Abraham Lincoln and Habeas Corpus
Habeas corpus is a writ (a court order) which commands an official who is holding a prisoner illegally to release that prisoner. If someone has been detained illegally, they can apply to a court to secure their release through this process. Article one, section 9 of the United States Constitution reads that "The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it."
On April 27, 1861, the writ of habeas corpus was suspended by President Abraham Lincoln in Maryland and parts of midwestern states, including southern Indiana, during the American Civil War. Later, on October 23rd, 1861 (149 years ago today) he suspended it across the country.
Lincoln did this in response to riots, local militia actions, and the threat that the border slave state of Maryland would secede from the Union, leaving the nation's capital, Washington, D.C., surrounded by hostile territory. Lincoln chose to suspend the writ over a proposal to bombard Baltimore, favored by his General-in-Chief Winfield Scott. Lincoln was also motivated by requests by generals to set up military courts to rein in "Copperheads" or Peace Democrats, and those in the Union who supported the Confederate cause.
Lincoln was challenged in court and overturned by the U.S. Circuit Court in Maryland (led by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Chief, Roger B. Taney) in a case called Ex Parte Merryman. Lincoln ignored Taney's order. Among Lincoln's greatest critics of this action were former President Franklin Pierce, viewed as a southern sympathizer by some and as a great civil libertarian by others.
Lincoln wasn't alone in taking this action. In the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis also suspended habeas corpus and imposed martial law. This was in part to maintain order and spur industrial growth in the South to compensate for the economic loss inflicted by its secession.
Following is the text of Lincoln's order:
Whereas, It has become necessary to call into service, not only volunteers, but also portions of the militia of the States by draft, in order to suppress the insurrection existing in the United States, and disloyal persons are not adequately restrained by the ordinary processes of law from hindering this measure, and from giving aid and comfort in various ways to the insurrection. Now, therefore, be it ordered, that during the existing insurrection, and as a necessary measure for suppressing the same, all rebels and insurgents, their aiders and abettors within the United States, and all persons discouraging volunteer enlistments, resisting militia drafts, or guilty of any disloyal practice affording aid and comfort to the rebels against the authority of the United States, shall be subject to martial law, and liable to trial and punishment by courts-martial or military commission.
Second: That the writ of habeas corpus is suspended in respect to all persons arrested, or who are now, or hereafter during the rebellion shall be, imprisoned in any fort, camp, arsenal, military prisons, or other place of confinement, by any military authority, or by the sentence of any court-martial or military commission.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington, this Twenty-fourth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-seventh.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. By the President.
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State
Other presidents who would suspend habeas corpus in certain instances include:
Ulysses Grant in 1871 (as part of his campaign against the Ku Klux Klan)
Franklin Delano Roosevelt during World War Two
Bill Clinton in 1996 following the Oklahoma City boming
George W. Bush as part of anti-terrorism measures following the World Trade Center attacks.
On April 27, 1861, the writ of habeas corpus was suspended by President Abraham Lincoln in Maryland and parts of midwestern states, including southern Indiana, during the American Civil War. Later, on October 23rd, 1861 (149 years ago today) he suspended it across the country.
Lincoln did this in response to riots, local militia actions, and the threat that the border slave state of Maryland would secede from the Union, leaving the nation's capital, Washington, D.C., surrounded by hostile territory. Lincoln chose to suspend the writ over a proposal to bombard Baltimore, favored by his General-in-Chief Winfield Scott. Lincoln was also motivated by requests by generals to set up military courts to rein in "Copperheads" or Peace Democrats, and those in the Union who supported the Confederate cause.
Lincoln was challenged in court and overturned by the U.S. Circuit Court in Maryland (led by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Chief, Roger B. Taney) in a case called Ex Parte Merryman. Lincoln ignored Taney's order. Among Lincoln's greatest critics of this action were former President Franklin Pierce, viewed as a southern sympathizer by some and as a great civil libertarian by others.
Lincoln wasn't alone in taking this action. In the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis also suspended habeas corpus and imposed martial law. This was in part to maintain order and spur industrial growth in the South to compensate for the economic loss inflicted by its secession.
Following is the text of Lincoln's order:
Whereas, It has become necessary to call into service, not only volunteers, but also portions of the militia of the States by draft, in order to suppress the insurrection existing in the United States, and disloyal persons are not adequately restrained by the ordinary processes of law from hindering this measure, and from giving aid and comfort in various ways to the insurrection. Now, therefore, be it ordered, that during the existing insurrection, and as a necessary measure for suppressing the same, all rebels and insurgents, their aiders and abettors within the United States, and all persons discouraging volunteer enlistments, resisting militia drafts, or guilty of any disloyal practice affording aid and comfort to the rebels against the authority of the United States, shall be subject to martial law, and liable to trial and punishment by courts-martial or military commission.
Second: That the writ of habeas corpus is suspended in respect to all persons arrested, or who are now, or hereafter during the rebellion shall be, imprisoned in any fort, camp, arsenal, military prisons, or other place of confinement, by any military authority, or by the sentence of any court-martial or military commission.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington, this Twenty-fourth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-seventh.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. By the President.
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State
Other presidents who would suspend habeas corpus in certain instances include:
Ulysses Grant in 1871 (as part of his campaign against the Ku Klux Klan)
Franklin Delano Roosevelt during World War Two
Bill Clinton in 1996 following the Oklahoma City boming
George W. Bush as part of anti-terrorism measures following the World Trade Center attacks.