American Civil War Precedents: Their Nature, Application, and Extension
1940 ◽
Vol 34
(2)
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pp. 220-237
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Keyword(s):
When the present European war broke out and neutral rights came into the foreground of America’s anxieties, the President advised the public to study the conduct of the United States during the Civil War. That desperate struggle is inevitably the American touchstone for belligerent rights because, as Secretary of State Seward pointed out in 1863.It is… obvious that any belligerent claim which we make during the existing war, will be urged against us as an unanswerable precedent when [we] may ourselves be at peace.