Maryland constitutional questions after Fort Sumter

[David Lockmiller]

(08-21-2020 01:14 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Thanks, David. I think preserving the Union was more important to the President than the Constitution.

"The paramount idea of the constitution is the preservation of the Union. It may not be specified in so many words, but that this was the idea of its founders is evident; for, without the Union, the constitution would be worthless." (Six Months at the White House, F.B. Carpenter, Chapter XXIV, p. 76 (1879), quoting first-hand from a statement President Lincoln made to Mr. George Thompson, the English anti-slavery orator, on the morning of April 7, 1864 at the White House, following Mr. Thompson’s address in the House of Representatives the previous day to a large audience with President Lincoln in attendance.)