President Lincoln, Civil Liberties, and the Constitution: Adapted from Crisis and Command
About this book
An American President faces war and finds himself hamstrung by a Congress that will not act. To protect national security, he invokes his powers as Commander-in-Chief and orders actions that seem to violate laws enacted by Congress. He is excoriated for usurping dictatorial powers, placing himself above the law, and threatening to "breakdown constitutional safeguards."One could be forgiven for thinking that the above describes the former President George W. Bush. Yet these particular attacks on presidential power were leveled against Abraham Lincoln. They could just well describe attacks leveled against Washington, Jefferson (over the Louisiana Purchase) Jackson, Lincoln (over the Emancipation Proclamation) and a number of other presidents challenged with leading the nation through a time of national crisis.However bitter, complex, and urgent today's controversies over executive power may be, author John Yoo reminds us that they are nothing new. In "President Lincoln, Civil Liberties, and the Constitution," he explores how the bold decisions made by Lincoln changed more than just history: they also transformed the role of the American president. Adapted from "Crisis and Command," in which Yoo delves into the crises of Constitution, conscience, and public opinion faced by some of our most prominent presidents, this eBook takes an incisive look at the controversial executive decisions made by one of our most popular presidents.