Emergency Is a Constitution of Its Own

Abraham Lincoln called Congress into special session on July 4, 1861. By then, Fort Sumter had fallen. Eleven states had declared secession. Washington was threatened. Federal property had been seized. The regular army was too small for the war that had begun. And the president had already acted. He had called state militia into federal service. He had expanded the Army and Navy beyond their authorized strength. He had ordered a blockade of Southern ports. He had directed the Treasury to spend money without a congressional appropriation. He had authorized military officers to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus along a route between Philadelphia and Washington. Congress had approved none of these measures in advance. For nearly eleven weeks, the republic was governed in the space between attack and authorization. Lincoln did not describe his actions as a new form of government. He described them as measures necessary to preserve the old one.…