Opening the Civil War
Washington; and now Lincoln assumed them himself. Thus we see a President who had sworn to defend and protect the Constitution, knowingly overriding the law to save the Union.
When Congress assembled in extra session on July 4, 1861, it found that its power to "raise and support armies" had already been exercised by the President to the extent of 230,000 men, an usurpation which met with the approval of Congress and the people.
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