Presidential Power: Abraham Lincoln and His Unconstitutional Actions
COMMENTARY | When Abraham Lincoln was elected to the U.S. presidency in 1860, it was akin to lighting a fuse on a keg of gunpowder. The long national debate over slavery had gone back and forth with no resolution. Since Lincoln had made it part of his platform to resist the expansion of slavery, seven states rejected his presidency by declaring their secession from the United States. They bonded together in their own Confederacy. This took place before Lincoln could even claim his new office. The war began officially with the southerners attack at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor.
The outgoing President James Buchanan had reservations about how to handle the uprising. He could find no Constitutional grounds for the southern pro-slavery states to implement their secession nor any authority for him to stop them. He chose a cautious middle ground by unsuccessfully attempting to resupply the fort. This only led to an immediate ultimatum of surrender from the Confederate commanders. Although there had been several exchanges of cannon fire, there were as yet no fatalities. By the time Lincoln finally was inaugurated in March of 1861, he found that both Fort Sumter in South Carolina and Fort Pickens in Florida were under threats.
The Confederacy sent delegates to Washington to offer their negotiations for peace. Lincoln refused to meet with them on the grounds that the Confederacy was not recognized as a sovereign nation. The last chances for a peaceful resolution passed and the surrendering Unionf orces fired a salute to their own flag. An accidental explosion caused the death of two of the gun crew, who became the first casualties of the war by their own hand.
After the Fort Sumter incident, four more states joined the Confederacy and four slave states decided to remain with the Union. The long bloody war pitted brother against brother in battles that would fill volumes in their recounting. Abraham Lincoln monitored the progress of the conflict at his own telegraph office. He went through several generals looking for the man who would be aggressive enough to defeat the superior officers trained by the South.In his vigorous participation in the war, Lincoln was very likely guilty of impeachable offenses by his suspension of habeas corpus. That is to say, he gave his military the authority to arrest and lock up American citizens on suspicions that they might be aiding or spying for the Confederacy.
Some scholars go so far as to say that Lincoln could have avoided the bloodiest war ever fought on American soil. After all, many other countries in this time frame had abolished slavery without a war. The contrarian view is that Lincoln allowed and even provoked the war, using the cover of ending slavery when his goal was actually the consolidation of a strong federal power. Although the history books record Lincoln as the great emancipator and a crusader to unify his country, it’s very likely that he severely undermined the principles that brought the states together in a voluntary union. The assassination of the victorious leader left many unanswered questions .His actions may not have coincided with his actual intentions. It is likely, however, that his term as the President instituted the overbearing national government and the power structure that we have today.
