Reading Questions

National Security and Civil Liberties (124-8):

1. How did the two wings of the Democratic Party in the North differ during the Civil War? How were they united? What was a Copperhead (124)?

2. What is a writ of habeas corpus? When did Lincoln suspend it? Why (124)?

3. What are two competing interpretations of the phrase "the Constitution is not a suicide pact" (125)?

4. Who was Clement L. Vallandigham? Was he a secessionist? What was his motto? How did he champion civil liberties before the outbreak of war? What was his view of slavery? Whom did he blame for breaking up the Union? Why did he urge peace (126)?

5. When was Vallandigham arrested? Why (127)?

6. Even though Vallandigham was a civilian, where was he tried? What was his original punishment? How did Lincoln alter it? Why (127)?

7. How did Democrats respond to Vallandigham's arrest and conviction (128)?

Letter of the Committee (129-31):

1. When is the letter written? Who wrote it (129)?

2. The letter has ten resolutions. Briefly summarize each one (129-31).

Mr. Lincoln's Reply (131-6):

1. How does Lincoln summarize the Committee's resolutions (131)?

2. Does Lincoln condemn the patriotism of his critics or praise it (131)?

3. Why doesn't Lincoln end his reply at the end of the second paragraph (131)?

4. What is Lincoln's response to the Committee's claim that civil liberties need to be protected especially "in times of general commotion" (132)?

5. In order to explain Vallandigham's arrest, Lincoln feels it is necessary to put the arrest in a larger context. What, according to Lincoln, is that context? How did sympathizers with the "insurgents" use appeals to civil liberties to their benefit (132)?

6. Why does Lincoln feel that civil courts were inadequate to deal with the threat of "insurgent sympathizers" (133)?

7. Why does Lincoln claim that a time might come when he will be blamed "for having made too few arrests rather than too many" (134)?

8. Why does Lincoln disagree with the Committee's claim that military arrests are constitutional only "in localities in which rebellion actually exists" (134)?

9. The Committee claims that Vallandigham had been arrested for criticizing the administration. What is Lincoln's response (134)?

10. Why does Lincoln consider Vallandigham's arrest an act of "great mercy" (135)?

11. How does Lincoln argue that acts that are unconstitutional in time of peace might be constitutional in times of rebellion (135)?

12. Lincoln's critics identify themselves as "Democrats." What does Lincoln urge them to call themselves (135)?

13. President Andrew Jackson was a famous Democrat. Why does Lincoln refer to him (135)?

14. Would Lincoln himself have ordered Vallandigham's arrest (136)?

15. Does Lincoln end by praising or condemning his critics (36)?

[Note that Lincoln's reply provoked another response from the Committee, which is printed in the reader (137-45). It is recommended, but not required, reading.]

Discussion Questions

1. Read the section on "Counterarguments" in The Humanities Core Course Guide and Writer's Handbook (96-8). Evaluate Lincoln's reply as a counterargument. What strategies does Lincoln use to refute his critics' argument? Look up ethos, pathos, and logos in The Humanities Core Course Guide and Writer's Handbook (46). How does Lincoln use each one in his reply? Which one does he use most effectively?

2. The most-quoted line from Lincoln's reply is: "Must I shoot a simple-minded soldier-boy who deserts, while I must not touch a hair of the wily agitator who induces him to desert" (134)? Why is this such a memorable line?

3. Lincoln argues that "He who dissuades one man from volunteering, or induces one soldier to desert, weakens the Union cause as much as he who kills a Union soldier in battle" (133)? Do you agree with this analogy? Why, or why not?

4. Lincoln argues that in times of rebellion "preventive" arrests must be made, arrests, "not so much for what has been done, as for what probably would be done" (133). Do you agree? Why, or why not?

5. Edward Everett Hale wrote "The Man Without a Country" in response to the Vallandigham incident. Hale hoped that his story would help defeat Vallandigham in his campaign for the governorship of Ohio Fall 1863. In what ways does the story respond to the incident? Hale links Vallandigham to Josiah Tattnall (120). Tattnall, who is credited with coining the phrase "Blood is thicker than water," was a US naval officer, who, before the Civil War began, resigned and joined the Confederate Navy. Is the association with Tattnall fair to Vallandigham? Is someone who opposes a nation's war necessarily unpatriotic?

6. A year after the Civil War ended, the Supreme Court in Ex parte Milligan unanimously ruled that the executive branch did not have the constitutional authority to try a civilian in military courts when civil courts were open, as they were in the case of Vallandigham. In doing so, the Court clearly disagreed with Lincoln's policy during the war. In its opinion, written by Justice Davis, who had been Lincoln's campaign manager, it wrote: "It is insisted that the safety of the country in time of war demands that [a] broad claim for martial law shall be sustained. If this were true, it could be well said that a country, preserved at the sacrifice of all the cardinal principles of liberty, is not worth the cost of preservation. Happily this is not so." It is not, because "the government, within the Constitution, has all the powers granted to it, which are necessary to preserve its existence." Do you side with the Court or with Lincoln?

7. What, if anything, does the Vallandigham incident tell us about present governmental policies in the "War Against Terrorism?"