Chapter 8 Summary and Analysis

Chapter 8, "The Irrelevance of the Milligan Decision," turns systematically to martial law and trials by military commission, mentioned at many points earlier in the book and finally reveals what Milligan is about. As Army regulations require transcripts of courts martial, and military commissions amount to courts martial for civilians, rich treasures of transcripts are buried for investigators to unearth and make up for the dearth of scholarly attention given to military commissions, which so damage Lincoln's reputation. In 1864, Lieber allows - even requires - military commissions to try those who endanger the country, because a country at war is wholly at war everywhere, not only on discreet battlefields, and every citizen is a potential belligerent. This conforms to Lincoln's argument in the Corning letter on the role of martial law in maintaining public safety, restraining interference with the raising and supplying...