Are the post-9/11 measures initiated by the government and law enforcement agencies the products of a totalitarian impulse, or panic?-or are they simply a prudent response to a seriously perilous world? Are our liberties likely to be narrowed down forever?-or will we restore them when the crisis is over? (How will we know when it's over?)

One way to begin thinking carefully about that is to consider how Americans have responded in the past. Our struggle to reconcile the conflicting claims of liberty and security is not an easy one-but it turns out to have a history. It is, in fact, one of the threads the historical fabric of our nation is woven from.

Here a lawyer and professor does what a lawyer does: he examines the precedents, from the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1799 through the Civil War, the forced relocation of Japanese Americans in World War II, the Red Scares of the 20th Century to our present "war on terror."

This work shows the balance of liberty and security from the Alien and Sedition Acts in the Adams administration through the creation of military commissions in the Mexican War, Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus in the Civil War, the internment of Japanese Americans in World War II, the Red Scares of the twentieth century, to the "War on Terror."

About the author:

Michael Geary is the Coordinator of the Criminal Justice Program at Albertus Magnus College, in New Haven, Connecticut. He joined the College's faculty in 2003 after retiring as a sergeant from the New York City Police Department. Professor Geary received his B.S. in Criminal Justice in 1983, his M.S. 1995, and his J.D. from Pace University School of Law in 1996.