First reading Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln and his
cabinetMarch 8: The Civil War and Constitutional Power
First reading Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln and his
cabinet
| This class takes a look at the US Civil War (1861-1865), but through the prism of constitutional issues. As we've seen over the last few classes, the battle over the Union and slavery's role therein was not the only constitutional issue on the table in the 1840s and 1850s; important debates about civil liberties and executive power also were commonplaces. Many of these debates crested during the War between the States. |
READINGS
secondary
Bestor, "Was the Civil Was a Constitutional Crisis?"
documents
| Ex parte Milligan |
| Gettysburg Address (1863) |
| Emancipation Proclamation (1863) |
STUDY QUESTIONS
| 1.) What was ther principal issue at stake in Ex parte Milligan? In your opinion, was it correctly decided? |
| 2.) What type of vision of American society did Lincoln offer in the Gettysburg address? |
| 3.) Should historians view the Civil War as a turning point in the development of the American Constitution? |