Amber Shrum
Abraham Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus research paper
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10/27/17 Habeas Corpus can be defined as a writ requiring a person under arrest to be brought before a judge or into court, especially to secure the person's release unless lawful grounds are shown for their detention. During the Civil War Abraham Lincoln had suspended this law. His reasoning behind it was that of contingent of Maryland officials were intending to destroy the railroad tracks between Annapolis and Philadelphia, which was a vital supply line for the soldiers preparing to fight in the south. With the writ suspended during this time, thousands were arrested for disloyal acts. Was Abraham Lincoln suspending the writ of habeas corpus
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He would be thought of making unnecessary decisions out of fear of a nation of mayhem. Justice leaders will see him as someone who doesn’t take standstill laws and the well-being of his people seriously. With so many people questioning his authority he would also suffer a loss with his people trusting him. Abraham Lincoln’s decision impacted the country moving forward by giving the nation a sign that there are and will be decisions made that will cost the nation suffering of the people and showing that the authority of the president and other government officials have different views. We still feel this impact on the United States today. The presidents to this day make decisions as safeguards for their plans for the nation and military and make sure that nobody in our nation can jeopardize their …show more content…
With the suspension of habeas corpus in place, the people of the nation were being detained in the thousands. So many people were being held as prisoners that it could affect the production of goods as people were being held up with the anti-war protests and being arrested by military officials and then not being allowed a fair trial, so they could go home to their jobs. The impact of Abraham Lincoln’s decision to suspend the writ of habeas corpus had on the country politically moving forward had a great impact. This suspension provided a foundation for people of the political aspects of the nation. During this time people were either for this suspension or not. To this day some political parties view that the nation needs to be controlled or be in control when it comes to war and how the president and military officials go about certain issues. Culturally speaking, the suspension of habeas corpus had a significant impact. The nations people today are relatives to the people that were arrested during the time of the civil war. Culture deals with people and their way of life. If part of the nation’s elders were held victims to this suspension, then they could pass that reasoning and their side of the story down to recent generations. The suspension of habeas corpus impacted the country globally
The President of the United States is instrumental in the running of the country. He serves as the chief executive, chief diplomat, commander in chief, chief legislator, chief of state, judicial powers, and head of party. Article II of the Constitution states that the President is responsible for the execution and enforcement of the laws created by Congress. He also is tasked with the authority to appoint fifteen leaders of the executive departments which will be a part of the President’s cabinet. He or she is also responsible for speaking with the leaders the CIA and other agencies that are not part of his cabinet because these agencies play a key role in the protection of the US. The President also appoints the heads of more than 50 independent
At the same time in history, the Dred Scott case was taking place. This case was to determine what should be deemed appropriate for the rights of slaves. This case in particular infuriated Lincoln more than anything else did in his career. The ruling in this case was a legal way to insure that anyone that was enslaved was not only unable to become freed, but also that they were unable to be acknowledges as citizens in the United States at
Perhaps the three most influential men in the pre-Civil War era were Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, and Daniel Webster. These men all died nearly a decade before the civil war began, but they didn’t know how much they would effect it. States’ rights was a very controversial issue, and one which had strong opposition and radical proposals coming from both sides. John C. Calhoun was in favor of giving states the power to nullify laws that they saw unconstitutional, and he presented this theory in his “Doctrine of Nullification”. Daniel Webster strongly disagreed with this proposal and showed this by giving powerful support to President Jackson in resisting the attempt by South Carolina to nullify the ‘tariff of abominations’, as they called it; a shipping tax passed in 1828 that they saw as unfairly favoring the industrial North.
The American Civil War had a very profound effect upon the American Constitution and upon American constitutionalism generally. The Civil war had indeed been fought over a question of states’ rights, among other things, and the states’ rights interpretation had actually lost and was, to a degree, a casualty of the wartime period. Further, that casualty was swiftly hammered into its coffin by three amendments which were enacted in 1865, 1868 and 1870 – the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. The Fourteenth Amendment ultimately became the heart and soul of the modern American Constitution. Most of the legal battle’s surrounding the United States Bill of Rights have been to make it a truly national document – such that states may not violate its provisions. The Fourteenth Amendment finally made this possible.
Throughout history we often see Abraham Lincoln as a great president, whose words and action inspire people throughout the nation to change the mindset of how we think about the importance of human lives regardless of race and ethnic groups. His journey toward changing the people perspective on the moral issue of slavery is no easy task to accomplished. But his action however, it did leave an everlasting impact for many African American that being chain by the cruel acts of slavery to experience freedom for the first time. And his Lincoln’s legacy would inspire other individuals to take a stand on their ideas and fight for the freedom of our fellow man. Individuals, such as Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr take pride on their belief to fight for the equality their race and to unite the nation as one. In the book “The Fiery Trial” by
Abraham Lincoln born in 1809 was the President of United States before he was assassination in 1865.Many scholars refer him to as the greatest president the United State has ever had in history. One among his major achievements was the successful lead of the American country during the great internal crisis. He sealed the Union of the country and fought slavery to the end. Lincoln was a lawyer, after which he became a legislator representing the Illinois state. He was a member in the House of Representatives through an election. In family matters Lincoln was said to as loving, kind, a husband and a father of four. Donald 2001 pp.69).
The original version of the Constitution is a result of a series of compromises made to achieve a document that would be voted by the majority of the newly emerged states. Slavery was a very sensitive issue, as it was widely common on the continent.
The most blatant abuse of Lincoln's power was his suspension of habeas corpus. The suspension of this constitutional guarantee, by which a person could not be imprisoned indefinitely without being charges with some specific crime, around much opposition throughout the country. Although Lincoln himself made no concentrated efforts to suppress political oppositions, the repeal of habeas corpus enabled overzealous civil and military authorities to imprison thousands of people who were vocal in their opposition to the war against the South. During the war, in the case Ex parte Merryman, Chief Justice Taney ordered Lincoln to grant a writ of habeas corpus to a Southern agitator who had been arbitrarily jailed by military authorities in Maryland. Lincoln ignored the order. After the war, in the case Ex parte Milligan, the Supreme Court ruled that president could not suspend habeas corpus without the consent of Congress.
The Constitution does not explicitly give the president additional powers during times of emergency, but many people think that the framers of the Constitution implied these powers because the executive branch can respond faster than the legislative in times of crisis. Abraham Lincoln used the claim of emergency powers when he suspended the writ of habeas corpus without approval from Congress in 1862. In 1863, Congress passed the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act. This act gave the president power to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, which allows prisoners to have their cases examined by a judge to determine if their detainment is lawful. Abraham Lincoln signed the
The issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation and the passage of the 13th amendment are two of Lincoln’s most influential documents enacted during his presidency. The Emancipation Proclamation “...declared over three million slaves in the rebel states of the Confederacy to be ‘thenceforward and forever free’...”(Guelzo). This action eventually took the country to the final abolition of slavery when the 13th amendment was introduced, declaring: “Neither slavery
Abraham Lincoln and Slavery Many Americans believe that Abraham Lincoln was the “Great Emancipator,” the sole individual who ended slavery, and the man who epitomizes freedom. In his brief presidential term, Lincoln dealt with an unstable nation, with the South seceding from the country and in brink of leaving permanently.
While Abraham Lincoln detested slavery and personally believed that the coloured people of America deserved full legal status, he was a politician and his priority was always keeping America unified. Lincoln abhorred slavery, and thought it a great evil both morally and from the standpoint of what it had done to the country; he considered it the biggest problem with America. While he did believe that African Americans were an inferior race and did not want to grant them full equality, he was absolutely determined that the constitution should apply to them just as much as any white citizen of America. In his time as a senator and Presidential nominee, and for a while after becoming President, his priority was simply to stop the spread of slavery and keep it in its current boundaries. Over the long term Lincoln did not believe the two races could live together and as a Senator considered shipping African Americans to Liberia, which he abandoned after realizing it was extremely impractical and a death sentence to those it was supposed to free. After becoming President Lincoln considered the much closer, safer, and economically viable Central America, but eventually dropped it as freed slaves were unresponsive. While starting his first term as President he attempted to stop the secession of the southern states and ameliorate the citizens by insisting slavery would be allowed to remain as it had been before, prioritizing the Union over the slaves. Later in his first term, and into his early second, Lincoln proposed a compensated emancipation system , believing that if the states that had seceded realized others would not join the Confederacy they would be more inclined to rejoin the Union. After all other solutions failed to gain a...
Because of the power to appoint ambassadors, the president can also recognize foreign governments as well as receive their ambassadors. One of the Presidents most important expressed powers is that of Commander in Chief. But although he is Commander in Chief, only Congress has the authority to declare war as well as the ability to raise and maintain an army.
It was a delicate balancing act because it defined the war as a war against slavery, not the war between the northern and southern people, and at the same time, it protected Lincoln’s position with conservatives, and there was no turning back. Thousands of slaves had “voted with their feet” for emancipation; blacks and their white allies celebrated with praise songs. Another piece of evidence, the Thirteenth Amendment, proved that Lincoln deserved the title “The Great Emancipator”. Lincoln came to see black soldiers as “the great available and yet unavailable force for restoring the Union”. African American people helped secure equal rights for their people.
I believe that Habeas Corpus should not be suspended because it guarantees the safety of innocent. The law states that individuals are innocent until proven guilty but in The Siege, they were not given a chance to be proven guilty, instead they were just taken and it