Senator Byrd continues, “Let us ponder the words of the greatest Republican of them all.  While serving as a member of the U.S. House, Representative Abraham Lincoln penned prophetic words on the wisdom of presidential war-making.  In a letter written to William H. Herndon, his friend and partner in their Illinois law firm, Lincoln refuted Herndon’s view that President James K. Polk’s aggressive protection of the newly annexed territory of Texas, resulting in a war with Mexico, was necessary.  Lincoln disputed whether Polk had acted to repel invasion:

Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so, whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such purpose – and you allow him to make war at pleasure.  Study to see if you can fix any limit to his power in this respect, after you have given him so much as you propose.  If, today, he should choose to say he thinks it necessary to invade Canada, to prevent the British from invading us, how could you stop him?  You may say to him, ‘I see no probability to the British invading us’ but he will say to you, ‘Be silent; I see it, if you don’t.’

Following the War, George Washington persuaded his officers and men to put down their weapons, return home, and take up their former trades or livelihoods.  He himself did the same. 

This speech is about Washington's life between the War and the Constitutional Convention.

The United States Constitution was tested in the Civil War; confirmed and interpreted at Appomattox.