A new Lincoln book, The Broken Constitution

[David Lockmiller]

Lincoln vs. the Constitution? Not So Fast.
Nov. 21, 2021

To the Editor [of the New York Times]:
Re “Lincoln Broke the U.S. Constitution,” by Noah Feldman (Opinion guest essay, Nov. 8):

For the first time in more than 150 years, there’s serious debate about whether the Constitution is so deeply flawed as to require replacement. But Mr. Feldman gets it wrong: Lincoln did not break the Constitution.

“Contemporary observers … understood that the Emancipation Proclamation left the original Constitution in tatters,” Mr. Feldman writes. Admittedly, some thought the proclamation unconstitutional, but Lincoln had carefully crafted the proclamation so that it was within his power under the Constitution.

Mr. Feldman’s article leaves out a critical point. The Emancipation Proclamation did not free all enslaved people. It freed enslaved people only in territory controlled by the Confederacy. That made it a war measure sanctioned by the president’s power as commander in chief.

We venerate Lincoln today, so it is important to understand his vision. Working within the framework of the document written in 1787, he championed a vision of the Constitution based on equality and liberty.

William M. Treanor
Washington
The writer is the dean of Georgetown Law Center.