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How Abraham Lincoln dealt with traitors and insurrectionists: A history lesson

After a bitter election, much of the nation resisted and rebelled — but this president knew where to draw the line

By MATTHEW ROZSA
PUBLISHED DECEMBER 12, 2021 6:00AM (EST)
https://www.salon.com/2021/12/12/how-abraham-lincoln-dealt-with-traitors-and-insurrectionists-a-history-lesson/

Only one president, before the current one, won a national election only to see a large proportion of the country outright refuse to participate in our democracy rather than accept the result. That president was, of course, Abraham Lincoln. He concluded that those who conspired in an illegal plan to undo the American experiment in democracy had to be permanently banished from politics. It is a lesson Lincoln's successors forgot, and arguably one that should be studied carefully today.

There are key differences, to be sure, between the situation faced by Lincoln and what confronts Joe Biden today. Lincoln's victory in the 1860 election was controversial because of his opposition to slavery. No one claimed the election result itself was fraudulent — a region of the country simply despised him for being a Republican, with Lincoln's name being left off the ballot on the ballot in most Southern states. What's more, the aftermath of Lincoln's victory led to a literal civil war, and despite some dire predictions we are not close to that in the 21st century. In addition, while the 1860 election tore America apart because of one grave and highly divisive issue (that being slavery), the 2020 election posed a major threat to democracy largely because of the damaged ego of a highly narcissistic candidate.

In both cases, however, we see a large, reactionary faction rejecting an election loss, and that act serving as the catalyst for a crisis of democratic legitimacy. Lincoln faced a violent rebellion that literally caused armed conflict, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths. What Biden faces today is more difficult to define, but looks to be an effort to subvert the rules of democracy in practice while maintaining rhetorical support for them, and while nominally abiding by existing laws and working through existing institutions.

The political question made visible in both cases is one of self-preservation rather than principle. To what degree can a democracy tolerate the actions of those who wish to destroy it? How much defiance and resistance is permissible before democratic institutions lose all meaningful authority?
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https://www.salon.com/2021/12/12/how-abraham-lincoln-dealt-with-traitors-and-insurrectionists-a-history-lesson/