The New York Draft Riots - Civil Disturbances in the Wartime Rear

[Roguish Lawyer]

I have been too busy at work to really deal with this Lincoln issue in any meaningful way, but let me state my intention to address it at length when I get a chance.

Brief outline:

1. Lincoln was great
2. The habeas corpus thing doesn't change that

[Roguish Lawyer]

I am a disciple of Harry Jaffa.

[Airbornelawyer]

Originally posted by Greenhat
I disagree. And I would point to the draft itself as an example of an arbitrary action from which resulted many other arbitrary actions.

Was the draft necessary to win the war? Possibly, but when forced conscription is necessary in order to win the battle, maybe the battle shouldn't have been won.

The draft was the beginning of the slippery slope, and other actions by Lincoln continued the path down and along that path. In my opinion, Lincoln was the first President to start us on the path that led to Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Lyndon Baines Johnson.

We drafted soldiers in World War Two. Should we not have won the battles then?

The introduction of conscription can hardly be called arbitrary by any definition (1. Determined by chance, whim, or impulse, and not by necessity, reason, or principle; 2. Based on or subject to individual judgment or preference; 3. Established by a court or judge rather than by a specific law or statute; 4. Not limited by law; despotic). It was legally enacted after long debate, based on experiences and the circumstances of the war, following numerous other alternatives to provide the necessary manpower. The law as passed had flaws, most notably the commutation fee, but the draft per se was hardly arbitrary.

The Enrollment Act was passed on March 3, 1863. This was two years into the war, four months before Gettysburg, when Union victory was far from assured. The Enrollment Act was debated for months, in Congress and in public. It followed the failure of the traditional methods of raising troops, calling on the states to call up the militia and setting quotas for each state (and bounties to be paid by the state to recruiters), to provide adequate forces.

The Enrollment Act came into effect as the army was looking at one immediate manpower problem - the expiration of 2-year enlistments of many regiments, including New York's 1st through 38th Infantry - and one to follow - the looming expiration by July 1864 of three-year enlistments of some 500,000 soldiers. The problems already encountered by the expirations of 30-day and three-month enlistments back in 1861 were also fresh on people's memories.

Add to this what was happening in the Confederacy. The Confederate Provisional Congress' re-enlistment law of Dec. 11, 1861 (the "bounty and furlough act") having proved disastrous, the Confederate Congress passed a conscription act on April 16, 1862. Under the "Act to further provide for the public defence," the Confederate Congress authorized the President "to call out and place in the military service of the Confederate States, for three years, unless the war shall have been sooner ended, all white men who are residents of the Confederate States, between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five years at the time the call or calls may be made, who are not legally exempted from military service."

The Federal Militia Act of 1862, signed into law on July 17, came in response to the manpower pressures in the North and the Confederate conscription act. Its main change to existing law was to allow the President to call up state militias into national service for up to nine months, rather than three, but it still relied on states to devise the means to fulfill their quotas. General Order No. 94 of August 4, 1862 then directed the states to call up 300,000 militia into Federal service for nine months. The main result of the requirement to enroll in the militia was to spur volunteers. The July and August 1862 call-ups resulted in 508,000 volunteers and draftees - 421,465 three-year enlistees and 86,360 9-month enlistees (the breakdown is unknown, as many states' militia draftees, given the option of joining volunteer regiments, were then counted as volunteers).

This system still relied on states to devise their own drafts to fulfill their quotas, with mixed results and rioting, so the 1863 Enrollment Act was crafted and enacted, more formalizing the process (but still seen primarily as a way of inducing volunteers).

Far from acting arbitrarily, it seems clear Lincoln had thought through the issues:

At the beginning of the war, and ever since, a variety of motives pressing, some in one direction and some in the other, would be presented to the mind of each man physically fit for a soldier, upon the combined effect of which motives, he would, or would not, voluntarily enter the service. Among these motives would be patriotism, political bias, ambition, personal courage, love of adventure, want of employment, and convenience, or the opposites of some of these. We already have, and have had in the service, as appears, substantially all that can be obtained upon the voluntary weighing of motives. And yet we must somehow obtain more, or relinquish the original object of the contest, together with all the blood and treasure already expended in the effort to secure it. To meet this necessity the law for the draft has been enacted. You who do not wish to be soldiers, do not like this law. This is natural; nor does it imply want of patriotism. Nothing can be so just, and necessary, as to make us like it, if it is disagreeable to us.
...
This law was considered, discussed, modified, and amended, by Congress, at great length, and with much labor; and was finally passed, by both branches, with a near approach to unanimity. At last, it may not be exactly such as any one man out of Congress, or even in it Congress, would have made it-- It has been said, and I believe truly, that the Constitution itself is not altogether such as any one of its framers would have preferred. It was the joint work of all; and certainly the better that it was so.
...
The principle of the draft, which simply is involuntary, or enforced service, is not new. It has been practiced in all ages of the world. It was well known to the framers of our Constitution as one of the modes of raising armies, at the time they placed in they instrument the provision that "the Congress shall have power to raise and support armies". It had been used, just before, in establishing our independence; and it was also used under the Constitution in 1812. Wherein is the peculiar hardship now? Shall we shrink from the necessary means to maintain our free government, which our grand-fathers employed to establish it, and our own fathers have already employed once to maintain it? Are we degenerate? Has the manhood of our race run out?
...Again, a law may be both Constitutional and expedient, and yet may be administered in an unjust and unfair way-- This law belongs to a class, which class is composed of those laws whose object is to distribute burdens or benefits on the principle of equality. No one of these laws can ever be practically administered with that exactness which can be conceived of in the mind.
...
This sort of difficulty applies in full force, to the practical administration of the draft law. In fact the difficulty is greater in the case of the draft law-- First, it starts with all the inequality of the Congressional Districts, but these are based on entire population, while the draft is based upon those only who are fit for soldiers, and such may not bear the same proportion to the whole in one District, that they do in another. Again, the facts must be ascertained, and credit given, for the unequal numbers of soldiers which have already gone from the several Districts. In all these points errors will occur in spite of the utmost fidelity. The government is bound to administer the law with such an approach to exactness as is usual in analogous cases, and as entire good faith and fidelity will reach. If so great departures as to be inconsistent with such good faith and fidelity, or great departures occurring in any way, be pointed out, they shall be corrected; and any agent shown to have caused such departures intentionally, shall be dismissed.

With these views, and on these principles, I feel bound to tell you it is my purpose to see the draft law faithfully executed.

I do not object to abide a decision of the United States Supreme Court, or of the judges thereof, on the Constitutionality of the draft law. In fact, I should be willing to facilitate the obtaining of it; but I can not consent to lose the time while it is being obtained. We are contending with an enemy who, as I understand, drives every able bodied man he can reach, into his ranks, very much as a butcher drives bullocks into a slaughter pen. No time is wasted, no argument is used. This produces an army which will soon turn upon our now victorious soldiers already in the field, if they shall not be sustained by recruits, as they should be. It produces an army with a rapidity not to be matched on our side, if we first waste time to re-experiment with the volunteer system, already deemed by Congress, and palpably in fact, so far exhausted, as to be inadequate; and then more time, to obtain a Court decision, as to whether a law is constitutional, which requires a part of those not now in the service, to go to the aid of those who are already in it; and still more time, to determine with absolute certainty, that we get those, who are to go, in the precisely legal proportion, to those who are not to go.

My purpose is to be, in my action, just and Constitutional; and yet practical, in performing the important duty, with which I am charged, of maintaining the unity, and the free principles of our common country.

[Airbornelawyer]

The concept of compulsory military service is far from alien to the American political culture. The concept of the muster dated to colonial times, and was based on the Anglo-Saxon fyrd. Several states used conscription in the American Revolution to fulfill the quotas requested of them, including Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Virginia. On February 6, 1778, the Continental Congress recommended that all states adopt draft laws, but the arrival of French reinforcements forestalled the need for more general conscription.

During the War of 1812, a conscription act was passed, but the war ended before any drafts were undertaken.

Far from being a shift away from basic American ideals toward a centralized government, the Federal Militia Act of 1862 and the Enrollment Act of 1863 (and the Confederate Conscription Act of 1862 for that matter) were seen as a return to the principles of the founding, as set forth in the Uniform Militia Act of 1792.

Under the Uniform Militia Act, Congress mandated "that each and every free able-bodied white male citizen of the respective states, resident therein, who is or shall be of the age of eighteen years, and under the age of forty-five years (except as is herein after excepted) shall severally and respectively be enrolled in the militia by the captain or commanding officer of the company, within whose bounds such citizens shall reside...".

Unless specifically excepted, everyone that language covered was automatically in the militia. It was not a question of volunteering. And under the Militia Clauses of the Constitution, Congress has the power "...to provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;" When called forth, "The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States..."

The 1836-37 Revised Statutes of North Carolina provide an example of how one was to be enrolled:

"That all free white men and white apprentices, citizens of this state, or of the United States, residing in the State, who are or shall be of the age of eighteen, and under the age of forty-five years, shall, as soon as is practicable, be severally and respectively enrolled in the militia of this State, by the captain or commanding officer of the infantry company within the bounds of whose district...such citizen shall reside; and it shall, at all times, be the duty of every captain or commanding officer of any community, to enrol every such citizen, except as hereinafter excepted; and also those between the ages aforesaid, and not exempt by law, who may from time to time, come to reside within the bounds of his district, and remain therein thirty days; and he shall without delay, notify such citizen of his enrolment, by a proper non-commissioned officer of the company, by whom the notice may be given."

The main limitations on Federal power were time - the Uniform Militia Act limited call-ups to 3 months - and state regulation of the militia in peacetime. Regarding the latter, the main reason why the army ran into manpower problems in 1861-1863 was what the states had done to the militias after 1792. The Uniform Militia Act (and the Calling Forth Act also passed that year), while making everyone a member of the militia, ceded almost all authority for organizing the militia to the states. And under Section 2 of the Uniform Militia Act, states found they could exempt almost anyone they wanted from serving: "...all persons who now are or may hereafter be exempted by the laws of the respective states, shall be, and are hereby exempted from militia duty, notwithstanding that their being above the the age of 18 and under the age of 45 years." Further, no penalties were placed on states that failed or refused to create and maintain militias.

States soon began unburdening themselves of the responsibility of maintaining their militias. Taking advantage of Section 2, Massachusetts exempted everyone aged 41-45. Then everyone aged 35-45. Then everyone under 21 and over 30. Other classes of exemptions, such as serving in volunteer fire companies, were added. "Clergymen, schoolmasters, professors and students in colleges, Quakers, engine men, and other large classes of persons" were exempted [quoting the Mass. Supreme Court]. There were other exemptions: in 1855, the state disbanded all militia companies composed primarily of Irishmen.

Most states shifted from a compulsory militia system to a volunteer militia system. According to John K. Mahon (The History of the Militia and the National Guard):

In 1831 Delaware abolished its [militia] system altogether. Massachusetts eliminated compulsory service in 1840, followed by Maine, Ohio, Vermont in 1844, Connecticut and New York in 1846, Missouri in 1847, and New Hampshire in 1851. Indiana classified its militia according to age in 1840, and exempted all but the young men from service. New Jersey withdrew the right to imprison a man for failure to pay a militia fine in 1844; Iowa did the same in 1846, Michigan in 1850, and California in 1856.

The Army did not generally oppose the shift to volunteer militias. The disorganized, ignored in peacetime, militias called up in the War of 1812 were a disaster. By contrast, the volunteer militias generally fought well in the Mexican War (except for the 3,700 one-year men - one third of his force - who abandoned Gen. Scott between Vera Cruz and Mexico City when their enlistment ended).

[Team Sergeant]

I’m beginning to think that AL is not an attorney at all, and is actually the editor for the history channel! (which BTW is one of my favorite channels.)

I sure enjoy the posts AL!

(If you decide to institute the posting of pictures to correlate with the topics we’d most likely see more SEALS join PS.com)

TS

Originally posted by Airbornelawyer
We drafted soldiers in World War Two. Should we not have won the battles then?

The Draft was a mistake in WWII in my opinion. It certainly was not necessary to the winning of the war.

Actually, in my opinion, conscription is always a mistake. Slavery is not any better a thing because it is in the service of the nation.

And militia service, restricted in time and location, is significantly different from conscription that sends men to foreign lands "for the duration".

[Sacamuelas]

Originally posted by Team Sergeant
I’m beginning to think that AL is not an attorney at all, and is actually the editor for the history channel! (which BTW is one of my favorite channels.)

I sure enjoy the posts AL!
TS

Agreed 100%. Some sort of mutant with his ability to seemingly know everything and never be exposed for posting incorrect facts.

Just another, yet NEW, reason I hate lawyers. LOL Just kidding AL, you are a credit to your profession.

Now RL OTOH, well he is smart, but we just never post topics or questions that are "not in his area of expertise"! hahaha

[Airbornelawyer]

Originally posted by Team Sergeant
(If you decide to institute the posting of pictures to correlate with the topics we’d most likely see more SEALS join PS.com)

Pictures?

From Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, August 1, 1863, a depiction of Capt. Schirmer's German artillerymen and New York militiamen (note the Zouave pantaloons) dispersing rioters at the site of the lynching of Abraham Franklin:

[Airbornelawyer]

Though not particularly sympathetic to poor Irishmen, England was sympathetic to the Confederacy, so this depiction in the August 15, 1863 edition of The Illustrated London News of soldier and rioters on 1st Avenue between 18th and 19th Streets paints the rioters more favorably than Republican-owned papers in the US did:

[Airbornelawyer]

At 600kB far too big to attach, but here's a link to the Uniform Militia Act of 1792, as published in the Columbian Centinel of June 2, 1792: http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyame...on/ccjune2.jpg

[Airbornelawyer]

Originally posted by Greenhat
The Draft was a mistake in WWII in my opinion. It certainly was not necessary to the winning of the war.

Actually, in my opinion, conscription is always a mistake. Slavery is not any better a thing because it is in the service of the nation.

And militia service, restricted in time and location, is significantly different from conscription that sends men to foreign lands "for the duration".

As regards your last point, it does not apply to Mr. Lincoln's draft. Enrolling Act of March 3, 1863, Section 11: "And be it further enacted, That all persons thus enrolled shall be subject, for two years after the first day of July succeeding the enrolment, to be called into the military service of the United States, and to continue in service during the present rebellion, not, however, exceeding the term of three years; and when called into service shall be placed on the same footing, in all respects, as volunteers for three years, or during the war, including advance pay and bounty as now provided by law." [emphasis added]

It does apply to Mr. Roosevelt's. The Selective Service and Training Act of 1940 was amended after Pearl Harbor to lengthen the term of service from one year to the duration plus six months.

As for conscription = slavery, I find that a difficult viewpoint to credit. It is certainly not true as a matter of law or American tradition. Not being either an anarchist or a Rothbardian libertarian, I don't consider it true as a moral principle. Human liberty is about duties as well as rights.

Do you consider military service to be slavery? The military has laws against desertion. As Rothbard argues "In addition to demanding the end of conscription, then, the libertarian also proposes to do away with the entire concept of a term of enlistment and the practice of slavery this implies." (of course, in the Rothbard school, jury duty = slavery, anti-strike laws = slavery, taxation = slavery, subpoenas = slavery, among other things).

Originally posted by Airbornelawyer
As regards your last point, it does not apply to Mr. Lincoln's draft. Enrolling Act of March 3, 1863, Section 11: "And be it further enacted, That all persons thus enrolled shall be subject, for two years after the first day of July succeeding the enrolment, to be called into the military service of the United States, and to continue in service during the present rebellion, not, however, exceeding the term of three years; and when called into service shall be placed on the same footing, in all respects, as volunteers for three years, or during the war, including advance pay and bounty as now provided by law." [emphasis added]

It does apply to Mr. Roosevelt's. The Selective Service and Training Act of 1940 was amended after Pearl Harbor to lengthen the term of service from one year to the duration plus six months.

3 years service, starting in 1863, in the South. How is that not service in a foreign land for the duration? You do know the Civil War ended in 1865, don't you? And the South was very much a foreign land.

As for conscription = slavery, I find that a difficult viewpoint to credit. It is certainly not true as a matter of law or American tradition. Not being either an anarchist or a Rothbardian libertarian, I don't consider it true as a moral principle. Human liberty is about duties as well as rights.

Duties and rights. Correct. Freely taken on duties and rights. How do you describe slavery? I describe it as the forced labor of humans for others for the gain of the others. Isn't that what conscription is?

Do you consider military service to be slavery? The military has laws against desertion. As Rothbard argues "In addition to demanding the end of conscription, then, the libertarian also proposes to do away with the entire concept of a term of enlistment and the practice of slavery this implies." (of course, in the Rothbard school, jury duty = slavery, anti-strike laws = slavery, taxation = slavery, subpoenas = slavery, among other things).

No, I don't consider military service slavery (not under voluntary enlistment or commissioning) because the servicemember agrees to the terms of the service. The terms are voluntary, not forced.

[Roguish Lawyer]

Greenhat, it is nice to see someone who is philosophically consistent. Although I consider myself generally to be a libertarian, I am more of a conservative on certain issues. The draft is one of them. I believe that conscription, while a bad thing, can be necessary and justified on traditional social contract grounds.

[Roguish Lawyer]

OK, not what I promised, but I like this to start this off:

http://www.americanpresident.org/his...brahamlincoln/

Biography: A Life in Brief

When Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860, seven slave states left the Union to form the Confederate States of America, and four more joined when hostilities began between the North and South. A bloody civil war then engulfed the nation as Lincoln vowed to preserve the Union, enforce the laws of the United States, and end the secession. The war lasted for more than four years with a staggering loss of over 600,000 Americans dead. Midway through the war, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all slaves within the Confederacy and changed the war from a battle to preserve the Union into a battle for freedom. He was the first Republican President, and Union victory ended forever the claim that state sovereignty superseded federal authority. Killed by an assassin's bullet less than a week after the surrender of Confederate forces, Lincoln left the nation a more perfect Union and thereby earned the admiration of most Americans as the country's greatest President.

Born dirt-poor in a log cabin in Kentucky in 1809, Lincoln grew up in frontier Kentucky and Indiana, where he was largely self-educated, with a taste for jokes, hard work, and books. He served for a time as a soldier in the Black Hawk War, taught himself law, and held a seat in the Illinois state legislature as a Whig politician in the 1830s and 1840s. From state politics, he moved to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1847, where he voiced his opposition to the U.S. war with Mexico. In the mid-1850s, Lincoln left the Whig Party to join the new Republican Party. In 1858, he went up against one of the most popular politicians in the nation, Senator Stephen Douglas, in a contest for the U.S. Senate. Lincoln lost that election, but his spectacular performance against Douglas in a series of nationally covered debates made him a contender for the 1860 Republican presidential nomination.


Fighting for Unity and Freedom

In the 1860 campaign for President, Lincoln firmly expressed his opposition to slavery and his determination to limit the expansion of slavery westward into the new territories acquired from Mexico in 1850. His election victory created a crisis for the nation, as many southern Democrats feared that it would just be a matter of time before Lincoln would move to kill slavery in the South. Rather than face a future in which black people might become free citizens, much of the white South supported secession. This reasoning was based upon the doctrine of states' rights, which placed ultimate sovereignty with the states.

Lincoln vowed to preserve the Union even if it meant war. He eventually raised an army and navy of nearly 3 million northern men to face a southern army of over 2 million soldiers. In battles fought from Virginia to California (but mainly in Virginia, in the Mississippi River Valley, and along the border states) a great civil war tore the United States apart. In pursuing victory, Lincoln assumed extralegal powers over the press, declared martial law in areas where no military action justified it, quelled draft riots with armed soldiers, and drafted soldiers to fight for the Union cause. No President in history had ever exerted so much executive authority, but he did so not for personal power but in order to preserve the Union. In 1864, as an example of his limited personal ambitions, Lincoln refused to call off national elections, preferring to hold the election even if he lost the vote rather than destroy the democratic basis upon which he rested his authority. With the electoral support of Union soldiers, many of whom were given short leaves to return home to vote, and thanks to the spectacular victory of Union troops in General Sherman's capture of Atlanta, Lincoln was decisively reelected.

What started as a war to preserve the Union and vindicate democracy became a battle for freedom and a war to end slavery when Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in January of 1863. Although the Proclamation did not free all slaves in the nation -- indeed, no slaves outside of the Confederacy were affected by the Proclamation -- it was an important symbolic gesture that identified the Union with freedom and the death of slavery. As part of the Proclamation, Lincoln also urged black males to join the Union forces as soldiers and sailors. By the end of the war, nearly two hundred thousand African Americans had fought for the Union cause, and Lincoln referred to them as indispensable in ensuring Union victory.


Personal Tragedies and Triumphs

While the war raged, Lincoln also suffered great personal anguish over the death of his beloved son and the depressed mental condition of his wife, Mary. The pain of war and personal loss affected him deeply, and he often expressed his anguish by turning to humor and by speaking eloquently about the meaning of the great war which raged across the land. His Gettysburg Address, delivered after the Battle of Gettysburg, as well as his second inaugural in 1865, are acknowledged to be among the great orations in American history.

Almost all historians judge Lincoln as the greatest President in American history because of the way he exercised leadership during the war and because of the impact of that leadership on the moral and political character of the nation. He conceived of his presidential role as unique under the Constitution in times of crisis. Lincoln was convinced that within the branches of government, the presidency alone was empowered not only to uphold the Constitution, but also to preserve, protect, and defend it. In the end, however, Lincoln is measured by his most lasting accomplishments: the preservation of the Union, the vindication of democracy, and the death of slavery -- accomplishments achieved by acting "with malice towards none" in the pursuit of a more perfect and equal union.

[Roguish Lawyer]

Another one:

http://www.enterstageright.com/archi...301lincoln.htm

Abraham Lincoln: America's greatest president

By Charles A. Morse
web posted March 26, 2001

Abraham Lincoln was the nation's greatest president because he saved the Republic from it's gravest crisis. In the process of doing so, he abolished the barbarous institution of slavery. Lincoln confronted an extensive conspiracy to destroy the Union and through the force of his leadership, personality, perseverance, and courage, he saved the day. While Lincoln condemned slavery, he viewed it as a states right at the time of his election in 1860. This raises questions concerning why, upon his election, some states chose to secede from the Union.


Lincoln on February 5, 1865
The issue of slavery was pulling the nation apart in the decades leading up to the secession crisis of 1860-1861. There was a growing awareness that slavery, the idea of a human being owning another human being as property, was immoral and contradicted stated American precepts. The practical maintenance of slavery was requiring an expansion of federal power. Slave states, while advocating states rights, demanded federal intervention in support of slavery.

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 required federal marshals to hunt down and arrest slaves who had escaped to free states. In Boston, soldiers battled an angry crowd who were trying to stop the arrest of an escaped slave. A policemen was killed in the melee and the escaped slave was hauled back to captivity. Essentially, slavery was extended into the free states through federal enforcement. This added fuel to the abolitionist fire.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 gutted laws going back to the Northwest Ordinance, enacted by the pre-Constitution Articles of Confederation, which prohibited slavery in certain territories. After 1854, all territories could choose slavery which led to virtual war in Kansas between pro- and anti- slave forces. As a result of the infamous Dred Scott decision of 1857, by the Supreme Court, no Black, slave or free, living in a slave or free state, had any rights at all. This was the most blatant act of judicial activism in American history.

Slavery, over time, resulted in the development of two separate cultures and economies. Slave states tended to be agrarian with wealth and power concentrated in the hands of large plantation owners. Free states increasingly industrialized and experienced an emerging middle class with the proliferation of small business and small property ownership. Civil War historian Bruce Catton quotes Lincoln on the cause of secession: "[C]ombinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary machinery of peacetime government had assumed control of various Southern states."

Based on contemporary writings, Lincoln was most likely referring to the Knights of the Golden Circle, a secretive fraternal organization that counted amongst it's over 65 000 members, the "brains" of the south as well as influential northerners. KGC founder, Dr. George W.L. Bickley derived the name for his organization from his plan to create a huge slaveholding empire stretching from the southern states through Mexico and Central America and circling Cuba in the center. Bickley stated that if Lincoln was elected president, "Washington, not Mexico, would become the target."

Britain and France positioned themselves to enter the war on the side of the South. Britain sent 11 000 troops to Canada while France installed Archduke Maximilian as emperor of Mexico. French troops were poised on the Texas border. America was encircled. Lincoln responded with a naval blockade and a military alliance with Russia. Russian ships would make their way to New York and San Francisco harbors.

Lincoln also faced draft riots in major northern cities the most deadly occurring in Manhattan. Pro- southern Copperheads, with ties to the Confederate KGC, conspired to create a "Northwest Confederacy" in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota and Michigan by seizing federal arsenals and releasing Confederate prisoners. Lincoln stated "The enemy behind us is more dangerous to the country than the enemy before us."

Lincoln, before being sworn in as president, was faced with the rebellion of eleven southern states. He faced a subversive conspiracy in the north that would make the Communist conspiracy of the 20th century look like child's play. He faced a military threat from Britain and France, the world's two superpowers at the time, both of whom were siding with the insurrection. He was also faced with intrigue from the international banking establishment, a subject that will be covered at a later date. Lincoln faced down all of these threats and triumphed. He was an indispensable man and we owe him an enormous debt of gratitude.

Chuck Morse is the author of Thunder out of Boston which you can buy at Amazon.com.