April 15, 1861.
He relies implicitly on the fictions that secession is not
only unconstitutional but impossible.
The secessionist states have not left the union but suffer a
condition of ongoing insurrection and rebellion.
He prepares war against them by appeal to his duty as
president to see that the laws are faithfully executed.
Usurping congressional power (the congress is not then in
session), he calls out for 75,000 militia for use in restoring order.
Before the year is out he will again usurp a congressional power
and suspend Habeas Corpus.
May 10, 1861.
By late 1862 the congress had resorted to a draft.
The public was not entirely receptive, even in the North.
And so he suspended Habeas Corpus everywhere.
No one has constitutional authority to do that, not even the
congress.
The point was to enable him to ignore civilian courts and
prosecute even draft resisters in courts martial, and hold them in military detention
without benefit of Habeas Corpus.
September 24, 1862.
Congress admitted West Virginia to the union and Lincoln
proclaimed the admission on April 20, 1863.
Article IV, Section 3, clause 1
New States may be
admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or
erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by
the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the
Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.
Did Virginia consent, do you think?
Recall that a power assigned by the constitution cannot be
re-assigned or transferred by statute.
September 15, 1863.
Note those pesky draft resisters, again.
There would be more of the same sort as the war went on.
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