I have, and as had been pointed out time and again the question of whether or not the president has the power to suspend the writ has never been definitively answered by the Supreme Court.
Raising an army seems like it also qualifies, Carrying out acts of war without a declaration or the approval of Congress surely extends beyond constitutional executive power.
The Constitution does not say that the president needs congressional approval to increase or decrease the size of the army. Congressional approval is needed to pass legislation to pay for such an increase, and that is what happened. The Militia Act gave the president the authority to call up the militia when congress was not in session. President Lincoln abided by every provision of that law.
President Lincoln carried out no act of war, in fact war was never declared by the Lincoln adminsitration. Nor should it have since war is conducted between sovereign nations. One does not declare war on rebellious parts of your own country.
Best available information would indicate that the right is reserved to the congress, not to mention that there are a great many Americans who do not rely on lawyers to read the plaintext of the constitution to them like children. "Interpretation" is something that is done with art, not government. Lincoln's practice of government could, at best, be described as 'artful.'
President Lincoln carried out no act of war, in fact war was never declared by the Lincoln adminsitration. Nor should it have since war is conducted between sovereign nations. One does not declare war on rebellious parts of your own country.
Untrue. A war among factions of a single country is still called a civil war. Did Lincoln never refer to it as a 'war'? You'll have to do better than to deny that a war occurred.