Source: Looking for Lincoln
National K -12 Subject:
Lesson Plans Using this Resource:
Download and ShareWars have always presented special challenges to American presidents. The government of the United States, having been carefully devised to prevent the abuse of power, does not afford the Commander-in-Chief the authority to make the swift, unilateral decisions which have historically characterized successful military leaders. All wartime presidents have to some extent chafed at these constitutional limits, but several have actually taken it upon themselves to temporarily expand their powers, citing extraordinary circumstances unforeseen by the Founding Fathers. Foremost among these presidents are Abraham Lincoln and George W. Bush.
For Lincoln, the Civil War presented an existential threat to the nation which justified emergency measures in the name of “preserving the Union.” The most controversial example of this was Lincoln’s decision in 1861 to suspend the constitutional writ of habeas corpus in Maryland—a policy he extended nationwide the following year. This essentially allowed Lincoln to imprison without trial citizens suspected of undermining the Union war effort or supporting the Confederate cause. Compared to the vast and bloody battles being fought as matters of national survival by both sides, it might seem a minor issue, but this and other liberties Lincoln took with the law set a precedent for emergency “executive privilege” that future wartime presidents have noted.
The limits of presidential power have more recently become a subject of heated debate as a result of policies adopted by the administration of George W. Bush. The attacks of September 11th, 2001 convinced Bush and his cabinet that the terrorist threat facing the United States, while external, was no less existential than that confronted by Lincoln. They argued that the prospect of nuclear, biological, and chemical “weapons of mass destruction” being employed by trans-national terrorists—unaccountable to a state and thus to international law—had essentially rewritten the rules of war. In the interests of prosecuting the new so-called “War on Terror,” Bush adopted a number of controversial policies as emergency measures, including—once again—the suspension of habeas corpus. The establishment of the notorious prison camp at Guantanamo Bay was one high-profile result.
Lincoln and Bush are often regarded as opposite embodiments of wartime presidents—one generally revered, the other highly controversial. Bush reminds us, however, of Lincoln’s extreme unpopularity in his day, and suggests that his own reputation will be similarly exonerated by history. In the meantime, the extent to which American presidents undermine their authority by expanding their power remains an unresolved question.
Gates: Few presidents have identified more strongly with Abraham Lincoln than our 43rd President George W. Bush.
George W. Bush: Come on in. So this was Lincoln’s cabinet room.
Gates: Before leaving office President Bush invited me to the Lincoln Bedroom.
Bush: . . . And it was in this room that he signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
Gates: It just gives you gooseflesh, doesn’t it?
Bush: Ah, it’s unbelievable. People say, have you seen Lincoln’s ghost, and I say, well, I quit drinking in 1986, so I haven’t seen his ghost, but his presence is felt all throughout the house.
Gates: What is it about Abraham Lincoln that you most admire?
Bush: I admire a lot about Abraham Lincoln, but I would say I admire his moral clarity. He understood that a Civil War without you know morality would tear the nation apart forever.
I want you to see the whole Lincoln bedroom, which, by the way, Laura has re-done.
Gates: Really? How’d she do it?
Bush: She got a bunch of historians together, and this is the famous picture of Lincoln and his cabinet and if you look at the pattern of the rug and you can see the pattern of the rug and you can see what the room most likely would have looked like. And this is the famous Lincoln bed was never used by Lincoln, but it was in this bed that Willie Lincoln died. And it reminds me how difficult Lincoln’s life was during his presidency.
He was steadfast in the midst of unspeakable difficulties here in the White House
And I look at Lincoln and say to myself, my goodness, I’ve got it so easy compared to Abraham Lincoln.
Gates: It keeps you from getting down.
Bush: Yeah, don’t feel sorry for yourself, do your job, and follow the example that Abraham Lincoln set.
Gates: Mr. President, do you ever say to yourself I wonder what Lincoln would do in this situation?
Bush: Well, you know, I...I think about Lincoln’s...you know how he conducted himself in a very unpopular war. You know I’m a president during a war that is unpopular. They certainly had very vicious press.
And I tell people all the time, I say well you know my friends say, gosh the press is so hard on you, I say you ought to listen to the words that...that they said about Lincoln.
Gates: During Lincoln’s unpopular war, he was heavily criticized by some for resorting to repressive measures, earning him the nickname “Abraham the Tyrant.”
The man we remember as our greatest champion of democracy made the controversial decision in 1862 to suspend the writ of habeas corpus. Long considered the cornerstone of individual liberty, habeas corpus gives a person the right to seek action against unlawful detention.
Faced with an unprecedented crisis, Lincoln closed down newspapers, and jailed hundreds of agitators and southern sympathizers, often without trial.
President Bush, too, came under withering criticism over his use of executive powers during the war on terror. As in Lincoln’s case, critics pointed to his curtailment of civil liberties and unlawful detentions.
Bush: Well, uh, you know I am a president who has been accused of excessively using presidential power. I would defend my decisions and continually defend them, and so it’s...it’s hard for me to be critical of any of the decisions Lincoln made Bush: Obviously the suspension of habeas corpus is a very difficult decision for a president to make on U.S. citizens.
I do think that history will end up judging any president in the whole, as opposed to a particular decision made.
Gates: In Lincoln’s case, much of the most heated criticism that dogged him during the civil war has been forgotten. Today, he basks in history’s glow: a moral giant.
Loading Standards
Background Essay
Print Background Essay