Last week in class we watched Lincoln and we were told to wright about if Lincoln and Obama abused their presidential powers. Abraham Lincoln is accused of suspending habeas corpus and freeing the slaves without state consent. Obama is accused of using his executive orders to much. So I will be putting them on a trial of my own. I will decide if Lincoln and Obama are innocent or guilty, the answer may surprise you. 

First is our 16^th president Abraham Lincoln, I feel that he had the power to end slavery in America. Why I think this is because I feel big decisions like this are best solved with the federal government. I believe in a strong federal government but states get their say in what happens on 98% of the issues. Ones that concern entire races should be for the federal government. If the states have too much power I feel we would be divided rather than united. States will just pass laws to be different because they can and then people will go there for that reason. An example of this is recreational use of marijuana. As long as you are in that state you can do it but put one baby toe over the line and you are in trouble. States around them now have to deal with people buying it over there and bringing it into their state where it is illegal and could buy and then later sell it at a higher price than paid, also illegal but that is everywhere. So I feel he did the RIGHT THING and HAD THE RIGHT.

In the part about habeas corpus I feel he did not have the right to suspend that. I believe in a fair trial for every man, woman, and child. I see why he did it but he did not have the right to do that. That is in the constitution he can’t do that so he can’t do it. The constitution talks about freedom so yes freeing the slaves was ok. Traitors need to be punished for their crimes agents this great country of ours.

Obama abused his power by banning guns I fell that is a state power but the federal government can say no huge weapons of destruction. What he has done it is almost impossible to get a gun and if you do ammo prices are through the roof. So I feel that Obama has abused his executive powers here.

Lastly I will be talking about if Obama abused his executive powers to spy on Americans. I don’t feel he abused his powers here because it is to keep us safe. If you are texting terroristic threats to people the government should be able to see that and stop you. When I text people it is just a “Hi” or “K” 50% of the time, and I don’t post on Facebook, and I don’t have a Twitter. I don’t care if the government reads mine because I am not worried about what I post. If some people are scared then they are probably trying to hide something. So Obama did not go too far here.