All the Laws but One

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.

Year

1998

Language

English

Publisher

Vintage

Editions

1

Pages

288

ISBN

9780679767329

Data source: Wikidata