A divided nation, fake news, election fraud, a President desiring to suppress the press and to use the military to arrest political opponents – this could be our future, but it has been our past, as it has all happened before in 1861 Maryland. If history is our teacher, what lessons should be gleaned from that tragic time?
Early in the U.S. Civil War President Lincoln seized significant extra-constitutional powers to support his war efforts. The intent of the Executive was to suppress dissent, political opposition and manipulate Maryland’s democracy to ensure the Legislature of Maryland and its governorship would be dominated by unconditional Unionist who support the policies of the Executive. To achieve this objective, it was considered necessary to seize extraconstitutional power and to set aside significant provisions of the Constitution that protected both civil liberties and our democracy itself. “Arbitrary” arrests, where the Executive department could have citizens imprisoned without the process or a basis under the law, became the mechanism to achieve the objectives. Arbitrary arrests and imprisonments were used to eliminate political opposition and dissent, to intimidate potential political candidates, to intimidate voters, manipulate elections, and to suppress and intimidate the press so such violations would not be reported to the rest of the nation and the world.
The targets of the arrests were labeled the “disloyal” but don’t be fooled into thinking they were only disloyal to our country or to the Constitution, the disloyal during Civil War Maryland meant disloyal to the President and his policies. The disloyal were subjected to arrests, confiscation of property, having their businesses closed and revocation of licenses they held that were issued by the government. It is estimated that 14,000 Americans were imprisoned by arbitrary arrests and over 300 newspapers suppressed during that war. How could a President so easily grasp such power unchecked? That is the lesson for our time.
The foundation of the Executive grasping such power rested upon four segments; the Executive seizing the power to suspend habeas corpus, the dissemination of misinformation, a military that blindly followed the Executive and a significant public support base that unconditionally supported the Executive but who were also manipulated by the dissemination of misinformation.
Habeas corpus is a citizen’s absolute right to challenge the legality of his detention by the government. It is founded in old English law and is considered an absolute tenant of basic civil liberty. With the Executive seizing the power to suspend meant the Executive got to decide how, where and for what the suspension would be used. The President asserted that since habeas corpus was to prevent the unlawful imprisonment of citizens then the fact that the Constitution allowed its suspension implied that citizens could be imprisoned for reasons other than reasons under the law, such as for political purposes, while it was suspended.
The President however needed a power to execute arbitrary arrest and the U.S. military provided that power. Early on we see the Judicial Branch of our government attempt to check the overreach of Executive power in the Ex-Parte Merryman case ruled by Supreme Court Chief Justice B. Roger Taney. We think of the Merryman case as an issue over who can suspend habeas corpus, but Justice Taney noted numerous constitutional violations committed by the President not the least of which was the placement of the military over civilian authority and giving the military the power to arrest and try civilians. The Executive department simply ignored Chief Justice Taney’s ruling which is lesson number one from this history.
The Judiciary branch of government has little actual power to check the power of the Executive since they have no enforcement division for their rulings against the Executive. The President must voluntarily comply, which Mr. Lincoln chose not to do. Nor did we find that Congress had much interest in checking the overreach of Presidential powers. Congress basically supported the President, but we do find that some Congressmen were also subjected to arbitrary arrests with Congressman Henry May from Maryland being the first.
Mr. Lincoln wrote “public opinion is everything, with it nothing can fail, against it nothing can secede.” Misinformation was a tenant for the grasping of power and the suspension of liberties. Misinformation created public support for actions that would normally be considered abhorrent if the truth were told. In dealing with Maryland, the Executive had to deal with a State Legislature that wanted Maryland to remain neutral and did not want to support the war effort. More importantly during the summer of 1861 the Maryland Legislature was protesting vigorously the violations of the Constitution against the State and against the civil liberties of its citizens. After the federal imprisonment of the Baltimore Police Commissioners, the Legislature drafted a lengthy and well documented protest of the Executive’s violations of the Constitution and voted to have 25,000 copies printed to be disseminated directly to the citizens of the nation.
The control of public opinion was considered critical to Mr. Lincoln to achieve his objectives. The day after the Legislature approved to send their protest to the American public, Mr. Lincon issued a proclamation that censored the press and a little more than a week later the War Department began issuing press releases asserting that they have uncovered detailed plans on how the Maryland Legislature was cooperating with the Confederate army on an attack against the U.S. Capital and were planning to secede Maryland. That misinformation campaign became the basis to arrest many members of the Maryland Legislature and to hold them imprisoned to isolate them from communicating with the public. The copies of the report the Legislature ordered to be disseminated were found and burned by the Union army.
Simultaneously with the arrest of Maryland’s Legislative members we see the arrest of U.S. Congressman Henry May of Maryland who would have created a vigorous protest in Congress, and we also see the first imprisonments of newspaper editors who would also have protested such violations to the world. One of the editors arrested was Frank Key Howard, the grandson of Francis Scott Key. Howard was imprisoned in Fort McHenry on the anniversary of his grandfather’s writing the Star-Spangled banner and the irony of his imprisonment was not lost to him. The imprisonment of the members of the Maryland Legislature who were not supporting the Executive’s war policies created vacancies to be filled in the upcoming State elections that were just weeks away.
The city of Baltimore held over one third of the voters of Maryland and the elections of that city became the main focus of the federal government’s conspiracy to manipulate the outcome of the Maryland State elections. The Baltimore Police Commissioners were responsible to run the elections and to ensure they were free and fair, however they had been imprisoned and replaced by a federally appointed Provost Marshal who, along with the military, would now run the elections of Baltimore. Gen. John Adams Dix and the Provost Marshal publicly proclaimed they were taking control of the elections only to ensure that they would be “free and fair” and to prevent treasonous rebels from returning to Maryland to vote.
This was just more misinformation to placate the public. The day after the elections the Baltimore Sun published how early on election day hundreds of democrats were arrested by the federals as they attempted to vote. Word of the arrests quickly spread throughout the city and the democrats stayed away from the polls in fear of imprisonment. The misinformation campaign used to support the arrest of the Maryland Legislature and to take control of the Maryland elections worked quite effectively in that the Northern public accepted the arrests and control of the elections as a reasonable and necessary action. This is lesson number two – the grasping of arbitrary power and the suppression of our democracy will always be surrounded by misinformation to maintain public support for such actions.
The free press is the watch dog of our liberties but during the Civil War we see a massive suppression of the press. With the early arrest of certain newspaper editors and the closing of specific papers, we see how most of the remaining papers simply fell into line. The Baltimore Sun reported the arrests of the Democrats on the morning of election day, but they dared not provide editorial comments criticizing the federal government or the Executive. The federal manipulation of Maryland elections in 1861 was done deceptively and covertly, however by the 1863 elections the press was for the most part completely muzzled in regard to reporting such matters. For those elections, Marylanders were given color coded ballots that revealed the political party for which they were voting and had to walk through a gauntlet of armed soldiers to get to the ballot box. Many were threatened and beaten and had their ballots torn from their hands. The press was silent on this massive voter suppression and this event was only recorded by an investigation conducted by the Maryland State Senate the report of which is currently available online at the Maryland Archives for those interested in the dirty details. Lesson number three – if the Executive suppresses or shuts down one or two news outlets, the others will fall in line and tone down their criticism of the Executive.
The grasping of power needed a force to conduct the arrests and support the Executive’s policies. During the U.S. Civil War, the U.S. military was the enforcement mechanism to suppress many constitutional provisions of our liberties and democracy. Would our military today be complicit in the Executive grasping extra-constitutional power and subverting constitutional provisions? Our military members are our nation’s patriots, but they are human fraught with human defects. There are always some who certainly would support the Executive unconditionally if placed into senior leadership positions. The Executive replacing senior military leadership along with the leadership of the FBI with staunch loyalist should be a warning. Lesson number four from Civil War Maryland – the Executive needs a force loyal to him to support the Executive’s overreaching of power and suppression of liberties.
Early in the War the North was supporting the Executive’s grasp of power and the setting aside of constitutional provisions in Maryland. The Northern press claimed “Inter arma silent leges” – in times of war the laws (Constitution) fall silent. Before their imprisonment the Maryland Legislature attempted to provide a warning to the Northern people who were supporting the President’s suspension of constitutional provisions in Maryland. The Legislature wrote “and let the people of no other section shut their eyes to the danger, because it seems to be impendent over us only, and not over them. Let them not sympathize with usurpation, because it blows for the present appear aimed only at sections and individuals, whose opinions differ from their own. They know not what a day may bring forth, and they cannot measure the harvest which may spring from a seed time of impunity and absorption and wrong.”
The Legislature warned of the slippery slope of usurpation by writing “There can be no trust and no safety, for any people, in arbitrary power. It is progressive, untiring, unresting. It never halts or looks backward.” We find that what began in Maryland quickly spread North until habeas corpus was suspended throughout the entire nation and every State had a military commander overseeing the civilian population. We see how the authority and oversite to conduct arbitrary arrests quickly degraded from being overseen by the Executive’s cabinet members and high-level military officers to being delegated to the lowest ranked military officer and local constables for almost any reason they saw fit.
When the policy of arbitrary arrests spread North, those citizens made an immediate and complete reversal concerning the sanctity of the Constitution. This culminated in New York’s governor, Horatio Seymour, attempting to have Gen. John Adams Dix indicted for conducting arbitrary arrest against New York citizens. The New Yorkers began to fight for their civil liberties and New York Judges made repeated attempts to issue writs of habeas corpus to the political prisoners kept in Fort Lafayette in New York harbor. By the time the Northern populace began to awaken however, the genie had been out of the bottle and their efforts were too little and too late and they too were subjected to the same abuses which they had earlier supported when it was only against Marylanders. This is history lesson number five – many citizens will support the Executive’s grasp of power and the usurpation of the Constitution when it is for an issue which they support. They naively believed that the usurpation of power will never be used against them personally. The warning of the Maryland Legislature should be headed. Arbitrary power never rests and as we saw during the Civil War, there can be a rapid and steep slippery slope regarding the suspension of constitutional provisions and civil liberties.
What I have written is the darker side of our nation’s history and joins other categories such as the uncomfortable side of the history pertaining to Native and African Americans that is not taught in our schools or even talked about. Unfortunately, not all of our history is about truth, justice and the American way but this truly is the history from which we can learn the most, particularly during these troubling times. For Maryland the misinformation disseminated that he State Legislature was intent on seceding Maryland has become our defacto State history. Other important events such as the federal attack ordered against the city of Baltimore in early May 1861 with the authorization to “bombard Maryland’s cities” if Maryland resisted is not found in any of our history books. This becomes history lesson number six – the victors write and significantly influence our history. We already see two distinct versions of the January 6th event. The upcoming elections will determine which version will dominate.
The lesson I have learned from researching Maryland Civil War history is also supported by my experience working within the Soviet Union shortly after its collapse and later working with the Cuban migrants who were fleeing the Castro regime. I have learned that our Constitution is the only thing that separates us from them. It is the protector of our liberties and our democracy. It is all too apparent that too many Americans take their liberties and democracy for granted, but in reality such freedoms are fragile.
Regardless of political or social differences our Constitution is what joins us together as Americans and we should hold it as the most sacred champion of our liberties and democracy. In times of confusion, crisis or distress there will always be those who will promise to deliver us from the turmoil, but they just need extra power. It can be tempting to turn a blind eye particularly if you support the objective, but do not be fooled and rest assured that it is very likely that you are being misled. If “honest Abe” can manipulate the public with misinformation, what politician would not? The Constitution is for us, not for the politicians, it is what keeps our politicians from becoming another Putin or Kim Jong Un, and rest assured any one of them would grab that power if given the chance. Do not take our liberties and democracy for granted and understand that if the genie is ever again let out of the bottle, it is likely that we will never again be able to put it back in.
Paul Callahan is a native of Talbot County, Maryland, a former Marine Corps Officer, and the author of the recently released book When Democracy Fell, The Subjugation of Maryland During the U.S. Civil War.
Reed Fawell 3 says
A serious work, but by any reasonable standard we should be no where near the real threat of Civil War.
Paul Callahan says
I hope you are correct….
Michael Pullen says
I believe he’s 100% correct. Hope suggests doubt.
Brian Wroten says
FYI, Mr. Callahan has been a “Preserve Talbot Boys” person since the start if you were wondering where his Civil War sensibilities lie…
Paul Callahan says
Brian, You are very much incorrect… I have been a preserve talbot history person form the beginning. I made it very clear that I did not approve of a confederate flag at the courthouse, but we should join together to erect a monument to all of Talbot’s civil war veterans to include the 700 USCT and the 400 Union. I got involved because the history of Talbot was being severely distorted by sine who really did not care about the truth but wanted to push their agenda…. in other words, “misinformation” Distorting history to manipulate folks is just another form of propaganda. So, if you want to throw barbs at least have your facts strait. You can go to the Spy article I wrote title “Remove the Symbols of Hate but Tell the History” published July 2020 in fact here is the link: https://talbotspy.org/letter-to-editor-remove-the-symbols-of-hate-but-tell-the-history/ By the way my sensibilitiies lies with #1 the Constituion and #2 Truth….
Paul Winfield Callahan says
You obviously did not read my article in the Talbot Spy in July 2020 titled “remove the symbols of hate but tell the history,” where I called for the removal of the confederate flag and to promote a civil war memorial the recognized all Talbot Countians to include the 700 USCT and 400 Union soldiers. So if your going to attempt to “inform” those who read my article about my past positions, please do not use “misinformation,” I wrote allot about our history during that debate because what I was reading was absolutely false and incorrect on so many fronts – basically “misinformation” to manipulate. It also was very annoying to hear some folks from, New York? who just moved here, never was required to take any amount of Maryland history in their State’s education system, yet they claimed they knew more about Maryland and Talbot’s civil war history then someone that has over 300 years of family history passed down to them.
Michael Pullen says
This revision of history cherry picks particular instances, leaving out important context and flatly misstates Lincoln’s motives as his personal attempt to seize power. Absolutely false.
Lincoln’s motives in virtually everything he did was to preserve the Union. His was a principled attempt, first to avoid War altogether, then to do what was necessary to preserve the Unuion when Civil War was thrust upon it by Southern secession, purporting to establish a new and different nation, the Confederate States of America, explained in the Cornerstone Speech by Alexander Stephens (quoted below) and Southern troops firing on Ft. Sumpter. Here’s part of the Cornerstone Speech:
“… The new constitution has put at rest, forever, all the agitating questions relating to our peculiar institution African slavery as it exists amongst us the proper status of the negro in our form of civilization. This was the immediate cause of the late rupture and present revolution. Jefferson in his forecast, had anticipated this, as the “rock upon which the old Union would split.” He was right. What was conjecture with him, is now a realized fact. But whether he fully comprehended the great truth upon which that rock stood and stands, may be doubted. The prevailing ideas entertained by him and most of the leading statesmen at the time of the formation of the old constitution, were that the enslavement of the African was in violation of the laws of nature; that it was wrong in principle, socially, morally, and politically. It was an evil they knew not well how to deal with, but the general opinion of the men of that day was that, somehow or other in the order of Providence, the institution would be evanescent and pass away. This idea, though not incorporated in the constitution, was the prevailing idea at that time. The constitution, it is true, secured every essential guarantee to the institution while it should last, and hence no argument can be justly urged against the constitutional guarantees thus secured, because of the common sentiment of the day. Those ideas, however, were fundamentally wrong. They rested upon the assumption of the equality of races. This was an error. It was a sandy foundation, and the government built upon it fell when the “storm came and the wind blew.”
Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth.” https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/cornerstone-speech
Lincoln was an excellent President, faced with a War against the Union that he did not want (see his First Inaugural address, https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/lincolns-first-inaugural-address
he took measures to both preserve the Union end the War. Having done so, he extended an olive branch to the South in his Second Inaugural Address:
“ with firmness in the fight as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.” https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-speeches/march-4-1865-second-inaugural-address
This selective, revisionist article is an example of changing the past to fit into a modern, backward looking narrative. It misrepresents the events iit relates by omitting context and imputing false motives wholly at odds with events as they unfolded at the time, when choices were necessary and outcomes uncertain. It is poor scholarship and a false narrative.
Eva M. Smorzaniuk MD says
Thank you Mr. Pullen for providing facts rather than conjecture, and for explaining the context for President Lincoln’s actions in a more truthful way than did Mr. Callahan. I am not sure of the point he is trying to make!
Paul Callahan says
Dr. Smorzaniuk, The point I am making is clearly apparent to all, our Constitution and freedoms are fragile and it can be gone in an instant. It appears you are fighting the Talbot Boys debate – that has long since been over and this issue is far more important to us today. There are those that will deny anything which they do not wish to believe – that is just a fact and I am surprised with your education that you wall fall into that group that blindly follows instead of conducting your own basic due diligence. I would recommend taking a minute or two and go online to the Maryland State archives online and read the Senate’s report on military interference with the election of Maryland – it is a real eye opener. Then go to newspapers.com and to the Baltimore Sun on page 1 of the November 7, 1861 issue and read about the arrests of democrats during the 1861 election. After you have taken a few minutes to review these sources for yourself you will know. The link to go directly to the Maryland State Archives to read the Senate’s report is; https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/000845/html/index.html
Paul Callahan says
I know this history is uncomfortable to some who just cannot accept it. I did not write it thousands of other Americans who left a written record did, I just organized it into a readable format. My book is not only the first ever written that details the arrests of the Maryland Legislature and the manipulation of Maryland’s elections but it is the most highly sourced book written on Maryland Civil War history in general with nearly 900 endnotes citing over 1,100 primary sources. What I unearthed was shocking to me and it should be to everyone as well. Its unfortunate, some people refuse to believe anything other than their pre-conceived conceptions and even if a candidate shot someone in Times Square, they would deny it ever happened and still support them. Its, just our history as it was found and by what you wrote above I can see you know little of it. But thank you for reading the article.
Michael Pullen says
Arrests of folks who instigated a rebellion to create a new country founded on slavery and at the same time, wrapping themselves in the moral high ground, is commendable. Remember the Declaration of Independence, “We held these truths to be self-evident… that all men [and women] are created equal and endowed with certain inalienable right, among them, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness…”
That is the founding, first principle of America. It is still true.
Paul Callahan says
Michael, I appreciate you reading the piece and participating, but you are talking about something that is not in my article and a totally different subject. You are talking about the deep South and States that seceded and my article is about violations of the Constitution in the States that did not secede and remained inn the Union. Nor was Mr. Lincoln attempting to abolish slavery in the five slave states that were in and fought for the Union. When all this was happening in 1861 Mr. Lincoln and Congress were re-assuring the American public that the war objective was re-Union only and that slavery will remain after those states were brought back. Congress passed a resolution that specifically stated that. Mr. Lincoln said that repeatedly and one of the first acts Mr. Lincoln did when he took officer was to forward to the States with his personal letter of endorsement, the “Corwin Amendment” which was a Constitutional amendment that would have forever protected slavery where it then existed. I believe 5 States in the Union ratified this constitutional amendment three of which were not even slave States. Your comment is a common statement by many that really do not know civil war history very well, but what is of interest to me is that they are perfectly fine with the President grabbing so much power and suspending the Constitution because they believe it was done with the intent to abolish slavery. This goes back to my article and a learning point I attempting to make – many Americans are fine with the President grabbing power and setting aside civil liberties if it is for something they support. But the problem is many times they are being fed misinformation and as we have seen can be a huge slippery slope with unintended consequences.
Laurie Powers says
Fascinating and frightening. Thank you for the history lesson, I didn’t know this about our state’s past. I hope we take heed and learn from this dark chapter in our history, rather than repeat it. It is eerily similar to today, which is obviously why you brought it to our attention.
This is a keeper and reminder of how easily our liberties and democracy can fall. Together, awakened and vigilant, we must not let them.
James Wilkins says
Your extensive comment on Maryland history is truly remarkable. And although it may all be correct, the fact is that Lincoln was dealing with an insurrection by the southern states including Maryland which at the time of the Civil War was a slaveholding state and hosted many insurrectionists one would suspect. So your implicit contention is that…what? Lincoln shouldn’t have exercised his executive power to suppress insurrectionists? Does this have something to do with the current political climate in which we find ourselves? Who is the person in the current political environment who might be accused of inciting insurrection? Do you name him? No. So don’t try to sell the reader that you are trying to teach anything about the constitution or presidential power. Because Lincoln was arguably the most accomplished president the US has ever seen And the guy who I suspect you support is arguably the worst.
Paul Callahan says
Mr. Wilkins, You miss the point. Mr. Lincoln’s history is what it is. He is long dead and all of that is over. But the importance of my piece is how easily a President can grab power and take from us our Liberties. Most importantly is the fact that misinformation was used to gain the objective which caused many to support the overreach of power until it impacted them and by then it was too late. This is the history from which we can learn. Mr. Lincoln will always be one of our nation’s greatest Presidents regardless of what historical details I unearth.
Paul Callahan says
Another point please….My research uncovered that the publications from the War Department in August 1861 about Gen. Tench Tilghman organizing a rebel army on the Eastern Shore and the Maryland Legislature desiring to secede Maryland and was working with the confederate Army on an attack against the Capital was all determined to be “fake news” as I mentioned in my article. That was the cover. The official records showed Mr. Lincoln, his cabinet, and the Union Generals had very little concern about “insurrectionists” in Maryland by late summer 1861. Much of the misinformation disseminated then has become our DeFacto history which needs correcting.
Paul Callahan says
What I discovered through my research is that particularly by late summer 1861 Maryland had very few “insurrectionists” and the State Legislature had publicly proclaimed they had no Constitutional authority. As my article points out it was the dissemination of misinformation directly from the War Department in August 1861 in order to provide the Administration the reason to imprison the State Legislature has become entwined into and become our Defacto History. I am the first person to discover that misinformation campaign, write about it and document it in detail. The main reason for this is because the phenomenon of “Newspapers.com” where historical newspapers from around the world can be key word searched. It was through this I found the extensiveness of the misinformation disseminated and how it was a series of articles against Maryland and her legislature – all of which was proven false. What is interesting is that people today are little of little different then those at that time, they will latch onto the misinformation and protect their President at any costs. That is the point of my article, if it is coming from politicians assume you are being mislead. I believe that today one of our Political candidates could shoot someone in times square and simply deny the allegation as “fake news” and a huger number of Americans will buy into it.
Lauren Dianich says
My gratitude to Mr. Callahan and other historians who provide factual, detailed information about our country’s history. It is enlightening and our senses need to be heightened to keep our country on a good path.
Reed Fawell 3 says
I fear Mr. Pullen may have misunderstood my first comment that leads off this commentary. No one is, nor will ever be, 100% correct on anything. Anyone so certain is a systemic fool, often referred to as the True Believer (Eric Hoffer’s appellation) or Useful Idiot (attributed to Lenin). Unfortunately, today the great majority of us seem to suffer this malady, and so have lost the ability to hold objectively two seemingly opposing points of view in their head, and so are not able to clearly grasp the merits and demerits of both and so cannot speak or act intelligently on the basis of deep understanding and wisdom.
The result is that in this age of “free speech,” we are, to an increasing degree, losing it, along with our ability to act as free citizens as well. Fear is taking hold of ever larger segments of our people. We see it all around us now, the fear, this growing insecurity, these anxious furtive expressions, this incompetence in confronting ugly realities, for fear of rejection, cancellation, and exile from our tribe.
This fear has been a tool of tyrants from the beginning of human consciousness. New technologies are putting it on steroids, while those technologies at the same time are unleashing courageous individuals seeking freedom. This is what Elon Musk sees. And, what I believe When Democracy Fell is all about.
In October, 2023, one year ago, I wrote the following review of Paul’s book:
Reed M Fawell 111
This book, When Democracy Fell, is important. It is seminal. And it is very fine history.
It is important because it describes how easily even Americans can lose their inalienable rights guaranteed by the American Constitution, stripped from them by direct illegal actions imposed intentionally by their own government, or by other American citizens and institutions, such as the press operating in a permissive society encouraged by government that fails to enforce laws. The Book also is important as it shows how this result can be obtained when Americans are divided into faction by leaders of all types who demagogue for political or monetary advantage, or ideology, or for the sheer thrill of action and chaos.
Can you imagine such a grievous loss orchestrated by Abraham Lincoln? Read this book and you likely will not only be able to imagine such a loss, but believe it happened and understand why it happened and take steps to reduce chances of it happening again by changing your behaviors. And this suggests that even the greatest of leaders are only human. And his or her foibles are easily exposed in high-stakes and high-pressure situations tending toward chaos, particularly in the fog or threat of war, with all its paradox and unintended consequences, that radiate outward, particularly when so many individuals are involved, firing chain reactions.
This book in seminal because it is anchored in meticulously researched original and often novel sources writing freely at the time of the events, by people of all sorts, and persuasions, expressing themselves often as witness to those events and/or as actors within those events. Hence a raft of new facts and insights and proofs come to light, busting apart myths, and opening up altogether new territory and histories for our revelation and understanding.
All this results in very fine history particularly when wrought with the obvious skills of this historian’s pen. For example, we learn vast amounts about the culture, emotions, philosophy, and values of the players at the time of their actions, so we see underlying values, fears and ambitions that generate and explain the actions of the players. At the same time, we see the players in action as if in real time, in all their human complexity, and random events that clash across the stage, often amid chaos, as the parties joust for dominance and control, or in self-defense and self-preservation. Or lash out in fear, and anger. Readers of When Democracy Fell often times feel part of the action, vividly alive in ways akin to the Iliad.
So, the consequences of this book are profound. Abraham Lincoln, the most studied President in American history, his character, soul, actions, and decisions are given whole new dimensions, nuances and shades, heretofore hardly imagined by the great majority of us, much less proven. So too, with a raft of lesser but important and fascinating characters who are shown in new circumstances and angles – Justice Tawney, Gen. Tench Tilghman, Judge Carmichael of Talbot to name just a few among the many.
In this book War becomes a character in surprising, profound and refreshing ways. Its kaleidoscope of emotions brings out the worst and best of people and human nature, put under a microscope or blown all out of normal proportion. The fragility of the law, and civilization itself, on the brink of tribal warfare. Cities and town under attack or the threat of it. Unintended consequences unravelling. Misconception of realities. Fog of war. Human nature, institutions, laws, and emotions in all of their complexity are stretched to the limits by a gigantic impending war. It is all there, vividly and profoundly, in this book When Democracy Fell.
The tribute page cites Fredrick Douglas – Truth is proper and beautiful, at all times and at all places – The very same tribute applies to Paul W. Callahan’s fine book “When Democracy Fell, The Subjugation of Maryland During the Civil War.”
It ranks among the best books of history I have read in past 60 years.
Paul Callahan says
Reed, Thank you so much! I can not agree with you more that fear, misinformation to promote fear and pitting one against the other is the food for tyrants and is how so many freedoms and democracies have been forever lost. It is our Constitution that everyone needs keep sacred in times of confusion and distress…. it is the only solid truth which we can rely upon and is what separates us form those poor folks living under very oppressive governments.
Thank you again….
Reed Fawell 3 says
You are welcome, Paul. I agree with you regarding the US Constitution, and would add the Declaration of Independence whose spirit drove the making of the US Constitution and its subsequent bill of Rights, all within the penumbra of Western Civilization, its faiths, literature and traditions, all that keep the quest for Truth, Beauty, and Liberal Governance alive, only if we demand those promises be kept. But we must keep at it, as forces work this very day to bury them.