Overview:
In April 1865 over 600,000 Americans lay dead from
battle wounds and other causes directly related to their
service in the armies of the Confederacy and Union during
the four year Civil War. If we adjusted the number of
dead to correspond to our modern population of 300 million
it would be approximately 5,000,000 men and women --
a truly gargantuan number.
Even at that time there was little question about the
chain of events that led to the secession of first South
Carolina and eventually eleven states total. While Southern
apologists then, and some historians now, argue that
the blame for secession is shared between North and
South, no one then or now disputes who led the Confederacy:
President Jefferson Davis and General Robert E. Lee.
Yet neither man was ever tried or convicted of treason
(an act they most certainly committed) by either a military
tribunal or a civilian court.
Almost eighty years later, in the middle of the night
of June 13, 1942 on a beach near Amagansett, NY, four
German saboteurs armed with weapons and explosives and
other devices rowed ashore from a German U-boat on a
mission to blow up and otherwise disable American defense
plants. These four men, all of whom had lived for a
time in United States before the war, along with another
similarly equipped group of four enemy agents who came
ashore four days later near Jacksonville, FL, after
disembarking from another U-boat were quickly captured
and charged with spying -- a capital offense.
Though neither group accomplished any of their goals
of industrial sabotage, and some historians question
how serious the eight men were about actually carrying
out acts of sabotage, there was no doubt they were equipped
to do significant damage. As America was at war during
this time, the decision was made to try the eight by
military tribunal set up by the government for that
purpose (not the existing civilian courts). The court
cases started on July 8, 1942 and concluded with the
conviction of all eight on August 4, 1942. All were
sentenced to death and, after President Roosevelt commuted
the sentences of two of the men who had volunteered
information to the government, six were executed at
the District of Columbia Jail on August 8, 1942.
Two Supreme Court Cases, Ex Parte Milligan (1866)
and Ex Parte Quirin (1942) are legally responsible
for the different outcomes experienced by President
Davis and General Lee and the eight German saboteurs.
In this lesson, students and teachers will study and
discuss the different court cases and their effect
on these two events in particular and their relevance
on legal proceedings relating to the war on terror
today.
Objectives
-
Students will understand the basic facts surrounding
both events which precipitated the two court cases
studied. This knowledge will include:
- At least a cursory understanding of the plot
that Confederate sympathizer Lambdin P. Milligan
and four other men were charged with participating
in.
- An understanding of Operation Pastorius (the
case of the German saboteurs), both the plan and
what actually happened.
- Students will develop an understanding of the two
court cases. This understanding will include:
- Knowledge of the basic facts of the Ex Parte
Milligan case including the Supreme Court ruling.
- Understanding the way in which the Ex Parte
Milligan case affected the treatment of Jefferson
Davis and Robert E. Lee after the war.
- Knowledge of the Ex Parte Quirin case
including the ramifications of the court's decision
about the eight Nazi agents.
- Students will explore and analyze a number of primary
and secondary sources as well as multimedia resources
as they study these cases.
- Students will compare the two Supreme Court decisions
and how they affected President Davis, General Lee
and the eight German saboteurs.
- Students and teachers will have the option of extending
their newly learned knowledge to discuss and debate
how it applies to terrorists both foreign and domestic
today.
Handouts:
Activity 1: Ex
Parte Milligan Handout (PDF)
Activity 2: Ex Parte Quirin Handout (PDF)
Activity 3: Comparison
Chart -- this is very basic, but might be useful
for note taking.
Additional Print Resources:
Saboteurs: The Nazi Raid on America by Michael
Dobbs. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2004 (the story of
the 1942 Nazi attempt to land eight agents along the
East Coast to carry out acts of sabotage).
Online Resources:
Ex Parte Milligan:
Decision of the US Supreme Court: This is
the complete text of the court's decision.
http://www.constitution.org/ussc/071-002a.htm
Decision of the US Supreme Court with notes and
brief explanation from law.jrank.org:
http://law.jrank.org/pages/13644/Ex-parte-Milligan.html
Ex Parte Quirin and Operation Pastorius:
Decision of the US Supreme Court with notes and
brief explanation from law.jrank.org:
http://law.jrank.org/pages/13645/Ex-Parte-Quirin.html
FBI Famous Cases: George John Dasch and the Nazi
Saboteurs from the FBI website.
This webpage has the booking photos of all eight men
as well as other photos from the case:
http://www.fbi.gov/libref/historic/famcases/nazi/nazi.htm
World War II: German Saboteurs Invade America
in 1942
The full text of an article by Harvey Ardman on
the failed attempt is available at www.historynet.com.
This article was first published in World War II
magazine in 1997:
http://www.historynet.com/magazines/world_war_2/3037136.html
The Keystone Commandos, from the Atlantic
Monthly, February 2002
In this article, author Gary Cohen tells the story of
the events leading to the conviction of all and execution
of six of the saboteurs:
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200202/cohen
German Espionage and Sabotage Against the United
State In World War II.
This resource is comprised of previously secret
military documents (declassified in 1944) recording
the events of 1942 and a later 1944 Nazi attempt to
land saboteurs in Maine:
http://history.navy.mil/faqs/faq114-1.htm
Saboteurs: The Nazi Raid on America (Book
Review) from Historynet.com.
This review gives the highlights of the botched Nazi
attempt to land saboteurs along the East Coast and the
almost equally inept response by the US Government:
http://www.historynet.com/reviews/world_war_2/3034901.html
Montauk Life: Night of the Nazis
This website gives a good overview of the events in
and around Long Island in June 1942. It also includes
a brief description of the coastal defenses in place
along the Long Island shore in June 1942:
http://www.montauklife.com/history/history_night_of_the_nazis.html
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