Abraham Lincoln was a Tyrant is Remembered as the Greatest President in History. Although he Authored the Emancipation Proclamation, he Overstepped His Bounds.

Abraham Lincoln is remembered as the greatest president in history. Many historians believe he saved the nation in a time when it was most needed.

Some believe he would have continued to act in the tyrannical way in which he did during the Civil War.

Where his actions warranted? Did he need to do everything he did in order to keep the nation from disintegrating, or was he trying to put a positive spin on a bad situation?

It is easy to see why he is so highly regarded; after all, the nation did survive a situation in which many countries have not.

However, the way in which he did so is considered somewhat questionable.

In order to help states fill the requested quotas faster, he instituted a draft for every able bodied man between the ages of 20 and 45.

If you did not want to go, there were the options of either finding a substitute or paying the government three hundred dollars.

His suspension of habeas corpus meant people could indefinitely be detained without being charged. Anyone could be jailed for just disagreeing with the local authority, civil or military, and often were.

Congress was supposed to control military spending, yet Lincoln took that over.

In many ways, Lincoln essentially spat on the Constitution. Many people do believe that the ends justify the means theoretically clearing Abraham Lincoln of any wrongdoing during and prior to the war.

If that was true, then Bush should be forgiven for all his transgressions during the ”War on Terror”.

So far, history has not been kind to Bush.

The Emancipation Proclamation

Perhaps Abraham Lincoln’s only legitimate, justified act was the Emancipation Proclamation.

He signed the bill into law in April of 1862, abolishing slavery within the limits of Washington D.C.

Lincoln did not really have the power to legally free the slaves, but he did so under the power of a military decree.

This only affected the states that had succeeded from the Union. To insure the legality of his actions, he pressed for a constitutional amendment (later to be the 13th amendment).

Means to an End

Abraham Lincoln acted in ways in which no other president has until modern times.

He ignored the Constitution and abused civil liberties throughout the majority of his time in office.

He justified his actions by interpreting one of the duties given the president in the Constitution.

The Constitution made him the Commander in Chief of the Armed forces and protector of the nation.

Since the states leaving the Union were in essence destroying it, he took that as his justification to do whatever was needed in order to keep the nation together.