Lincoln’s Code: The Laws of War in American History

by John Fabian Witt
@JohnFabianWitt

Pulitzer Prize Finalist
Bancroft Prize Winner
ABA Silver Gavel Award Winner
A New York Times Notable Book of the Year

In the closing days of 1862, just three weeks before Emancipation, the administration of Abraham Lincoln commissioned a code setting forth the laws of war for US armies. It announced standards of conduct in wartime—concerning torture, prisoners of war, civilians, spies, and slaves—that shaped the course of the Civil War. By the twentieth century, Lincoln’s code would be incorporated into the Geneva Conventions and form the basis of a new international law of war.

Interview with the Author

Zócalo Public Square
John Fabian WItt on the Laws of War
3/12/11        60 min

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Liberty Law Talk
Lincoln’s Code of War
1/12/20          58 min

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