Page:Lincoln's Suspension of Habeas Corpus.djvu/9

 CHAPTER I.

THE HABEAS CORPUS PROBLEM. The exclusive right of Congress to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus was challenged by President Lincoln at the outset of the Civil War. April 27, 1861, apprehensive for the safety of the isolated capital, the President issued an order authorizing General Winfield Scott to suspend the writ of habeas corpus. The order, which practically empowered General Scott to arrest and detain at will, was as follows: "You are engaged in repressing an insurrection against the laws of the United States. If at any point on or in the vicinity of any military line which is now or which shall be used between the city of Philadelphia and the city of Washington 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."