Power Of Whips and Pinchers

The Presidency of Abraham Lincoln displayed the height of war power for the American Chief Executive. This author will describe the actions and achievements of President Lincoln and at the same analyzing the respective derivatives of the power that he utilized, and determining the propriety and long-term effects of his actions. President Abraham Lincoln is not only widely revered as the nation’s greatest President, but he has escalated to the status of an American Folk Hero. Using the typology of James David Barber, Abraham Lincoln is the only Active-Negative President to have carried out an agenda successfully. Truly Abraham Lincoln is an excellent example of moral Machiavellianism. Like many other Presidents, Abraham Lincoln broke laws and infringed on civil liberties to achieve a greater good. President Lincoln was torn on many things, he knew many of his actions infringed on the constitution, but he ultimately concluded that it was worthless to loose the nation while preserving the constitution. One such contravention of the Constitution is Lincoln’s committing of troops without a declaration of war; he committed the armed forces even before summoning the congress into a special session. Since Lincoln could not reach the congress. Lincoln spent 2 million dollars sending a relief expedition including a blockade of southern ports to Fort Sumter without congressional approval; the constitutionality of this is questionable. Even by today’s standards, Lincoln’s actions are exceptionally audacious. Armed conflict as commanded by the President is common without a declaration of war, in fact, all armed conflict since World War II has been done without such, but Lincoln did not even consult congress. The Constitution does bequeath the soul power of declaring war to the United States Congress. As the President is bestowed the power to be Commander-In-Chief of the armed forces. Since the military powers are divided, a power struggle is indeed assured. It is apparent here Abraham Lincoln’s actions are defensible; indeed, he set great precedent for a President’s ability take military action. While the President is prohibited from declaring war, he is not forbidden from taking military action without the consent of congress, in order to justify this, one must understand the dichotomy between war and armed conflict. A popular dictionary source defines war as “A state of open, armed, often prolonged conflict carried on between nations or states.” Since President Lincoln committed troops without the certainty of a prolonged conflict; he cannot be accused of declaring war. Also, since he did not wage conflict against a nation, state, or any definitive body at the time, the notion that he overreached his bounds seems less credible. Since the Civil War, many Presidents’ have used this precedent to commit troops without a declaration of war. Most notably, Harry Truman committed troops to Korea; John F. Kennedy ordered a botched invasion of Cuba and troops to Vietnam. In later years Lyndon B. Johnson used it to commit even more troops to Vietnam Nixon used it to do a secret bombing of Cambodia among other things. The era of the “Imperialised Presidency” in which the power of the chief executive was thought to be bigger than it’s britches led to the formation of the War Powers Act. The War Powers Act sought to limit the President’s ability to commit troops. It’s language forbids the President from committing troops unless there is an immanent crisis. He is given 24 hours to report that he has committed troops, and must withdraw troops within 60 days unless congress grants him specific permission. All this seems like it might limit the President’s power to liberally interpret his role as Commander-In-Chief, but that is not the case. Since the passage of the War Powers act in 1972 it has been violated many times. President Ford sent troops into Cambodia to rescue crew of the Mayaguez, which had been captured by Cambodian forces. President Carter Sent troops into Iran in failed attempt to rescue American hostages. President Reagan Stationed troops in Beirut with the defined mission of supporting the Lebanese government; 230 troops died. The Reagan administration also diverted profits from illegal arm sales to Iran to finance (illegally) the Contra rebels in Nicaragua. Reagan also ordered surprise bombings of Libya by U.S. planes over flying several European countries. President George Herbert Walker Bush ordered military invasion of Panama, which ended with the arrest of Panamanian president Manuel Noriega. He also Stationed U.S. troops in Somalia to restore order and protect food deliveries. President Bill Clinton ordered the launch of 23 tomahawk missiles against Iraqi intelligence headquarters. He was also behind military intervention in Haiti, and later ordered American planes to bomb Serbian positions in Bosnia, he also committed American troops to maintain peace in Bosnia. Despite the aforementioned analysis, one question remains: Where did Lincoln get the power? One source is the crisis at hand. The United States tends to rally behind a President when a crisis is ensued, the constitution does not grant the President to suspend the separation of powers, but a devastating situation usually makes the congress as well as the American constituency pay great deference to the President due to his prestige and expertise. President Lincoln did not set the precedent for this, the office and the cultural psychology of the American people did, but Lincoln’s efficient use of such did affirm and fortify it’s propriety, so was done in most crisis’ after Lincoln’s time as was discussed earlier. Lincoln’s use of prestige, personality, and expertise did not stop there. Lincoln used his power to make clear and blatant violations to the constitution, he violated civil liberties so indefensible the only reasonable rationalization is that the means justify the end. In order to prevent correspondence among the confederacy, Lincoln suspended the post offices to “treasonable correspondences.” What he actually sought out to do is block the mailing of anti-war publications. The United States Constitution gives the congress the power to establish post offices. Since there is no specific power granted to nullify or suspend the post office, it seems that such an action belongs exclusively to its creator, the congress. Again, Lincoln bypasses the legislature in wartime. Also, by obstruction the publication and distribution of anti-war material, he violates the people’s freedom of a free press and freedom of speech. This was done in World War I, but the fact of the matter is, is that it could have set a dangerous precedent. Suspending the right to a free press during wartime takes away a vital watchdog. The freedom of the press exists so that people can know what their public servants are doing, to make more informed nation more democratic. After Lincoln, any excuse in the name of national security could have led to a censorship of the press in order to take on any agenda. There is no clear evidence that any gross, massive abuses occurred, but of course no one would know if such were censored. While the constitution protects American’s against unlawful imprisonment, there is a loophole. The congress does have the power to suspend the writ of habeas corpus in cases of rebellion, invasion, or if public safety requires it . However, President Lincoln did this on his own, without the exercise of congress. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, second only to Lincoln in terms of Presidential Greatness , issued Executive Order 9066 which allowed for the removal of Japanese aliens and American citizens of Japanese descent from their West Coast homes and their incarceration under guard in camps. This was done in reckless disregard to civil liberties, and perhaps the most disgraceful example of racial profiling in American History. Such abuse occurs even today. President George W. Bush signed an executive order setting up a tribunal for enemies of the United States. The Constitution grants the power to constitute tribunals that are inferior to the Supreme Court. The executive order signed by President, is an unconstitutional standard set by Abraham Lincoln not only because it lacks congressional approval for the establishment of tribunals, but also makes no allowance for judicial review, or any other form of accountability to the Supreme Court. The great President made further reaches of power. A radical change in slave policy was made not by an executive order, not by a law passed by both chambers of congress, but by a proclamation made by the President. The Emancipation Proclamation was issued the first day of the New Year; nineteen-hundred-sixty-three. Never before or since has such an unofficial means been used to make such a radical shift in policy. In this, President Lincoln stomped out the Dred Scott decision made by the US Supreme Court in the 1850s. Clearly, in the previously mentioned actions by President Lincoln, he both rose above the congress and the Supreme Court, to make the President the ultimate authority in making laws and interpreting the constitution to a sometimes-dangerous level in light of conflict. It is clear that by these findings, Abraham Lincoln’s philosophy of governing is that the end justifies the means, by declaring the sensibility that it made no since to save the constitution but loose the nation. Written April 16th, 2002 © on Apr 15 2002 07:01 PM PST    0 • 16