I see I’ve started a monster. An entertaining monster, I’ll admit, but a monster nonetheless. I will refrain from addressing my O.P. as I’m sure it will only result in more egg (egg I’m sure that will be used in the baking of a cake) on my face. Thanks for trying Tracer, but I’m gathering it’s a lost cause.
I think that his actions were justified in that case. The Constitution allows Habeus Corpus to be suspended in times of national emergency. The debatable question is, “Who has the power to suspend it; Congress or the President” I think Lincoln’s thoughts at the time were, “Well, the capital is surrounded by the traitors, and the troops that are supposed to come down to protect Washington are being blocked in Maryland. Meanwhile, traitors are formally meeting in Maryland, and probably plan to declare secession. Congress isn’t in town, so they can’t suspend habeus corpus. Aw, fuck it. I’m going to arrest them. I’ll deal with the consequences, because I’m not going to have the capital isolated. They want to impeach me or something, let them.”
You could say that Lincoln wanted to have his cake and eat it too. 
philsGT500, maybe when you have more time, you can tell us reasons you dislike Lincoln. That way, there will be specific points to discuss.
My favorite president’s name is Millard Fillmore. I love that name, and I don’t know why.
BTW, has anyone seen the new Ben & Jerry’s TWISTED ice cream. They take two different ice cream flavors and mix them together!
It’s scrum-diddly-dumptious!!
Just to throw a fact or two into the breach:
So, pretty clear justification for suspension by someone (“when in Cases of Rebellion…the public Safety may require it”). I will note that the paragraph in question is contained in the article dealing with the powers of Congress (and more specifically, with a section dealing with stuff Congress can’t do, like suspend habeas corpus, unless there’s a really overriding need to do so). So, Lincoln appears to have overstepped his bounds there. Whether or not this makes him a cruel tyrant, maddened by power-lust, his hands covered with the blood of innocents, worse than Caligula, worse than Attila the Hun, worse than Genghis Khan, worse than Nixon, etc., etc., etc., is more debatable.
Let this be a lesson to you, philsGT500.
Lincoln used the suspension of the writ also for newspaper editors he disagreed with. But I hardly think that his suspension of the writ, which IIRC Congress did not try to override or object to, is the extent of the case for Lincoln being a “least favorite” President, that doesn’t keep this thread from being a troll in any way. It’s peanuts. MMMMMMmmmmm peanut butter cake.
Nor does this make him a tyrant. A tyrant is someone who exercizes a power that no one has. Technically he usurped a power that Congress had. That makes him a usurper in this instance.
If people want to go ahead and feed the troll, well alright. But a better response would be a thread about Lincoln, the good, the bad and the ugly (poor guy).
Personally, I prefer custard with my cake, rather than ice cream
Lincoln also appropriated private property without giving the owners just compensation. I think thats sometimes used as a strike against him.
Me though, I thought freeing the slaves was a fine idea.
I don’t think the idea was his
But as everyone knows Lincoln as a boy had to eat his cake by the light of a single candle.
Yes, but he thought that he could get away with it - “The world will little note nor long remember…”
I thought he ate his cake with his coal shovel…
I heard that, when Lincoln was a boy, he had to walk twenty miles through the snow to the bakery, to get his cake.
and it was uphill both ways.
Probably had to cook it himself when he got there too…
One of the more controversial episodes in the Lincoln-Douglas debates was the ice-cream-versus-cake exchange.
Someone refresh my memory on another point, though. Was Kansas admitted to the Union as a free ice cream state?
Yes, even though Senator Douglas’s plan was that the people vote on whether to have ice cream or not.
Looky here, Sparky. If you want a debate, don’t rely on other people to read your mind. I’d say shit or get off the pot, but clearly you’ve already decided upon the latter.
Fine, but what does that have to do with cake?
Pennies are annoying.
Hot apple pie and cold vanilla ice cream. Mmmmm…