The Precarity of the Constitution

In the last episode of the "So to Speak" podcast, we traced the dramatic story of free speech in the United States from colonial America to the abolitionists' campaign to abolish slavery. In this week's episode, we pick up where we left off and explore the complicated history and legacy of civil liberties during the American Civil War.

Professor and author Joseph R. Fornieri and FIRE Chief Counsel Robert Corn-Revere join the show this week to unpack Abraham Lincoln's justifications for suspending civil liberties and the important lesson that, in war, civil liberties can be hard to uphold, and our rights can be difficult to defend.

Show notes:

• Transcript

• "Fateful Lightning: A New History of the Civil War and Reconstruction" by Allen Guelzo

• "Lincoln's First Amendment Record" by Eve Errickson (The Lincoln Cottage)

• "The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties" by Mark E. Neeley, Jr.

• "All the Laws but One: Civil Liberties in Wartime" by William H. Rehnquist

• "Did Abraham Lincoln Exceed His Presidential Powers during the Civil War?" (The Bill of Rights Institute)

• "Lincoln and Civil Liberties" (The Gilder-Lehrman Institute)

Join FIRE on July 20th at 3:00 PM EST for a special live-streamed episode of the "So to Speak" podcast about the Supreme Court's free speech decisions from this past term.

Hear from FIRE's Darpana Sheth, Bob Corn-Revere, and Ronnie London on what these decisions mean for free expression, (and maybe even for you), and ask the panel anywhatever burning questions you may have. You can register here.

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