"A Popular Demand, and a Public Necessity": Lincoln and Civil Liberties

Abstract

Across the nation, the media detailed the outrage of congressional leaders over the president's decision to deny American citizens a basic constitutional right. Newspaper editors condemned the president. Lawyers, jurists, civic leaders, academicians, clergy and others joined in the attack. In response to his many critics, the president stated that “it was not believed that any law was violated.” At first glance, this must be a description of the uproar over President George W. Bush's decision to authorize wiretaps without court approval—or perhaps the public outcry over President Bush's decision to detain both U.S. and non-U.S. citizens accused of terrorist acts without charging or trying them. Such a conclusion is understandable—but erroneous. Rather, the above paragraph describes the reaction to President Abraham Lincoln's decision to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, detain U.S. citizens, and try them before a military tribunal. The detention of enemy combatants in the current...