Session, 1861  Emancipation Proclamation, 1863

 The Gettysburg Address, 1863

 Secession  The Test of Democratic Self-Government  Suspension of Habeas Corpus  Emancipation of the Slaves

Cand.

Party

PV

EV

Lincoln

Rep.

40%

180

Douglas Dem.

30%

12

Brecken S. Dem. ridge

18%

72

Bell

13%

39

C.U.

 Principles of the

Declaration as the bond of the Union  America, the

Declaration, and the promise of universal liberty

 Reiteration of Lincoln’s pledge not to interfere with

slavery in the states where it already exists.  Also, he would not object to a constitutional amendment

guaranteeing slavery in the states where it already exists.

 Critique of secession:  Perpetuity is implied in the fundamental law of all national governments.  Even if the United States were merely a compact, it could be unmade only with the consent of all parties.  The evidence of the Founding:  Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union  The Constitution intended to “create a more perfect Union.”

 A further critique of secession  The test of democratic government: can it preserve itself

against an obstinate minority that would rather destroy the nation than accept the election’s outcome  Secession is based on a belief in the sacred sovereignty of states, but in fact they have no sovereignty except under the Constitution.  Secession is a principle of political disintegration.  Secession would break up the government, based on equality of opportunity, that has done more than any other to elevate the condition of men.

 The issue of suspension of habeas corpus  Taney’s opinion in Ex parte Merryman: The Executive

Branch has no authority to suspend habeas corpus  The British background on habeas corpus  Founding-era practice

 The text of the Constitution

 Lincoln’s response:  Appeal to prerogative: the need to violate one law to save the whole system of laws.  The text of the Constitution: By implication, the Executive may suspend habeas corpus

 Criticisms of Lincoln’s use of the executive power  People have been arrested who have violated no established laws of the United States.  Habeas Corpus may be suspended only in the locality of rebellion.

 Lincoln’s response:  The very purpose of suspension of habeas corpus is to permit the executive to arrest persons who have violated no law  The process of regular courts of law is “vindictive.”  Arrests made under suspension of habeas corpus are “preventive.”

 The Constitution does not limit suspension to the locality of

rebellion, but permits it where the public safety requires it.

 Letter to O.H. Browning

(1861) on Lincoln’s countermanding of Fremont’s emancipation order  The constitutional

problem  The executive cannot

make permanent rules of property  The political problem  Alienation of necessary support for the Union

 Letter to Horace Greely

(1862)  Lincoln’s policy: “I would

save the Union.”

 Issued on Lincoln’s authority as Commander-in-Chief  Presented as a matter of military necessity

 Accordingly, limited in scope to parts of the nation in

rebellion against the government  Question of Lincoln’s consistency: Is the Emancipation

Proclamation consistent with the concerns in the letter to O.H. Browning?