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Lincoln's International Law -- Redefining American Exceptionalism, Antonio F. Perez

Antonio F Perez

This paper analyzes Lincoln’s understanding of international law, shows how that understanding flows from the premises from which Lincoln rejected the ruling pre-Civil War understanding of the role of international law in the U.S. Constitution, explains how those premises in turn are grounded in Lincoln’s ethical principles, and draws some tentative conclusions as to the inferences that can be drawn today from Lincoln’s conception of American exceptionalism. First, the essential features of Lincolnian exceptionalism become clear only in the context of a detailed description of the previous ruling conception of American exceptionalism. American exceptionalism, under this theory, focused on institutional …