...compared the dilemma of the Jehovah's Witnesses to that of Lincoln's query during the Civil War: "Must a government of necessity be too strong for the liberties of its people, or too weak to maintain its own existence?" Frankfurter argued that the flag was a "symbol...

...foes ... It forces us to ask: 'Is there, in all republics, this inherent, and fatal weakness?' 'Must a government, of necessity, be too strong for the...people, or too weak to maintain its own existence?' " Lincoln, "Message to Congress in Special Session," in Speeches and Writings, I859-I865, 250. 51....

...States. On July 4, 1861, in his first message to the Congress, he presented this vital question: "Must a government, of necessity, be too strong for the...people, or too weak to maintain its own existence?" Lincoln answered that question as Jackson had answered it-not by words, but by deeds. And America still...

...associated with such passivity and stated it this way in his Special Session Message on July 4, 1861: "Must a government, of necessity, be too strong for the...people, or too weak to maintain its own existence?" In another formulation, Lincoln queried: "Are all the laws but one to go unexecuted, and the Government...

...foes. ... It forces us to ask: "Is there, in all republics, this inherent, and fatal weakness? Must a government, of necessity, be too strong for the...of its own people, or too weak to maintain its own existence?"38 Here we have the familiar argument that a modern state cannot allow territorial dismemberment...

...(Dictatorship Constitutional Dictatorship Is there in all republics this inherent and fatal weakness? Must a government of necessity be too strong for the liberties of its people, or too weak to maintain its own existence?" The man who posed that question was Abraham Lincoln....

...to free government upon the earth . . . So viewing the issue, no choice was left [to the president] but to call out the war power of the Government; and...force, employed for its destruction, by force, for its preservation.27 But Frederick Grimke and George Ticknor Curtis were probably closer to the mainstream...

...practically put an end to free government upon the earth." He phrased the critical question as this: "Must a government, of necessity, be too strong for the...people, or too weak to maintain its own existence?" So, too, the question was whether the rule of law could maintain its grip on even the most violent social...

...liberties by suspending habeas corpus and instituting military trials. Lincoln himself had asked, "Must a government, of necessity, be too strong for the...people, or too weak to maintain its own existence?" It was not irrational to fear that those liberties might also be casualties of war.4 The constitutional...

...power which Congress could not do in the way of ordinary legislation." The firing on Sumter meant that "no choice was left but to call out the war power of the Government," and Lincoln included under the rubric of "war power" the authorization "to suspend the privilege of the...