It may be hard for you to imagine, but the Supreme Court, charged with deciding that issue, found Lincoln lacked the Constitutional authority and that was, and always is, the final word in Constitutional debates. So, any debate about it was ended and Lincoln was required to comply with the Court's decision. He refused to do so, a clearly impeachable action by any standard. I fail to find anything meritorious in Lincoln's continual actions in ignoring the Constitution and his oath of office to follow his own feelings on what he could and could not do. I am sure the 600,000 dead Americans in the Civil War would agree. To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html