One of the freedoms that the First Amendment protects is the freedom of speech which is why I find the time of the Civil War to be so interesting. Lincoln was elected in 1860, one year before the Civil War began. Within the first year of the war, Lincoln created a law suspending Habeas Corpus. This basically meant that the government would quiet all anti-war comments. Doesn’t this go against the First Amendment? The First Amendment is about the people and states that Congress shall make no law against the usage of speech and press.
Lincoln believed that the south was trying to expand slavery into the north and that this was unacceptable. However, there were a lot of people with opposing views which caused Lincoln to pass the law, in hopes of quieting the pro-slavery side. It is known that the government tends to lean more towards going to war than not, therefore, people who were anti-war seemed to be a threat towards the government. This ultimately led Congress to defend themselves.
Let me know what you think about this case and if you believe that Lincoln was being ethical or unethical when passing this law.
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