...people, or too weak to maintain its own existence? Must l shoot a simple-minded boy who deserts, while l must not touch a hair of a wily agitator who induces him to desert?52 Historian Richard Hofstadter says men such as Medary, although unpopular, are invaluable...

...immunity simply because they were speech; as he wrote in a June 12, 1863, letter to Erastus Corning, "Must I shoot a simple-minded soldier boy who deserts,...hair of a wily agitator who induces him to desert? ... I think that in such a case, to silence the agitator, and save the boy, is not only constitutional,...

...traitorous language from such a "wily agitator" might undermine troop morale. Lincoln asked in 1863, "Must I shoot a simpleminded soldier boy who deserts,...hair of a wily agitator who induces him to desert?" According to Sandburg, Lincoln added: "I think that, in such a case, to silence the agitator and save...

...emotional appeal in language that could be understood by the least sophisticated citizen, he asked, "Must I shoot a simple-minded soldier boy who deserts,...hair of a wily agitator who induces him to desert?" Noting that the Albany resolutions came from Democrats, Lincoln tried to lift the argument away from...

...or invasion involving the public safety"? Or, in more personal terms, "Must I shoot a simple-minded boy who deserts, while I must not touch a hair of a wily agitator who induces him to desert?" Clearly not, and "the Constitution itself makes the distinction; and I can no more be persuaded that...

...public letters, to a meeting of Union Democrats in June 1863, he defended this and similar actions: "Must I shoot a simple-minded soldier boy who deserts, while I must not touch a hair of the wily agitator who induces him to desert?" I want to call attention to the sentences preceding that...

...defended this as being justified by the desperate nature of the situation. To a group of protesters he said: "Must I shoot a simpleminded soldier boy who deserts, while I must not touch a hair of a wiley [sic] agitator who induces him to desert?" The most famous instance of a military arrest and...

...classic cases concerns a deserter about whom he wrote, "Must I shoot a simple minded boy who deserts, and not touch a hair of a wily agitator who induces him to desert?" There were 331 such pardons. He was not so kind to slave traders, refusing to pardon a man who "could...

...certain safeguards for personal liberty in cases of armed rebellion: "Must I shoot a simple soldier-boy who deserts while I must not touch a hair of a wily agitator who induces him to desert?" he wrote. The Washington Daily Morning Chronicle could not praise his document enough. "He has spoken...

...the severe penalty of death," Lincoln posed a question that was soon echoed by supporters everywhere: "Must I shoot a simple-minded soldier boy who deserts, while I must not touch a hair of a wiley agitator who induces him to desert? This is none the less injurious when effected by getting...