Abraham Lincoln and Treason in the Civil War: The Trials of John Merryman by Jonathan W. White (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 90 OHIO VALLEY HISTORY While Gudmestad presents a finely developed and convincing analysis of the far-reaching influence of steamboats on southern antebellum society, perhaps his most significant contributions come in his analysis of how the steamboat aided Indian removal and the environmental consequences of river improvement and timber speculation. The removal process relied on steamboat travel. Nearly 60 percent of the Native Americans displaced from the southern United States in the mid-1830s traveled at least a portion of the journey via steamboat, which many contemporaries perceived as a more humane means of transport. Increased commitment to steamboat transportation also made for safer and more efficient trips. Harvesting riverside timber provided a quick profit for the harvester and ensured a steady supply of fuel for the vessels. But rapid deforestation also exposed riverbanks to erosion and collapse. Increased wood consumption pushed harvesting further inland as riverside timber became scarce, opening more lands for plantation development and cotton production. As operations turned to removing hazards from the waterways for safer passage, straightening efforts aimed to shorten the distance of travel. The improvements had mixed results; removing hazards made for safer passage, but straightening attempts increased water flow rates, exacerbated bank erosion, and altered sediment deposit patterns that left some tributaries unnavigable. Gudmestad provides a refreshing look at the widespread economic, cultural, and environmental change wrought by the steamboat, including its role in helping create a distinct regional identity. His reexamination of Indian removal and the ecological and environmental manipulation unleashed by the rise of the steamboat offer a reminder of the hidden costs of embracing new technologies. This book deserves a wide readership, including those interested in southern antebellum culture, transportation, technology, and economics. Rick L. Woten Simpson College Abraham Lincoln and Treason in the Civil War: The Trials of John Merryman Jonathan W. White On May 25, 1861, military officials in Baltimore, Maryland, arrested John Merryman for treason. The southern sympathizer and his compatriots had burned several railroad bridges in the area, preventing Union troops from passing through to Washington, D.C. Merryman was imprisoned in Fort McHenry in Baltimore harbor, where he petitioned Chief Justice Roger B. Taney—then “riding the circuit” while the Supreme Court was not in session—for a writ of habeas corpus. Taney issued the writ on May 26 but President Abraham Lincoln ignored it, having suspended habeas corpus in Maryland in April. Angered by the Lincoln’s actions, Taney issued a written opinion in Ex Parte Merryman on June 1, 1861, berating the president and arguing that the constitutional right to suspend the writ of habeas corpus rested in the hands of the BOOK REVIEWS SUMMER 2012 91 legislative branch. The case touched off a constitutional spat between the president and chief justice that lasted until the latter’s death in 1864. As Jonathan White points out, the famed story of Merryman, Taney, and Lincoln is one that historians “love to tell.” Full of historical intrigue and constitutional disagreement, the Merryman case has also had a lasting impact on modern issues of wartime civil liberties, particularly during the United States’ war on terror in the twenty-first century. Yet, White argues, few scholars really know much about John Merryman himself or why the military arrested in him in 1861, not to mention the outcome of the trial. Thus, in Abraham Lincoln and Treason in the Civil War, White sets out to uncover the details surrounding Merryman’s wartime experience . More important, his examination tells a larger story about the complicated world of Civil War legal questions. As White explains, recounting the particulars and context of Merryman’s trial enables him to touch on “nearly every aspect of the treason, disloyalty, and civil liberties issues that arose during the Civil War” (8). White’s comprehensive research helps demonstrate that, indeed, all of these issues were intimately connected. For example, Lincoln’s thinking about southern amnesty and reconstruction in late 1863 and early 1864, related directly to the problem of how the administration would handle southern sympathizers in the North. Wartime suspension of civil liberties also led to lawsuits against the arresting parties, the subject of White’s final chapter. This issue of...