ABRAHAM LINCOLN’S TACTICS REVISITED 2 Abstract Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States of America, is generally considered one of the greatest presidents to ever lead the nation. Despite his mythological status of today, in his own time Lincoln was an exceedingly controversial figure. A naturally gifted politician, Lincoln nonetheless resorted to draconian tactics to achieve his agenda and free slaves throughout the South. The present text explores one such incident, which occurred in 1861. The state of Maryland was considering secession, as it identified with the South on many critical issues. Lincoln was unwilling to allow that to happen. The president sent US troops to Baltimore to arrest pro-Confederate members of the Maryland legislature, in what many historians consider a brazenly extra-judicious act. The author attempts a better understanding of this event by reviewing firsthand accounts of the arrests, press reports of the day, and other original documents pertaining to Lincoln’s maneuver. The paper seeks to answer the question: To what degree was Lincoln justified in his arrest of the Maryland legislators, and how have attitudes about this incident changed over 150 years?