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    "ocrText": "ARCESIVES AMP\nRECORDA\nSERVICE*\n8\nresolution failed to pass against a Democratic majority, but\nmost of the Whigs voted for it. One of them was Abraham\nLincoln, then serving his only term in the House of Repre-\nsentatives. His friend, Herndon, wrote from Springfield,\nchallenging Lincoln's position. Mr. Lincoln, in part, replied:\nAllow the President to invade a neighboring Nation\nwhenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an in-\nvasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose\nto say he deems it necessary for such purpose, and you\nallow him to make war at pleasure. Study to see if you\ncan fix any limit to his power in this respect, after\nhaving given him so much as you propose. If today he\nshould choose to say he thinks it necessary to invade\nCanada to prevent the British from invading us, how\ncould you stop him? You may say to him: I see no\nprobability of the British invading us, but he will\nsay to you, 'Be silent; I see it, if you don't.\n\"I quote further from Lincoln:\nThe provision giving the war-making powers of the\nConstitution to Congress was dictated, as I understand\nit, by the following reasons: Kings had always been\ninvolving and impoverishing their people in wars, pre-\ntending generally, if not always, that the good of the\npeople was the object. This our Convention understood\nto be the most oppressive of all kingly oppressions, and\nthey resolved to so frame the Constitution that no man\nshould hold the power of bringing this oppression upon\nus. But your view destroys the whole matter and places\nour President where kings have always stood.\n\"The entire letter may be found on page 111, volume 1,\nAbraham Lincoln Complete Works, edited by Nicolay and Hay.\n\"So, Mr. President, when Senators have said that when\nwe pass this bill, and give to the President power to commit\nacts of war, the Congress of the United States is abdicating\nits constitutional power, we not only have the opinion of a\nformer Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United\nStates, Mr. Justice Sutherland-one of the greatest authorities\non constitutional government in the United States--but we have\nthe opinion of a former President of the United States,\nAbraham Lincoln, about whom we talk so much, and whose opinions\nwe\nrevere. \" (p. 1605)\n- 4 -"
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