Lincoln Op-ed: Lincoln suspends the writ

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Posted at 09:42 AM ET, 05/31/2011



Frank Williams: President Lincoln suspended the Writ of Habeas Corpus along the military lines between Philadelphia and Annapolis in April; was it used primarily as a political tool to harass and intimidate residents?

By Frank Williams

Chairman of The Lincoln Forum


It is easy for us to forget the uncertainties surrounding America at the beginning of the Civil War.

After the surrender of Fort Sumter in April 1861, President Lincoln took drastic measures as part of his strategy to resist Southern rebellion. These included his call for 75,000 volunteers, a blockade of the Southern coast, increasing the size of the federal army and navy, and authorizing the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus along the rail lines from Washington to Philadelphia or by way of Annapolis. These were military acts pursuant to what the President called the “war power.”

He believed suspension was necessary to the war effort so that troops could reach Washington and telegraph lines remain open for communication to the Northern states. The nation’s capital was surrounded by Virginia, which seceded on April 17, and Maryland which was anti-Lincoln (in the 1860 election Lincoln garnered only 2,294 votes out of a population of 92,502). The President feared the state would secede and was already hindering the arrival of troops from the North with the April 19 attack on the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment as it traveled through Baltimore.

In an April 25 letter to General Winfield Scott, the President authorized Scott to suspend habeas corpus only in “the extremist necessity” but could “bombard” Maryland’s cities if such action was militarily “necessary.” Lincoln, the lawyer/politician, understood the importance of the writ and thus made this crucial distinction with destroying cities preferable to denying habeas corpus to the citizens.

Such suspension, then, was not “to harass and intimidate the residents.” He believed his order helped, rather than hinder his “solemn” oath as president to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.”

In his special message to Congress on July 4, Lincoln would explain his actions and seek acquiescence by its members. His rationale would continue for the entire conflict, “Are all the laws but one, to go unexecuted, and the government itself go to pieces, lest that one be violated.”



By Frank Williams | 09:42 AM ET, 05/31/2011

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...idate-residents/2010/12/20/AGoVkPFH_blog.html
 
Posted at 09:21 AM ET, 05/31/2011

John Marszalek: President Lincoln suspended the Writ of Habeas Corpus along the military line between Philadelphia and Annapolis; was it used primarily as a politcal tool to harass and intimidate residents?

By John Marszalek

Giles Distinguished Professor Emeritus of history at Mississippi State University

On April 27, 1861 after the mob attack on Union troops in Baltimore, Maryland, Abraham Lincoln issued the order suspending the writ of habeas corpus. He based this statement on his belief that the war powers of the president, particularly since Congress was not in session, gave him such authority. Thus, Lincoln allowed the jailing of individuals without court action.His motivation was clear. He worried that, since the slave state of Maryland bordered on Washington, D.C., its activities might cause the separation of the capital of the United States from the rest of the nation. That would create fatal danger for the survival of the Union.

The result was controversy which has lasted to the present day. Did Lincoln have the power to order this suspension? Did he set a precedent that later president George W. Bush followed in his activities during the war on terror?

Constitutional scholars and Civil War buffs have weighed in on these questions, debating that the Constitution gave Congress this right not to the president, or holding that, because of the desperate situation in the nation, Lincoln had that power.

Clearly Lincoln acted in response to his heart-felt duty to ensure the survival of the nation. There is no indication he did it to harass or intimidate. The validity of his action might properly be debated, but its purpose was clear: survival not harassment.


By John Marszalek | 09:21 AM ET, 05/31/2011

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...idate-residents/2010/12/20/AGzoIPFH_blog.html
 
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