During the Civil War, the state of Missouri presented President
Abraham Lincoln, United States military commanders, and state
officials with an array of complex and difficult problems. Although
Missouri did not secede, a large minority of residents owned
slaves, sympathized with secession, or favored the Confederacy.
Many residents joined a Confederate state militia, became
pro-Confederate guerrillas, or helped the cause of the South in
some subversive manner. In order to subdue such disloyalty, Lincoln
supported Missouri's provisional Unionist government by ordering
troops into the state and approving an array of measures that
ultimately infringed on the civil liberties of residents. In this
thorough investigation of these policies, Dennis K. Boman reveals
the difficulties that the president, military officials, and state
authorities faced in trying to curb traitorous activity while
upholding the spirit of the United States Constitution. Boman
explains that despite Lincoln's desire to disentangle himself from
Missouri policy matters, he was never able to do so.
Lincoln's challenge in Missouri continued even after the United
States Army defeated the state's Confederate militia. Attention
quickly turned to preventing Confederate guerrillas from attacking
Missouri's railway system and from ruthlessly murdering, pillaging,
and terrorizing loyal inhabitants. Eventually military officials
established tribunals to prosecute captured insurgents. In his role
as commander-in-chief, Lincoln oversaw these tribunals and worked
with Missouri governor Hamilton R. Gamble in establishing
additional policies to repress acts of subversion while
simultaneously protecting constitutional rights -- an incredibly
difficult balancing act.
For example, while supporting the suppression of disloyal
newspapers and the arrest of persons suspected of aiding the enemy,
Lincoln repealed orders violating property rights when they
conflicted with federal law. While mitigating the severity of
sentences handed down by military courts, Boman shows, Lincoln
advocated requiring voters and officeholders to take loyalty oaths
and countenanced the summary execution of guerrillas captured with
weapons in the field.
One of the first books to explore Lincoln's role in dealing with
an extensive guerrilla insurgency, Lincoln and Citizens' Rights in
Civil War Missouri illustrates the difficulty of suppressing
dissent while upholding the Constitution, a feat as complicated
during the Civil War as it is for the War on Terror.
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