HIUS 151 MidtermDuncan 1
Kermit Hall and Peter Karsten co-authored a book in which they said “From the CivilWar through World War I startling changes characterized every aspect of life in the UnitedStates.” They believe that changes in law that occurred during that period reflected changes insociety. I agree with that statement. Certain laws, rules, regulations, statutes and Constitutionalamendments came about as a response to those important changes that were taking place in thenation. Some changes, though significant, were temporary, while others endured and arereflected in contemporary law.The first major societal change to take place was the Civil War. With the start of the CivilWar, President Lincoln became Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, which gave himexecutive power. Lincoln utilized this executive power to blockade the South, appropriate moneyas he saw fit, expand the size of the army, institute a military draft, and suspend Writ of HabeasCorpus, even though it was in dispute whether or not President Lincoln had the right to do so (
Ex Parte Maryman
). Lincoln banned some newspapers and took control of telegraph wires andlines. Northern civilians were arrested and put into military prisons where they just sat, withouttrials, until the war ended (
Ex Parte Milligan)
. Since revenue had to be generated to support thewar, businessmen were required, for the first time, to keep books (
Internal Revenue Laws
). Withthe end of the war, regulation by government was dropped.While originally the object of the Civil War, as stated by President Lincoln in July of 1861, was to “defend and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution and maintain the Union,”eventually the war evolved into a fight over slavery. Southern plantation owners depended uponslavery for labor. Their investment was in essence wiped out by The Emancipation Proclamation,which “issued on January 1, 1863, sealed the fate of slavery and led inevitably to areconstruction of the South without bondage.” (Urofsky & Finkelamn, 430)
However, PresidentLincoln was unsure if he possessed authority to free the slaves. The question of legal authority
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