Lincoln had his cockamamie theory that the Union preceded the states and that the states were not sovereign.
Well, thats your opinion. Lincoln was well versed in what the Founders wrote and said about the Union, as well as predecessors like Andrew Johnson. Lincoln also did a pretty good job of preserving the Union from ruin, for which I am thankful.
- Since when did Bush increase the Army and Navy without authorization from Congress? Lincoln did.
- Since when did Bush blockade US ports without authorization from Congress? Lincoln did.
- Since when did Bush draw money appropriated for one purpose and apply it to another without authorization from Congress? Lincoln did.
Try putting Vallandigham's July 15th 1861 criticisms of Lincoln into context.
-He made those comments a week before Congress overwhelming gave Lincoln it's approval to wage war against the Confederates.
-He made those comments after weeks and months of rebel attacks against Federal military installations, lootings of Federal armories, etc.
-In fact Copperhead Clem made those comments at the same time the Confederates were gathering their own army across the river from Washington DC, and Gov. Pickens was writing letters to Jeff Davis promising troops to take over the Capital.
In this context Vallandigham's comments against the lawful actions of the Commander and Chief of the United States to defend the nation from it's domestic enemies should be viewed as the pathetic attempts at subversion they were.
Not unlike Barbara Lee's comments in Dec. 2001 before Congress overwhelming gave Pres. Bush it's approval to fight Al Queda, I might add.
I've never called him a Commie.
Well you made a joke about him being a leftist, same difference.
I see well enough, thanks. Let’s look at some of the opposition to the Mexican War. Here's Senator Corwin of Ohio:
Let us abandon all idea of acquiring further territory and by consequence cease at once to prosecute this war [Mexican War]. Let us call home our armies, and bring them at once within our own acknowledged limits.
Here's a resolution Abraham Lincoln voted for, in fact he could have been considered to have cast the deciding vote [US House of Representatives, Jan 3, 1848]:
Mr. Ashmun moved to amend the said proposed instructions, by adding at the end of the same the following: "in a war unnecessarily and unconstitutionally begun by the President of the United States."
And the question was put, Will the House agree to the amendment offered by Mr. Ashmun,
And decided in the affirmative,The yeas and nays being desired by one-fifth of the members present, Those who voted in the affirmative [include], … Abraham Lincoln …
Yeas ... 82
Nays ... 81
Calhoun and Webster [Source: The War with Mexico Reviewed, by Abiel Abbot Livermore, 1850]:
… the appropriation of moneys thus collected to whatever uses the Executive thought best, and the appointment under such a scheme of a multitude of custom-house officers were measures declared both by Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Webster, to be invasions of the laws and constitution of the United States. The dangerous march of Executive Power was further manifested by the creation of civil governments, the appointing of the various officers, magistrates, and judges, necessary to carry them on, and the allotment of their duties and salaries, without any reference to the authority of Congress, or any appeal to its judgment, any more than if that body had been non-existent.
Senator Baldwin of Connecticut, March 15, 1848
... the language of the Secretary of War when ordering General Taylor to advance on the Rio Grande, while Congress was in session, and peace was subsisting between the United States and Mexico -- a measure of which it is apparent he contemplated at the time aggressive war as the probable result [sounds like Lincoln sending the ships to Sumter].
... Would Congress at that time have declared this war for the purpose of obtaining satisfaction from the Mexican Republic of the claims of our citizens? No one believes it.
There was strong opposition to Lincoln's war, just as there had been strong opposition to the Mexican War.
Lincoln was well versed in what the Founders wrote and said about the Union, as well as predecessors like Andrew Johnson.
Andrew Johnson!? LOL Now there was a constitutional scholar. < / sarc> Johnson was hung in effigy by his own constituents. No doubt you probably meant to say Andrew Jackson.
I can cite many references by the Founders where they considered the states to be sovereign. Lincoln ignored them because if states were sovereign, they could secede.
Try putting Vallandigham's July 15th 1861 criticisms of Lincoln into context. -He made those comments a week before Congress overwhelming gave Lincoln it's approval to wage war against the Confederates.
As the Supreme Court later said, the Constitution applies equally in times of peace and times of war. Put Lincoln's actions in that context.
If Lincoln had the power to suspend habeas corpus in 1861, then why did Congress feel they had to authorize him to suspend it for the remainder of the war two years later?
Congress didn't have the power to excuse Lincoln's violations of various other parts of the Constitution or violations after the fact. As Taney said in ex parte Merryman:
The constitution provides, as I have before said, that 'no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of law.' It declares that 'the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated; and no warrant shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.' It provides that the party accused shall be entitled to a speedy trial in a court of justice.
These great and fundamental laws, which congress itself could not suspend, have been disregarded and suspended, like the writ of habeas corpus, by a military order, supported by force of arms.
Banish away, mac.