Per normal you are just spot on.

There is pretty good evidence that Lincoln considered rescinding martial law the night that Richmond fell. He discussed it with Grant. It seems he decided not to rescind it because A He was newly re elected and felt he had time to 'tidy up' and B He wanted to maintain control over the prosecution of the Southern leaders.

It's a pity that Lincoln didn't have time. It would have delayed where we are today. Martial law is pretty strict and gives inordinate power to the President. So now, here we are with the President having the power to issue 'executive orders' that carry about 96% of the weight of legislation. I'd venture to guess that 30,000 pages of the 'code' are the direct result of executive orders.

Andy Johnson was an insufferable boob that liked the 'executive orders' part of his job. He wasn't going to kill that goose that literally lined his pockets with golden eggs.

Our probable best chance after Lincoln might have been Teddy Roosevelt but he really wanted a National Park system so the siren of executive order also caught him. Now it's PART OF THE CODE and a significant fraction of that 180,000 pages just buttresses 'the way things are'.

Sorta related. 114 people were arrested Saturday night in Phoenix over the protest/rioting. At least 100 had their cases thrown out Monday because the Phoenix PD used the exact same charges and statements of evidence on them. The judges said 'no probable cause'. Another good lesson about the evils of copy/paste in life.

Thanks Sult. Again. Needs to be said.