If Lincoln had not died

[Liz Rosenthal]

(01-10-2013 12:24 PM)Laurie Verge Wrote:  So, for two years, Lincoln had carte blanche to suspend the writ? I understand the necessity of the suspension (even though it went/goes clearly against the fundamental principles of our government), but it seems to me that Congress should have acted more quickly...

I'm doing this from memory, but I believe that Lincoln questioned in his 1863 letter to Erastus Corning (and possibly also in his 7/4/61 message to Congress) whether he should only honor one Constitutional provision (i.e., that concerning the writ of habeas corpus) and let the rest of the Constitution essentially go to hell (by allowing the United States of America literally fall apart), or whether he should allow one Constitutional provision to be stretched or even violated while he honors his Constitutional obligation to preserve the government.

I'm not necessarily arguing that all of his decisions regarding the writ of habeas corpus were wise or strictly "legal," but I am saying that he had a rather good point. The Devil's Advocate would say: "Let's have the President act meekly or not at all, lest he offend someone's idea of what the Constitution means, and thereby permit the South to go and the idea of a democratic form of government to fail, the failing of which would lead to the strong possibility that democracy will never succeed anywhere in the world." The Devil's Advocate's course is what Lincoln's predecessor, James Buchanan, chose, which is probably the reason he is widely considered to be America's worst president in history.