It is well-known that Abraham Lincoln launched an invasion without consulting Congress as the Constitution stipulated, but what is less well-known is his instructing his police to imprison thousands of dissident Northerners, lettres de cachet flying fast and furious; suspending the writ of habeas corpus; arresting critical newspaper editors and publishers and shutting down their telegraph communications; using troops to intimidate voters; remanding dissenting “copperheads” to Fort Lafayette, an institution earmarked for political prisoners; and compelling the judiciary to adjudicate on his behalf — for the most part, the judiciary complied. As we find in Roy Basler’s The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln was even ready to imprison any citizen who had the temerity to remain silent and not support his war aims. After all, Lincoln had a war to fight.
