Emancipation Proclamation Frees All Slaves

Someone who would suspend habeas corpus isn't devoted to democracy. Maybe the idea of democracy but not the rule of law on which it depends.

And as for a dictatorship being justified in his mind, which dictator hasn't been? As a wise man once said, man isn't a rational animal, he's a rationalising one. Our capacity for self-justification is limitless.

So given the right circumstances, Lincoln could start acting like a dictator?
 
So given the right circumstances, Lincoln could start acting like a dictator?

I think so. If, for example, the Confederates resorted to guerilla warfare after Appomatox and were, say, supported by the French with money and arms, then Lincoln might have gone that far to "preserve the union".
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
If it is issued at the same time as IOTL, I can see the Democrats gaining control of the House of Representatives in the mid-term elections two months later. The Peace Democrats would also be more influential in the party than the War Democrats. Put the two together and Lincoln has a very serious problem.
 
Lets say somehow the EP frees all slaves in the Union, by some quark, decision, or typo.

How does this effect the Civil War?
No effect on slaves under Confederate Rule, anger sedition in the Border States and to the world at large Lincoln looks weak and desperate to edict something he has no power to enforce.
 
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