Publication

1998 - Knopf, New York, New York (State)

Language

English

Word Count

63,500 words, Guess

Page Count

254 pages

Identifiers

and 3 more
  • Library of Congress Control Number98012641
  • LibraryThing320177
  • Goodreads4954251

Classifications

  • DDC342.73/085
  • LCCKF4750 .R44 1998

Description

In 1861, with the survival of the United States in jeopardy, Abraham Lincoln - the Great Emancipator and champion of human freedom - responded to the national threat by suspending the writ of habeas corpus, a traditional bulwark of individual liberty. Lincoln's decision reveals in stark terms a conflict inherent in the practice of American democracy, and in this absorbing new study the Chief Justice of the United States examines the inevitable clash between the demands of a successful war effort and the compelling need to protect civil liberties. Taking his title from Lincoln's speech before Congress defending his suspension of the writ, William H. Rehnquist relates in vivid detail how the exigencies of wartime have strained, threatened, and ultimately confirmed our most cherished civil liberties.

First Sentence

"A COLD DRIZZLE of rain was falling February 11 when Lincoln and his party of fifteen were to leave Springfield on the eight o'clock at the Great Western Railway Station.

Subjects

Topics

HistoryCivil rightsHabeas corpusLaw and legislationUnited States Civil War, 1861-1865Habeas corpus -- United States -- HistoryCivil rights -- United States -- History -- 19th century

Places

Other Editions

  • All the laws but one: civil liberties in wartimeKnopf1998-01-01

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