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Lincoln suppressed SEDITION, not honest political debate. There were many who opposed the administration's policies publicly, and none were arrested for it.

However, there were others who actively aided and abetted the rebels, and they were dealt with.

What would YOU say today to the prospect of an Arab resident of the U.S. who actively and openly aided Al-Qaeda by sponsoring fund raisers for the purpose of raising money so they can kill Americans?

That's what Mr. Lincoln dealt with.

Now, Jeff Davis, on the other hand, sent troops to eastern Tennessee and locked up all the "rabble-rousers" he could find--mainly hillbillies who weren't about to fight no war for a bunch of slaveowners.

These guys were put in MILITARY confinement and didn't see the light of day until Grant and Co. finally cleared the rebellion out of Tennessee.

What part of "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances" don't you understand?

Thomas Jefferson wrote to Edward Carrington (16 Jan 1787):

The people are the only censors of their governors: and even their errors will tend to keep these to the true principles of their institution. To punish these errors too severely would be to suppress the only safeguard of the public liberty. The way to prevent these irregular interpositions of the people is to give them full information of their affairs thro' the channel of the public papers, and to contrive that those papers should penetrate the whole mass of the people. The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.

John Marshall wrote "I am not an advocate for the alien and sedition bills; had I been in Congress when they passed, I should, unless my judgment could have been changed, certainly have opposed them."

James Madison, the father of the Constitution opined in the Virginai Resolutions that the Sedition Act "exercises, in like manner, a power not delegated by the Constitution, but, on the contrary, expressly and positively forbidden by one of the amendments thereto."

The soapbox, the gun, and the vote are the fundamental rights of the people to protect themselves from a tryrant. Lincoln abused them all.