...rhetorical question that turned out to be the most powerful — and famous — part of his argument. "Must I shoot a simpleminded 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,...

...bore some responsibility for the crimes for which the others were being executed. "Must I," he asked, "shoot a simple-minded soldier boy who deserts, while...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,...

...justifying his action in this case: Long experience has shown that armies cannot be maintained unless desertion shall be punished by the severe penalty...hair of a wily agitator who induces him to desert? (319-20) A third justification of his action was drawn from the behavior of Andrew Jackson, who became...

...was arrested for treason and exiled to the Confederacy, Lincoln defended the banishment as follows: "Must I shoot a simple-minded soldier boy who deserts,...hair of a wily agitator who induces him to desert?" Although it is accepted that a government may use military tribunals to try enemy soldiers, Lincoln...

...homely example that made his point without Latinate distinctions or close constitutional reasoning. "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?" Lincoln asked. "I think that in such a case, to silence...

...proceedings. It was with regard to Vallandigham and his ilk that Lincoln poignantly posed his dilemma: "Must I shoot a simple-minded soldier boy who deserts,...hair of a wily agitator who induces him to desert?" To Lincoln, clearly, the preservation of the Union committed to freedom justified the emergency exercise...

...a simple-minded soldier boy who deserts," Lincoln asked, "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 a father, a brother, or friend, into a public meeting, and there working upon his feelings, till he is persuaded...

...reprinted in Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, v. 6, p. 264. Rutgers University Press (1953, 1990). Must I shoot a simple-minded soldier boy who deserts,...hair of a wily agitator who induces him to desert? Letter to Erastus Corning and Others, [June 12], 1863, reprinted in Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln,...

...from the army, and to leave the rebellion without an adequate military force to suppress rt. . . . Must I shoot a simple-minded soldier boy who deserts,...hair of a wily agitator who induces him to desert? I can no more be persuaded that the government can constitutionally take no strong measures in time...

...one of the leading Southern sympathizers in the Union, Clement L. Vallandigham, the president asked: "Must I shoot a simple-minded soldier boy who deserts,...touch a hair of a wily agitator who induces him to desert?"58 As usual, there was corruption in the quartermaster corps. Lincoln got involved, although...