The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties

297 Pages·1992·19.81 MB·English

by  Mark E. Neely

The Fate of Liberty
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The Fate of
Liberty
Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties
MARK E. NEELY, JR.
New York Oxford
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
1991
Oxford University Press
Oxford New York
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Copyright © 1991 by Mark E. Neely, Jr.
Published by Oxford University Press, Inc.,
198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016
Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of Oxford University Press.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Neely, Mark E. The fate of liberty:
Abraham Lincoln and civil liberties
Mark E. Neely, Jr.
p. cm. Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-19-506496-8
ISBN 0-19-508032-7 (Pbk.)
1. Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865—Views on civil rights.
2. Habeas corpus—United States—History—19th century.
3. Civil Rights—United States—History—19th century.
4. United States—History—Civil War, 1861-1865—Law and legislation.
!. Title. E457.2.N46 1991 97}.7'092—dc20 90-31907
4 6 8 9 75
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-lrec paper
For Sylvia
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Acknowledgments
Michael Musick, of the National Archives, made this book possible by locating
the arrest records on which it is based. William Gienapp, now of Harvard
University, gave me my first opportunity to discuss the subject in a public
forum back in 1981. Eight years later, he gave the manuscript a careful and
astute reading. John Y. Simon, editor of The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, also
read the manuscript with care and offered useful suggestions. Sarah McNair
Vosmeier and Matthew N. Vosmeier, now graduate students at Indiana Uni-
versity, between them, read one thousand of the cases on -which the book is
based. We have had numerous conversations on the subject that benefited me
a great deal. Sarah also read the final manuscript. Frank J. Williams, president
of the Abraham Lincoln Association, read the manuscript closely, and my
frequent co-author, Harold Holzer, Executive Vice President for Public Affairs
of the New York State Urban Development Corporation, offered his usual good
advice. David H. Donald granted me permission to use the J. G. Randall Papers.
Robert J. Chandler, of the Wells Fargo Bank's Historical Department; Richard
N. Current, now of South Natick, Massachusetts; and Don E. Fehrenbacher,
professor emeritus at Stanford University, offered encouragement and read
parts of the manuscript.*
Sylvia E. Neely read it all, over and over again, offering ten years of unstinting
encouragement, clever advice, and genuine understanding.
Fort Wayne, Indiana M.E.N., Jr.
February 1990
*I have rendered quotations as they appeared in the original sourees with the occasional exceptions
of terminal punctuation, initial capitalization, and the variant texts of Gideon Welles's diary, as
edited by Howard K. Beale. Changes are for the sake of readability alone.
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Contents
Introduction, xi
1. Actions without Precedent, 3
2. Missouri and Martial Law, 32
3. Low Tide for Liberty, 51
4. Arrests Move South, 75
5. The Dark Side of the Civil War, 93
6. Numbers and Definitions, 113
7. The Revival of International Law, 139
8. The Irrelevance of the Milligan Decision, 160
9. The Democratic Opposition, 185
10. Lincoln and the Constitution, 210
Epilogue, 223
Notes, 237
Index of Prisoners of State, 269
Index, 273