Exploring the Limits of Presidential Power after 9/11

Lessons from Abraham Lincoln's Use of Executive Power during the Civil War

Washington, DC--The use of discretionary executive power by presidents grows in times of national crisis. Constitutions can limit that expansion, but only if the extraordinary use of executive power is exercised openly and temporarily. So concludes research by political scientist Benjamin A. Kleinerman (Virginia Military Institute) that draws lessons from the use of executive power by President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War.

Kleinerman's article is entitled "Lincoln's Example: Executive Power and the Survival of Constitutionalism" and appears in the December issue of Perspectives on Politics, a journal of the American Political Science Association. It is available online at /imgtest/PerspectivesDec05Kleinerman.pdf.