Emergency PowersDuring the Civil War, Lincoln appropriated

powers no previous President had wielded: He used his war powers to proclaim a blockadeHe suspended the writ of habeas corpus

Habeas corpus is a legal action through which a person can seek relief from the unlawful detention of him or herself, or of another person.

He spent money before Congress appropriated it

He imprisoned between 15,000 and 18,000 suspected Confederate sympathizers without trial.

The Gettysburg AddressIn just over two minutes,

Lincoln invoked the principles of human equality written in the Declaration of Independence and redefined the Civil War as a struggle not merely for the Union, but as "a new birth of freedom" that would bring true equality to all of its citizens, and that would also create a unified nation in which states' rights were no longer dominant.

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