Suspending the Writ of Habeas Corpus

Discussion in 'Freedom and Liberty' started by ghostrider, Oct 1, 2006.


  1. ghostrider

    ghostrider Resident Poltergeist Founding Member

    http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=425

    <CENTER>[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Proclamation Suspending the Writ of Habeas Corpus[/FONT]</CENTER><CENTER>[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
    Abraham Lincoln
    September 24, 1862
    Printer-Friendly Version </CENTER>
    Proclamation Suspending the Writ of Habeas Corpus
    BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
    A PROCLAMATION
    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, first, 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 Rebels against the authority of 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 prison, or other place of confinement by any military authority of 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 87th.
    ABRAHAM LINCOLN
    By the President:
    WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
    [/FONT]
     
  2. ghostrider

    ghostrider Resident Poltergeist Founding Member

    One of the most important things to remember, The Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional, IIRC it was the same Tandy that did the Dred Scott ruling, and Lincoln totally ignored them.
     
  3. ghostrider

    ghostrider Resident Poltergeist Founding Member

    Even before that, 1861

    Lincoln's Suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus
    Relating to the Events in Baltimore
    HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,
    Washington, April 27, 1861.
    The undersigned, General-in-Chief of the Army, has received from the President of the United States the following communication:
    COMMANDING GENERAL ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES:
    You are engaged in repressing an insurrection against the laws of the United States. If at any point on or in the vicinity of the military line which is now used between the city of Philadelphia via Perryville, Annapolis City and Annapolis Junction you find resistance which renders it necessary to suspend the writ of habeas corpus for the public safety, you personally or through the officer in command at the point where resistance occurs are authorized to suspend that writ.
    ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
    In accordance with the foregoing warrant the undersigned devolves on Major-General Patterson, commanding the Department of Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland; Brigadier-General Butler, commanding the Department of Annapolis, and Colonel Mansfield, commanding the Washington Department, a like authority each within the limits of his command to execute in all proper cases the instructions of the President.
    WINFIELD SCOTT.
    <HR>
    Lincoln's Suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus
    Relating to the Events in Missouri
    Maj. Gen. H. W. HALLECK,
    Commanding in the Department of Missouri:

    GENERAL: AS an insurrection exists in the United States and is in arms in the State of Missouri, you are hereby authorized and empowered to suspend the writ of habeas corpus within the limits of the military division under your command, and to exercise martial law as you find it necessary, in your discretion, to secure the public safety and the authority of the United States.
    In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed, at Washington, this second day of December, A.D. 1861.​

    ABRAHAM LINCOLN. By the President:
    WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
    Secretary of State.​
     
  4. ghostrider

    ghostrider Resident Poltergeist Founding Member

    http://www.crf-usa.org/terror/Lincoln.htm

    America Responds to Terrorism
    Lincoln and the "Writ of Liberty"
    <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="90%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top>
    It is 2:30 a.m., and everyone in the darkened house is asleep. Suddenly, there are loud voices outside the house and a heavy banging at the door.
    A man opens an upstairs window and looks down on the scene unfolding in his front yard. Unbelieving, he sees soldiers carrying rifles with fixed bayonets surrounding his house and an army officer at his door, shouting that he is under arrest.
    The shocked citizen refuses to admit the soldiers into his home. The officer orders his men to break down the door. After forcing their way into the house, the soldiers rush upstairs and break apart two bedroom doors before finding the man they have come to arrest.
    The arrested man is secretly taken aboard a special train and transported to another city where he is locked up in a military barracks. The prisoner never sees a judge and is not even formally charged with a crime. Instead, within 24 hours after his arrest, he is brought before eight army officers who put him on trial for making disloyal speeches against the government.
    This incident sounds like it might have happened in Nazi Germany But it occurred in the United States and involved a former Ohio congressman named Clement L. Vallandigham. Even more surprising, the army men who arrested Vallandigham and put him on trial were given the authority to do so by one of Americas greatest presidents: Abraham Lincoln.
    Arrests like Vallandigham's are not supposed to happen in the United States. Judges guard against illegal arrests and imprisonments much like they protect citizens from arbitrary government searches. Before the police may search a persons house, they must show a judge that they have "probable cause" for a search warrant. Similarly, after an arrest, law-enforcement authorities must convince a judge that they have "probable cause" for holding a person. If the government cannot do this, the judge will order the person released.
    The authority of judges to free prisoners held without legal reason is based on a right that existed in America long before either the Constitution or the Bill of Rights were written. This is the right of habeas corpus. This Latin phrase literally means "produce the body." It is an ancient English legal concept that empowers judges to order imprisoned persons to be brought into court to determine if they are being legally held. A judges order to do this is called a writ of habeas corpus, also known as the "writ of liberty."
    [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The Writ of Liberty--Suspended[/FONT]
    The actual right of habeas corpus is not stated anywhere in the Constitution or the Bill of Rights. The authors of these documents apparently believed that habeas corpus was such a fundamental liberty that it needed no further guarantee in writing. The only mention of the writ of habeas corpus in the Constitution relates to when it can be taken away from judges. In a section limiting the powers of Congress (Art. I, Sec. 9), the Constitution states: "The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in causes of rebellion or invasion of the public safety may require it."
    This suspension clause was never activated through the terms of the first 15 presidents. Then during the Civil War, President Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus without consulting Congress. In doing so, Lincoln enabled the military to arrest and imprison thousands of civilians, including Clement L. Vallandigham.
    Lincolns first order suspending the writ of liberty applied only to Maryland, a border state sympathetic to the South that virtually surrounded Washington, D.C. Shortly after, Lincoln issued this suspension order, Union troops arrested a Maryland man for helping to organize a pro-Confederate militia. Following his arrest, he was imprisoned at Fort McHenry. Trying to gain his freedom, the prisoner appealed to a federal court in Baltimore for a writ of habeas corpus. But when a federal judge issued the writ, the military officers at Fort McHenry refused to obey it. They said Lincolns suspension order made the writ worthless.
    On September 24, 1862, Lincoln issued a proclamation unprecedented in American history. He suspended the writ of liberty everywhere in the United States. The suspension applied to Confederate spies or to those who aided the rebel cause, interfered with military enlistments, resisted the draft, or were "guilty of any disloyal practice." This last offense allowed the military to arrest newspaper editors and speakers critical of the Union war effort. Lincoln further ordered that persons arrested under his proclamation were subject to martial law, which meant they would be tried and punished by military courts.
    [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Copperhead on Trial[/FONT]
    Clement L. Vallandigham was insultingly known as a "copperhead." Usually referring to a poisonous snake, the term "copperhead" became the symbol during the Civil War for Northerners who opposed the war and sympathized with the South. Many members of the Democratic Party in the North voiced "copperhead" views. As a leader of the Democrats in Congress, Vallandigham persistently called for a negotiated end to the war and reunion with the South. He also criticized Lincolns proposal to emancipate the slaves. Vallandigham agreed with the "copperhead" slogan: "The Constitution as it is, the Union as it was." He lost his seat in Congress in the election of 1862, but continued to speak out against Lincolns war policy
    General Ambrose E. Burnside commanded the military district that included Ohio. Fed up with widespread "copperhead" sentiment in the area, Burnside issued "General Order, No. 38." Directed mainly at Confederate spies and Northern traitors, this order also warned that: "The habit of declaring sympathies for the enemy will no longer be tolerated in this department. Persons committing such offenses will be at once arrested." Burnside got his authority to issue this order from Lincolns proclamation suspending the writ of habeas corpus.
    On May 1, 1863, Vallandigham spoke at a large Democratic Party rally at Mount Vernon, Ohio. Aware that Burnsides men were in the crowd, Vallandigham attacked both the general and Lincoln. The former congressman declared that his right to speak was based on "General Order, No. 1, the Constitution of the United States." He lashed out at the "wicked, cruel, and unnecessary war." He spoke against the draft law, but did not go so far as to encourage men to disobey it. He also charged that "the men in power are attempting to establish a despotism in this country, more cruel and more oppressive than ever existed before."
    A few days later, Vallandigham was arrested in his bedroom by Burnsides soldiers. A military trial quickly followed. The "copperhead" Democrat was charged with "Publicly expressing, in violation of 'General Order, No. 38. . . sympathies for those in arms against the Government of the United States, declaring disloyal sentiments and opinions, with the object and purpose of weakening the power of the Government in its effort to suppress the unlawful rebellion."
    Vallandigham refused to plead guilty or not guilty. Tried before eight army officers handpicked by General Burnside, he told the military judges that they had no legal right to try him. Burnsides officers, however, found him guilty and recommended putting him in prison for the remainder of the war.
    [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Vallandigham versus Lincoln[/FONT]
    Lincoln was embarrassed by the Vallandigham affair. Bumside had failed to inform the president about his plans to arrest the prominent Democrat and put him on trial. Even so, Lincoln supported Burnside, but ordered that Vallandigham be banished to the Confederacy.
    In response to widespread criticism of his suspension of the writ of habeas corpus and the banishment of Vallandigham, Lincoln wrote a long letter to Democratic Party leaders defending his actions. Lincoln declared that the regular civilian courts were inadequate during a rebellion. He claimed that those opposing the Unions cause endangered "the public safety." Ordinarily, he wrote, such people could not be arrested since criticizing the government was not a criminal offense. If such persons were arrested, they would undoubtedly be released on a writ of habeas corpus by a civilian court judge. The necessary solution, Lincoln argued, was to suspend the writ and lock up the troublemakers until the war ended.
    As for Vallandigham, Lincoln charged that he was encouraging desertions from the Union army. "Must I shoot a simpleminded soldier boy who deserts," Lincoln asked, "while I must not touch a hair of a wily agitator who induces him to desert?"
    After Vallandigham was banished to the South, his friends went to the U.S. Supreme Court in an attempt to convince the justices to hear the case. On February 15, 1864, the Supreme Court announced it would refuse to hear the case, saying that it had no authority to review the proceedings of a martial law court. While the bloody Civil War raged on, the Supreme Court decided it was not the time to challenge the power of General Burnside or his commander-in-chief, Abraham Lincoln.
    </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
     
  5. ColtCarbine

    ColtCarbine Monkey+++ Founding Member

    Historically, freedoms suspended were given back after wartime. I don't trust today's politicians to do the same, whether they are Republican or Democrat. :eek:
     
  6. ghrit

    ghrit Bad company Administrator Founding Member

    Interesting that the terms "insurrection" and "rebellion" are used interchangably. For the civil war, anyway. Now, it is "terrorism" and "jihad" are synonymous with "insurrection" and rebellion seems to have nothing to do with it. Thngs that make you go "Hm." Where is my Webster's?:D
     
  7. ghostrider

    ghostrider Resident Poltergeist Founding Member

    :eek:
     
  8. Seacowboys

    Seacowboys Senior Member Founding Member

    Never had much use for that Lincoln. He started a bad precident, not to mention starting the War of Northern Aggression and apparently had to threaten a lot of his own people just to get them to fight? Now why does that not surprise me?
     
  9. RightHand

    RightHand Been There, Done That RIP 4/15/21 Moderator Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    I told you before SC, it was the war of "Southern Rebellion", not "Northern Agression"!!!:D
     
  10. ghrit

    ghrit Bad company Administrator Founding Member

    Seems to me I heard that there was conscription south of the Mason-Dixon as well. And so who should be surprised? TPTB will always think their cause is righter than the opposition.OSB
     
  11. E.L.

    E.L. Moderator of Lead Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    That's funny, those of us in the south were taught it was the "War of Northern Agression."
     
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