Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 
 

Files

File List


Faith_final_dissertation.pdf (1.35 MB)

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

"'This Despotic and Arbitrary Power': British Diplomacy and Resistance in the Habeas Corpus Controversy of the American Civil War"

Faith, Robert O.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1522998779042985

Abstract Details

2018, Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, History.
The following dissertation explores the impact of President Abraham Lincoln’s suspensions of the writ of habeas corpus on British nationals living in the Union and Anglo-American diplomacy during the American Civil War. By drawing primarily upon State Department records and private British diplomatic correspondence, as well as Union military records, the dissertation argues that the British habeas experience in the Union reveals the broader scope of the habeas corpus problem under Lincoln. During the American Civil War, the military arrests of Britons under Lincoln’s habeas policy presented both governments with a persistent foreign policy problem. Between 1861 and 1865, diplomats at the British Legation prioritized the protection of Britons living in the Union against various forms of military injustice, and devoted considerable energy toward relieving Britons wrongfully arrested or tried by Union military courts. Although Lincoln’s habeas policy placed a serious strain on Anglo-American relations during the latter part of 1861, and even pushed Lincoln to publicly embrace an unconstrained constitutional view of executive habeas suspension far earlier than scholars have recognized, the U.S. State Department and British Legation in Washington ultimately handled the problem successfully at the diplomatic level through a policy of cautious cooperation. Protecting Britons tried by military courts between 1862 and 1865 proved more difficult, however, as both governments struggled to negotiate the contentious boundary between citizenship and nationality inherent in such cases and as the Union military did not always accommodate British requests for cooperation or leniency. Across the Atlantic, many Britons inside and outside of the London government consistently condemned Lincoln’s suspension of habeas corpus as a dangerous blow to civil liberty, and the president’s policy contributed significantly to widespread anti-Union sentiment in England during the war. In analyzing the broader British habeas corpus experience under Lincoln, this dissertation will contribute to our understanding of Civil War Anglo-American relations, habeas corpus and civil liberties on the Northern homefront, Lincoln’s constitutionalism, and the conflicting and amorphous nature of “citizenship” and “liberty” within the crucible of Civil War America.
Walter Hixson (Advisor)
278 p.
History; International Relations; Law; Legal Studies
habeas corpus; foreign relations; Abraham Lincoln; American Civil War

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Faith, R. O. (2018). "'This Despotic and Arbitrary Power': British Diplomacy and Resistance in the Habeas Corpus Controversy of the American Civil War" [Doctoral dissertation, University of Akron]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1522998779042985

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Faith, Robert. "'This Despotic and Arbitrary Power': British Diplomacy and Resistance in the Habeas Corpus Controversy of the American Civil War". 2018. University of Akron, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1522998779042985.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Faith, Robert. ""'This Despotic and Arbitrary Power': British Diplomacy and Resistance in the Habeas Corpus Controversy of the American Civil War"." Doctoral dissertation, University of Akron, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1522998779042985

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

akron1522998779042985
609
© 2018, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by University of Akron and OhioLINK.