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The Civil War and Abraham Lincoln as an Example of Moving the Goal Posts.

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Abraham Lincoln’s overriding attitude to civil war was that it was indeed war and would be best waged by killing the enemy.

An active interest marked the relationship between the civil war and Abraham Lincoln from the beginning.

Even before this period, many had already remarked the sometimes drastic measures, which he took to insure progress towards his goals, sometimes going against the constitution and also the opinions of his military counterparts.

It was therefore natural that he ended up selecting the like-minded General Ulysses S. Grant as his commander in chief during the civil war.

Because of the way he curtailed civil liberties during the civil war periods, Lincoln was also accused by the Democrats of being a tyrant.

This may have led to his conflicts with the Democrat General George B. McClellan.

McClellan and Lincoln fell out after initial mutual enthusiasm, and McClellan became Lincoln’s presidential rival in 1864, at the same time as Lincoln gave overall command to General Grant.

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A Major Influence on how the Civil War was Fought

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Too Slippery for His Rivals to Pin Him Down

Among the actions of Lincoln which provoked protest from the democrats was the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus as a progressive measure from 1861 onwards.

Over 13000 arbitrary arrests were made by the administration during the period of civil war and Abraham Lincoln.

On the other hand Lincoln not only prevented his commanders from being over aggressive in the arrests, but he also showed clemency to soldiers who were court-martialed and tolerated a high degree of criticism from both politicians and the press.

The civil liberties issue was a natural one for Democrats to use to attack Lincoln.

Among other things, the economic boom because of the wartime activity made it impossible for them to attack Lincoln on this front.

The slavery issue was also so deftly handled by Lincoln that it made it impossible to attack him on this either.

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Black Benefits but only when Necessary

The Constitution at the time allowed for slavery when the country was at peace.

Lincoln’s attitude was that during wartime, slavery could be abolished by a commander in chief, if this was required on military grounds.

Lincoln went further than this by proclaiming in 1863 that black people would be accepted into the army.

This in turn led to the thirteenth amendment to the constitution, which abolished slavery and was in clear contrast with the promises of General McClellan to give back to the South the rights that it had in 1860.

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Bending the Constitution to Suit

When the civil war and Abraham Lincoln are seen like this, one of the most momentous movements in the U.S., namely the abolition of slavery, turns out to be a simple expedient by a U.S. president to win the war.

It should be noted that if this was the case, Lincoln’s superficiality on the issue might also be said to have led to his death, when John Wilkes Booth, in strong opposition to the abolition of slavery, assassinated him in 1865.

This policy of changing the goal posts to suit practical or governmental requirements has also been followed in later years by other presidents.

The constitution may not have been perfect at the time of the civil war and Abraham Lincoln and may still require modification, but it is a dangerous notion that a U.S. president might be able to arbitrarily change it as well.

If the end justifies the means, then Lincoln’s actions can be held to be justifiable.

However, the precedent that he set in unilaterally changing the constitution without consultation or popular vote remains at best a gray area.

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