Life of Abraham Lincoln, Sixteenth President of the United StatesCrosby, Frank
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Life of Abraham Lincoln, Sixteenth President of the United States
Crosby, Frank
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865
“If I be wrong on this question of constitutional power, my error
lies in believing that certain proceedings are constitutional when,
in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety requires them,
which would not be constitutional when, in the absence of rebellion
or invasion, the public safety does _not_ require them; in other
words, that the Constitution is not, in its application, in all
respects the same--in cases of rebellion or invasion involving
the public safety, as it is in time of profound peace and public
security. The Constitution itself makes the distinction; and I can
no more be persuaded that the Government can constitutionally take
no strong measures in time of rebellion, because it can be shown
that the same could not be lawfully taken in time of peace, than
I can be persuaded that a particular drug is not good medicine
for a sick man, because it can be shown not to be good food for a
well one. Nor am I able to appreciate the danger apprehended by
the meeting, that the American people will, by means of military
arrests during the rebellion, lose the right of public discussion,
the liberty of speech and the press, the law of evidence, trial
by jury, and _habeas corpus_, throughout the indefinite peaceful
future, which I trust lies before them, any more than I am able
to believe that a man could contract so strong an appetite for
emetics, during temporary illness, as to persist in feeding upon
them during the remainder of his healthful life.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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