LIN WOOD TWEETED OUT TO EDUCATE OURSELVES ON THIS ( and other things ) TODAY ANONS
Re Posting -
Abraham Lincoln's Invention of Presidential War Powers
The Annual Herbert W. Vaughan Lecture on America’s Founding Principles
November 20, 2006
James McPherson, George Henry Davis '86 Professor Emeritus of History, Princeton University
Endowed by the late Herbert "Wiley" Vaughan, founding member of the Madison Program's Advisory Council, the Herbert W. Vaughan Lecture on America’s Founding Principles is an endowed Princeton University lecture that is hosted by the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions in the Department of Politics. Its purpose is to promote and advance understanding of the founding principles and core doctrines of American constitutionalism.
Abraham Lincoln's Invention of Presidential War Powers: Facing the unprecedented crisis of civil war in 1861, President Abraham Lincoln invoked his "war power" as commander-in-chief to "take any measure which may best subdue the enemy." Defying the chief justice of the United States, he suspended the writ of habeas corpus by presidential decree. He also declared martial law, authorized the trial of civilians by military courts, and proclaimed the emancipation of slaves–all on the grounds that "I may in an emergency do things on military grounds which cannot be done constitutionally by Congress." In so doing, Lincoln vastly expanded presidential war powers and established precedents invoked by later presidents.