Page:Lincoln's Suspension of Habeas Corpus.djvu/8

 at least was nowhere controverted. The President's action in 1861 was a practical denial of the correctness of this view. The stand which Congress took on this seeming encroachment upon its hitherto unquestioned jurisdiction manifestly merits careful examination. If Congress acquiesced in Presidential suspension, if, as this essay attempts to demonstrate, it conceded the President's right under the given circumstances to suspend, the historical precedent thus established must be given great weight. It is true that the conditions of the time were abnormal, and true that "acts committed in time of war, under the pressure of necessity and self-preservation, are not likely to ripen into precedents for times of peace." But federal suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus cannot constitutionally occur in time of peace; it is a proceeding which, fortunately for the people of the United States, can be resorted to only in most abnormal times. The importance of the decision of Congress in 1861–1863 upon the question of the President's right to suspend is therefore not weakened by the conditions under which the decision was rendered.