Executive Lincoln
Essential Question: How did Abraham Lincoln percieve his role as President within the bounds of the Constituion?
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Purpose of the Site
The purpose of this website is to explore Abraham Lincoln's relationship with the Constituion during his presidency to answer the essential question: How did Abraham Lincoln percieve his role as President within the bounds of the Constitution?
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We will use four different areas of interaction to look at Lincoln's involvement with the Constitution: War Powers, Emancipaiton, Economy, and Rights of the Accused.
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The Curriculum Resources page includes ideas for using this material in the classroom.
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division, The New York Public Library. "Abraham Lincoln." The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1902. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47dd-c91d-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
Throughout his presidency, Lincoln struggled to balance his goals for the nation with the powers outlined for the executive in the Constitution. He wrote extensively throughout his presidency about the nature of the executive, and how his actions during the Civil War could be justified within the founding document. In a letter to Salmon Chase on September 2, 1863, Lincoln pondered:
“If I take the step must I not do so, without the argument of military necessity, and so, without any argument, except the one that I think the measure politically expedient, and morally right? Would I not thus give up all footing upon constitution or law? Would I not thus be in the boundless field of absolutism?” [1]
In this letter, Lincoln admitted that he not see clearly a path to presidential Emancipation, but he also revealed a greater struggle with the role of the executive. He delved into the debate over how much power is too much power. The 1860s were not the first time a president had faced such dilemmas. During his presidency, George Washington asked in letter to Edmund Randolph on September 30, 1793:
“Have you ever examined with attention, and with an eye to the case, whether the Constitution, or Laws of the Union, give power to the Executive to change the place of meeting of the Legislature in cases of emergency in the recess?... If you have not, I pray you to do it, and give me the result of your opinion.” [2]
Washington, unsure of his power to move Congress to a new location and was asking the opinion of his new Secretary of State Edmund Randolph. Washington, a hero the Revolution, was uniquely wary of an overly powerful executive, not wanting to drive the new nation back to a state of monarchy. Each president has faced unique questions of power and balance.
Through his writings, Lincoln revealed his debates and opinions on the institution of the presidency. As you explore the resources in each of the four topics, look for similarities between the documents in the questions Lincoln posed and his opinions on the Presidency. By the end of your exploration of the tabs above, you should be able to answer the essential question using evidence form the documents found here to support your argument.
[1] Abraham Lincoln to Salmon P. Chase, September 2, 1863, in Roy P. Basler, ed., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln (8 vols., New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1953), 6: 429-430, http://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/.
[2] George Washington to Edmund Randolph, September 30, 1793, George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress, 1741-1799: Series 2 Letterbooks, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/P?mgw:35:./temp/~ammem_4jIx::. Accessed 7/25/2016.
Background on Lincoln
(Contextualization)
Before you being, check out this short biography of Abraham Lincoln:
Additional Context Sources
"Abraham Lincoln - Mini Biography", Bio.com, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L80_q2tPveo.
About the Editor
Deborah Tyminski is a secondary social studies teacher from Fairfax, Virigina. She earned her BA in History and American Studies from Wellesley College in 2011, and began her teching career in 2013. Most of her time in the classroom has been teaching American history, economics, and government. She has a passion for American history, which she one day hopes to turn into a doctoral degree. She created this site in conjunction with "Understanding Lincoln" graduate course offered through Gilder Lehrman. When not in the classroom, Deborah is an army wife and the mom of a one year old boy and three high energy pups.