Lincoln's Suspension of Habeas Corpus as Viewed by Congress

"Dean Sellery has an international reputation as scholar, teacher and author. His authorship includes 'Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus as viewed by congress.'" The Capital Times, Jan. 8, 1937

What authority did Abraham Lincoln have to suspend habeas corpus, and was this unconstitutional?

In 1907, George Clarke Sellery (1872 1962), Dean of the University of WisconsinMadison College of Letters and Science, published the short 42-page book "Lincoln's Suspension of Habeas Corpus as Viewed by Congress."

In the aftermath of the attack on Fort Sumter, Lincoln suspended habeas corpus and began to imprison suspected Confederate sympathizers. In 1861, Seward set up a special office in the State Department designed to monitor internal security, and the federal government and local police officers worked together to suppress those suspected of actively supporting the Confederacy.

In a message to Congress delivered in July 1861, Lincoln argued that his actions had been constitutional and necessary given the threat posed by the Confederacy.

In introducing his book, Sellery contends 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."

Dettagli