WartImE POlItICS Quiz

PDF page 747: Whigs, Democrats, Know-Nothings, Free Soilers or abolitionists.” When the Civil War began, the U.S. Congress was not to meet for eighty days; Lincoln thus began his presidency, as the head of a new, untried political

PDF page 747: party, “with a virtual monopoly of emergency powers.” Almost immediately he released a series of executive orders, some constitutionally based, some not. First, he declared that an insurrection existed and called out the state militias, increasing their number to number 75,000. Second, he issued two proclamations that created blockades of southern ports. Then, knowing that additional troops would be needed, he expanded the number of military troops, a power that the president did not hold under the Constitution as the Constitution gives the power to raise an army and navy to Congress. Ohio Representative John Sherman remarked at the time, “I never met

PDF page 747: party, “with a virtual monopoly of emergency powers.” Almost immediately he released a series of executive orders, some constitutionally based, some not. First, he declared that an insurrection existed and called out the state militias, increasing their number to number 75,000. Second, he issued two proclamations that created blockades of southern ports. Then, knowing that additional troops would be needed, he expanded the number of military troops, a power that the president did not hold under the Constitution as the Constitution gives the power to raise an army and navy to Congress. Ohio Representative John Sherman remarked at the time, “I never met

PDF page 748: the regular army.” As a whole, Congress found these actions to be extraconstitutional. Lincoln’s subsequent actions in the summer of 1861 with respect to paying Union soldiers and seizing transportation resources did not allay their fears as he once again seemed to step beyond the president’s

PDF page 748: nothing more.” One last piece of legislation came out of this special session of Congress: a law authorizing the president to call for the enlistment of 500,000 troops to serve for a period of not less than six months or more than three years.

PDF page 748: Civil Liberties Curtailed When Congress met in regular session, it passed two confiscation acts that defined and specified punishment for treason and a separate, less severe punishment for insurrection. The latter included as part of one’s punishment the liberation of his slaves. All property held by the officers of the Confederate government and by those who supported the rebellion was to be seized after a sixty-day warning. Neither of the confiscation acts, the second being the Treason Act, addressed the question as to what should be done to and about anti-war activities in the North, and Lincoln, instead of working through the courts and the legislative branch, decided to suspend habeas corpus, thus providing for arrest and punishment of “all Rebels and Insurgents, their aiders and Page Page | 737

PDF page 749: enlistments, resisting militia drafts or guilty of any disloyal practice.” In such cases the individual involved would lose his right to habeas corpus and would be subject to martial law. Historian David Donald comments that the numbers of those arrested was in the tens of thousands. And finally, before it adjourned, Congress abolished slavery in the District of Columbia.

PDF page 749: Opposition from the Peace Democrats Throughout the war, the political parties divided over Abraham Lincoln’s leadership as it related to the war. The three main factions included the Republican Party from New England, New York, and Pennsylvania; the “Peace” Democrats, who drew their support mostly from the Midwest; and the “War” Democrats, who supported a more aggressive policy against the South. Northern Democrats, especially the Peace Democrats soundly criticized Lincoln for exercising powers that went far beyond those given to the president by the Constitution. While most historians say that Lincoln stopped short of creating a dictatorship in the twentieth century sense of the word, there was no doubt that the powers he claimed for the presidency were extraordinary. On the other hand, though he suspended habeas corpus, he did not suspend freedom of speech or the press, and so civil liberties continued to exist, even if they were curtailed during the enforcement of the treason and confiscation acts. Lincoln also faced criticism throughout his first administration regarding emancipation from the “Peace” Democrats. Christened the “Copperheads” by their detractors, the “Peace” Democrats were a diverse socioeconomic group, drawing membership mainly from the southern Midwest and the immigrant Catholics of northern cities. One of the leading proponents of the Copperhead cause was the Ohio Representative Clement Vallandingham, who frequently denigrated Lincoln and emancipation in the same breath. And dislike of emancipation became the hallmark of most northern Democrats, who favored a United States that would be “the white man’s home.” Antislavery measures passed through Congress reflected a sharp division by party; on each bill, Republicans voted in favor of the measures, while Democrats stood firmly against them. As the election of 1864 approached, the North was caught up in a peace movement that reflected the sentiments of a “war-weary and heartsick

PDF page 749: Opposition from the Peace Democrats Throughout the war, the political parties divided over Abraham Lincoln’s leadership as it related to the war. The three main factions included the Republican Party from New England, New York, and Pennsylvania; the “Peace” Democrats, who drew their support mostly from the Midwest; and the “War” Democrats, who supported a more aggressive policy against the South. Northern Democrats, especially the Peace Democrats soundly criticized Lincoln for exercising powers that went far beyond those given to the president by the Constitution. While most historians say that Lincoln stopped short of creating a dictatorship in the twentieth century sense of the word, there was no doubt that the powers he claimed for the presidency were extraordinary. On the other hand, though he suspended habeas corpus, he did not suspend freedom of speech or the press, and so civil liberties continued to exist, even if they were curtailed during the enforcement of the treason and confiscation acts. Lincoln also faced criticism throughout his first administration regarding emancipation from the “Peace” Democrats. Christened the “Copperheads” by their detractors, the “Peace” Democrats were a diverse socioeconomic group, drawing membership mainly from the southern Midwest and the immigrant Catholics of northern cities. One of the leading proponents of the Copperhead cause was the Ohio Representative Clement Vallandingham, who frequently denigrated Lincoln and emancipation in the same breath. And dislike of emancipation became the hallmark of most northern Democrats, who favored a United States that would be “the white man’s home.” Antislavery measures passed through Congress reflected a sharp division by party; on each bill, Republicans voted in favor of the measures, while Democrats stood firmly against them. As the election of 1864 approached, the North was caught up in a peace movement that reflected the sentiments of a “war-weary and heartsick

PDF page 749: Opposition from the Peace Democrats Throughout the war, the political parties divided over Abraham Lincoln’s leadership as it related to the war. The three main factions included the Republican Party from New England, New York, and Pennsylvania; the “Peace” Democrats, who drew their support mostly from the Midwest; and the “War” Democrats, who supported a more aggressive policy against the South. Northern Democrats, especially the Peace Democrats soundly criticized Lincoln for exercising powers that went far beyond those given to the president by the Constitution. While most historians say that Lincoln stopped short of creating a dictatorship in the twentieth century sense of the word, there was no doubt that the powers he claimed for the presidency were extraordinary. On the other hand, though he suspended habeas corpus, he did not suspend freedom of speech or the press, and so civil liberties continued to exist, even if they were curtailed during the enforcement of the treason and confiscation acts. Lincoln also faced criticism throughout his first administration regarding emancipation from the “Peace” Democrats. Christened the “Copperheads” by their detractors, the “Peace” Democrats were a diverse socioeconomic group, drawing membership mainly from the southern Midwest and the immigrant Catholics of northern cities. One of the leading proponents of the Copperhead cause was the Ohio Representative Clement Vallandingham, who frequently denigrated Lincoln and emancipation in the same breath. And dislike of emancipation became the hallmark of most northern Democrats, who favored a United States that would be “the white man’s home.” Antislavery measures passed through Congress reflected a sharp division by party; on each bill, Republicans voted in favor of the measures, while Democrats stood firmly against them. As the election of 1864 approached, the North was caught up in a peace movement that reflected the sentiments of a “war-weary and heartsick

PDF page 750: The Election of 1864 The Democrats met in Chicago in August 1864. As Lincoln predicted they nominated George McClellan and adopted a platform that focused on bringing an end to the war. The platform, written by the Peace Democrats, denounced the practices of wartime: arbitrary military arrest;” “suppression

PDF page 750: defeat for the Union. And so Abraham Lincoln was nominated by his party, with a platform that stressed abolition as a necessary precursor to peace. The Republican Party, in an effort to win the support of the “War” Democrats, changed its name to the National Union Party and nominated the incumbent president and “former” Republican Abraham Lincoln for president and “former” War Democrat Andrew Johnson for vice president.