03Fox2/1
16-12-06, 23:52
The following is some facts about the actions and behavior of President Lincoln. A President who I believe acted outside the Constitution.
Since the middle ages, "habeas corpus", meaning "you should have the body", has been the principle means in Anglo-American jurisprudence by which prisoners can challenge their incarceration. The writ orders that a prisoner be brought before the court for determination of whether that person is serving a lawful sentence and, or whether, he or she should be released from custody.
The writ of habeas corpus in common law countries is an important instrument for the safe guarding of individual freedom against arbitrary action by the government. Relief from unlawful imprisonment is one of the cornerstones of our democracy. It still is and still needs to be safeguarded.
On April 27,1861, just a few weeks after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, Abraham Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus. Lincoln then proceeded to close down or destroy newspapers who criticized him. He imprisoned editors who disagreed with him or his policies. There were many in the North, who were against slavery and the spread of slavery to new territories, but who conceded that the states that already allowed slavery, were within their rights as sovereign states to do so. Indeed President Lincoln had said so himself, before secession by Southern states. These same editors defended the right of a state to secede from the Union and stated that no other state or the central government had the right or authority to forcibly keep a state in the Union. The use of military force to accomplish this was definitely against the Constitution.
By special Presidential order, Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus and gave himself the power to jail any private citizen that he wanted. He immediately used this as a way to keep the state of Maryland from voting for secession from the Union. Before there was a vote, Lincoln ordered Federal troops into Baltimore and had the Mayor and Chief of Police arrested. The Chief of Police was imprisoned at Fort McHenry and never heard from again. Also several members of the duly elected legislature were arrested. Even the United States Supreme Court disagreed with these actions and I believe that the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court was arrested on orders of President Lincoln.
The last president to suspend the writ of habeas corpus was President Grant in 1871. Using trumped up charges, he sent Federal troops into South Carolina to arrest former Confederates. Six years after the War Between the States, not much had changed. During WW I and WW II, our presidents also took extraordinary measures to protect America, but these wars were declared by Congress and were against foreign countries.
Semper Fi
Since the middle ages, "habeas corpus", meaning "you should have the body", has been the principle means in Anglo-American jurisprudence by which prisoners can challenge their incarceration. The writ orders that a prisoner be brought before the court for determination of whether that person is serving a lawful sentence and, or whether, he or she should be released from custody.
The writ of habeas corpus in common law countries is an important instrument for the safe guarding of individual freedom against arbitrary action by the government. Relief from unlawful imprisonment is one of the cornerstones of our democracy. It still is and still needs to be safeguarded.
On April 27,1861, just a few weeks after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, Abraham Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus. Lincoln then proceeded to close down or destroy newspapers who criticized him. He imprisoned editors who disagreed with him or his policies. There were many in the North, who were against slavery and the spread of slavery to new territories, but who conceded that the states that already allowed slavery, were within their rights as sovereign states to do so. Indeed President Lincoln had said so himself, before secession by Southern states. These same editors defended the right of a state to secede from the Union and stated that no other state or the central government had the right or authority to forcibly keep a state in the Union. The use of military force to accomplish this was definitely against the Constitution.
By special Presidential order, Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus and gave himself the power to jail any private citizen that he wanted. He immediately used this as a way to keep the state of Maryland from voting for secession from the Union. Before there was a vote, Lincoln ordered Federal troops into Baltimore and had the Mayor and Chief of Police arrested. The Chief of Police was imprisoned at Fort McHenry and never heard from again. Also several members of the duly elected legislature were arrested. Even the United States Supreme Court disagreed with these actions and I believe that the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court was arrested on orders of President Lincoln.
The last president to suspend the writ of habeas corpus was President Grant in 1871. Using trumped up charges, he sent Federal troops into South Carolina to arrest former Confederates. Six years after the War Between the States, not much had changed. During WW I and WW II, our presidents also took extraordinary measures to protect America, but these wars were declared by Congress and were against foreign countries.
Semper Fi