Although emancipation is today the most-discussed of Lincoln's policies,
several other significant pieces of legislation were passed during
his time in office. During a time of war, the executive always plays
a stronger role than usual, and Lincoln was no exception to this
rule. His uncompromising style as commander- in-chief, coupled
with his ambitious domestic program to preserve and further the
Union, earned him the nickname of "the tycoon."
Like the Japanese shogun from which the nickname derives,
Lincoln the tycoon acted as a military leader exercising absolute
rule, with an extremely vise-like grip over his cabinet. Often
acting alone in the most crucial decisions, Lincoln vastly expanded
and extended the power of the executive. Under his banner the
federal government took several giant legislative strides forward,
moving well beyond the ever fainter objections of states' rights
advocates.
With the nation at war, Lincoln argued that certain portions
of the Constitution had
to be suspended if Union were to be preserved. Among the most
basic rights that Lincoln elected to dispense with were habeas
corpus and the freedoms of speech and press. Civilians were tried
by military courts on the mere suspicion of treason. Lincoln himself
ordered a temporary halt to the publication of several newspapers
around the country.
Additionally, the right of private property proved especially
vulnerable as the war rolled on. Two major confiscation acts provided the
military with permission to seize and retain rebel property, including
slaves. In later Union campaigns especially, the usurpation and
destruction of civilian lands and stores was common. All of these
constitutional violations were justified by Lincoln at various
times as necessary to the success of the war effort.
But these were temporary measures. And while Lincoln
repeatedly insisted that his war aims directed his wartime measures,
many of the legislative measures passed during his tenure as president have
had long term ramifications well beyond the living memory of the
war. In the early stages of the conflict, many of the most controversial
acts revolved around money. Lacking the approval of Congress,
Lincoln repeatedly spent quantities of federal funding at his own
discretion. To compensate for Lincoln's liberal spending, the first
federal income tax was instituted by Congress in 1861 to help fund
the war.
True to his Whig roots, Lincoln believed that internal
improvements and westward expansion were the keys to the nation's
success and survival. As such, Lincoln maintained his dedication
to the railroad. With the southern states seceded, the controversy
over termination points dissolved, and in July of 1862 the government approved
the construction of a transcontinental railroad from Chicago to
San Francisco. In the following two years, a series of Pacific
Railroad Acts would grant western railroad companies the option to
buy wide belts of land on either side of their tracks. By this
legislation, 131 million acres of land were granted by Congress
to railroads, and 39 million alone to the Northern Pacific railroad.
