during the civil war era there was basically no constitution.
Lincoln suspended habeus corpus illegally, an act that only congress can do.
Lincoln started arresting and imprisoning anyone that spoke out against the war. He even arrested the chief justice of the supreme court.
He appropriated money for military weaponry while congress was not in session, an act he clearly had no authority to do, yet congress was too afraid of him to stop him.
In terms of constitutional violations, lincoln has more than any three presidents combined, unless you include FDR in that three.
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"no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything. You cannot conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him."
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