How Lincoln Helped to Change a Mostly Constitutional Government - Essay Example

How Lincoln helped change a mostly Constitutional government into what we have now. Introduction Abraham Lincolns contribution to America places him as one of America’s most famous presidents. His actions and beliefs, during his time as president, laid the foundations that saw America gain world domination by the early 20th century. Before entering the White House, he disliked. Since entering politics in 1846, Abraham objected the country’s stand on slavery and war against Mexico over the State of Texas. During his presidency, Abraham fought for the freedom of all men, regardless of color and ethnicity and abolished slavery during his term as president (Edison 45). The abolition of slavery is, and always will be, Abraham Lincoln’s legacy to Americans. Other than abolition, he is credited for converting America from a constitutional government to a central government. He also led the Union to victory the American civil war of 1861-1862 and led to the creation of a strong federal government. This essay will discuss the significance of Abraham Lincoln’s actions during his presidency and the effect they had on the American government. Body After his inauguration in 1860, Lincoln faced numerous challenges during his time as the president. He entered office while America’s political landscape was changing rapidly. After his inauguration, the nation enjoyed several weeks of peace until the civil war broke out. The parameters of the Civil War dictated his presidency. During his presidency, Lincoln handled both political and war matters. His presidency was and is, judged by the way that he intricately balanced the two. Abraham Lincoln led the country during the turbulent times that followed his election and the secession of the southern states from the union. He accomplished this together with winning the civil war; in the process maintaining the democratic principles that formed the nation. Being a war president, Lincoln was in the helm of reconstructing of the nation, and he did so through various channels. His principles for a central government stayed, despite being assassinated amid his presidency (Gallagher 67). Belief in a Strong Central Government Abraham Lincoln main motivation while in office was to save the Union together with the purity of its principles. Upon being the president, Abraham vowed to do everything within his might to save the union. For this reason, majority of Americans regard him as the father of the central government. Despite his inclination for a central government, he wanted to preserve the constitution and its principles on democracy. In addition to the civil war being a war on secession, it was also about the governance of the union. The north advocated for a central government while the south championed for the supremacy of the states (Parish 12). The south was keen on continuing the practice of slavery and that the states controlled themselves thorough state rights. The constitution, according to Abraham, did not object the practice of slavery. The Constitutions stand on slavery made the southerners advocate for states sovereignty and not a central government. This tug of war of the federalists and the anti-federalists was as old as America itself. Lincoln view of the declaration of independence was odd compared to that of other presidents before and after him. To him, the declaration of independence contained two documents instead of one. He called the first document a the revolutionary document listing the violations committed by the crown, which advocated for colonialism and slavery. The real Declaration was the second part that stated that all men were created equal. This created the fundamental truth and foundation that made the country great. In numerous occasions, the Declaration of Independence assisted him during the civil war. In relating the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, Abraham saw a relationship that many overlooked. The Declaration was the apple of gold, and the Constitution a picture of silver framing the apple. The Constitutions purpose of the constitution was to preserve the Declaration. The Declaration was the primary founding document of America and not the Constitution. The latter was to facilitate and preserve the former. The Constitution, however, did not grant the central government enough authority to lead the states. It only allowed for the existence of a limited government. A limited government did not grant enough power to the president to abolish slavery. Furthermore, the constitution did not establish a complete union between the states. After the civil war, Abraham was able to abolish slavery and forge a more complete union between the Northern and Southern states. His actions make Lincoln the supreme nationalist in the American history, as his belief of the central government was unwavering. His placement of the nation above everything else overshadowed his abolition of slavery. The nation prior to the presidency of Lincoln observer strident Americanism, excessive legalism and cultural chauvinism. From a political perspective, the free government, before his reign, laid more emphasis on the people neglecting the state. The same was true for the economics that were prevalent during this period. In 1862, Lincoln sought to resolve this by declaring the nation comprised of three components: the territory, the people and the laws. Saving the union, according to Abraham, would herald new freedoms in America and its future. Saving the union did not motivate Abraham during the civil war. This war, in Abraham’s eyes, was a war for the Declaration of Independence and what it stood for; the American Dream. Establishing America as a Union and the abolition of slavery were the steps required in achieving this dream. Slavery was a moral issue threatening the unity of the union and Lincoln vowed to end it. In his Gettysburg address, he referred to the country needing a new birth of freedom. The war was his way of reconstructing the nation according to principles that would have everlasting effects. He took upon himself to reconstruct the nation and in the process, he enlarged the national power. However, in the process Lincoln violated the Constitution severally. First, he suspended the writ of habeas corpus and did not lift the suspension even on order of the then Chief Justice, R. B. Taney. He further imposed martial law over his opponents, and they never experienced the due process. In addition, he used the nation’s treasury without the authorization of congress. Despite violating the constitution in numerous occasions, Lincoln never lived to hear the ruling of the Supreme Court over his actions after the war (Lehman & Nolt 226). Abraham’s actions during his reign as the 16th president of America was to enable national power would grow. He did so by wagering a war against the proponents of secession and by expanding the Constitution. He did the latter by adding the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished the institution of slavery. The liberation of slaves as mentioned earlier expanded the national or central government and he used the Congress to enforce this. How He Helped Lead the Country to Civil War Various people during Lincoln’s time interpreted the Civil war differently with the majority being of the opinion that the president was against secession. Lincoln, on the other hand, was not motivated by ending secession during the civil war; his reason for the war was slavery. At the time, one-eighth of the American population comprised of colored slaves and majority of the slaves were in the Southern States (Walker 49). Lincoln referred the slaves as one-eighth of the nation, subtly noting that they too formed the nation. The Southern states practiced slavery as it gave them power that did not augur with Lincoln. The war, for Lincoln and the rebellious southerners, was unexpected and lacked proper planning. It had begun shortly after his inauguration into the White House after the secession. The two parties in the war, the USA and the Confederacy States of America, had not prepared for the war. The magnitude and duration of the war were unprecedented for both parties. At the beginning of the civil war, neither party had expectations in the end. Surprisingly, both parties looked forward to easy triumphs. Nevertheless, the abolition of slavery was the result of this war (Ford 64). The civil war prompted Abraham Lincoln to become the Commander-in-Chief, a role he lacked expertise. Despite his political prowess, Lincoln did not have any military background (Schwartz 25). His only experience was as a captain during the Black Hawk War and his unit saw not action. His southern adversary, on the other hand, had a military background that prepared him for the war. Lincoln learned military strategy and history during the civil war. The civil war did not favor the United States of America as 25 percent of its army joined the confederacy on the eve of the war. Majority of the Union’s army comprised of volunteers, and this is because of Lincoln’s appointments. The president appointed political leaders with little or no military training as his military leaders. This appointment seemed bizarre at the time, but these leaders later contributed to the volunteering of people into the Union Army (Kearns 35). The president, during the first year of the war, sought to keep both the Unionist and Northern anti-abolitionists in his coalition. The delicate balance between the border slave states determined the outcome of the civil war. How This Lead To A More Powerful Federal Government. The civil war and its outcome were significant in the history of American federalism. All outcomes in the war would have a significant impact on the United States. Victory to the South would have resulted into the destruction of the Union consequently the end of the federal system. The southerners justified their secession through the constitution’s provision of state sovereignty. This rebelliousness stood in the way of the Union, and the federal system in general, and this debacle between the states and the Union was the creation of the Founders (Ritter 140). Abraham Lincoln prior to assuming the office of the President locked horns with Stephen Douglas on nationalism. Douglas advocated for the state-rights doctrine of federalism and emphasized the on state-sovereignty. This stand made him a favorite in the eyes of the south for the presidency (Burlingame 34). Douglas saw the Union as the Confederacy of sovereign and equal states. Lincoln, on the other hand, saw the Union as the Union of people, created equal and working to achieve the same goals. The nation was a community of people and that included the slaves. The tension among states was a characteristic of the federal system at the time as Douglas put it. This did not augur well with the future president, Lincoln advocated for state relations that would promote harmony and unity (Smith 86). Slavery was a major topic of discussion before and after Lincoln assumed office. Douglas, during their debates, viewed slavery as an exclusive matter that each state would handle how they saw fit. It was a state issue and it would be handled as such. In Lincoln’s view, on the other hand, slavery was a national issue that required the attention of the nation as a whole (Rawley 21). He carried this notion and enforced it after he being elected the president of the nation. In describing the nation, Lincoln regarded the Union as older than the individual states that formed it. He regarded the American citizens as the creators of both the states and the Union. The civil war was his war against the rebellious southerners and not the Southern states. His speech in the Gettysburg address articulates his view of the Union; the Union was a creation of the Founding fathers and not the states (Fletcher 102). The states could not exist outside the Union. He states the government was “of the people, by the people and for the people. The dual federalist stand assumed by Stephen Douglas and the southerners was in contradiction to Lincoln’s dream for the nation. The constitution was very unclear on the relationship between the states and the federal institutions American’s independence. The constitution, in a way, advocated for the secession of states and ultimately compromised the Union. In his first Inaugural address of the nation, Lincoln defended the liberty of persons and the Union and regarded secession as a lawless rebellion. During the civil war, Lincoln did everything in his power to preserve and protect the Union. In retrospect, the civil war determined the nature of the Union together with its stand on the legality of slavery. Lincoln exercised his executive powers during the civil war to uphold the Founding fathers dream of the nation (Brewer 67). The Founding Fathers sought to create a federal republican Union. After the war, the seceded southern states sought readmission into the Union. The condition to their re-admittance into the union was to support the reconstruction amendments, which laid the foundation of the federal republican liberty of the nation. The reconstruction amendments include the thirteenth, fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments that dictated the principles of self-governance of the nation. These amendments limited the powers of individual states and established the fundamental civil rights of the freed people (Dirck 78). The states surrendered some of their powers to the central government ultimately establishing the federal government. Abraham Lincoln is one of America’s greatest presidents if not the greatest. His presidency was marred by rebellions that attacked the fundamental principles of the Union, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Lincoln clarified the nature and extent of the Union and fulfilled the Constitution. The Civil War and the re-establishment of the Union led by Abraham Lincoln completed the wishes of the Founding Fathers. Works Cited Brewer, Paul. The American Civil War. Austin, Tex: Raintree Steck-Vaughn, 1999. Print. Burlingame, Michael. Abraham Lincoln: A Life. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012. Internet resource. Dirck, Brian R. Lincoln and the Constitution. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2012. Print. Edison, Erin. Abraham Lincoln. North Mankato, Minn: Capstone Press, 2013. Print. Fletcher, George P. Our Secret Constitution: How Lincoln Redefined American Democracy. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Internet resource. Ford, Carin T. The American Civil War: An Overview. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers, 2004. Print. Gallagher, Gary E. The American Civil War. Oxford: Osprey Publ, 2003. Print. Lehman, J. & Nolt, S. Mennonites, Amish, and the American Civil War. NY: JHU Press, 2011. Print. Parish, Peter J. The American Civil War. New York: Holmes & Meier Publishers, 1975. Print. Kearns Goodwin, Doris. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. Illustrated. N.p.: Simon and Schuster, 2006. Print. Rawley, James A. Abraham Lincoln and a Nation Worth Fighting for. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2003. Print. Top of Form Ritter, Charles F. Leaders of the American Civil War: A Biographical and Historiographical Dictionary. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 1998. Print. Bottom of Form Schwartz, Barry. Abraham Lincoln and the Forge of National Memory. Chicago [u.a.: Univ. of Chicago Press, 2000. Print. Top of Form Smith, Adam I. P. The American Civil War. Basingstoke [u.a.: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. Print. Walker Howe, Daniel. Making the American Self: Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln. N.p.: Oxford University Press, 2009. Print. Read More