Advanced Search

Current Criteria

    ›› Coverage Events : Suspension of the writ of Habeas Corpus

Refine your search

Refine your search by adding another term. Type 'all' to view all options for the category.

Filter by Content Type.

Did not find what you were looking for?
return to the basic search, search for multimedia, or search the collection

Showing results 1 – 2 of 2

Teaching Resource

Lincoln and Civil Liberties

Overview

The tension between individual rights and a government’s need to preserve and protect national security during times of war has represented a constant theme throughout American history.

During the John Adams administration, a conflict with France resulted in the passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts, laws that violated the First Amendment by limiting people’s freedom to criticize the government and encouraged fear of foreigners living in the United States. James Madison and Thomas Jefferson famously responded with...

Teaching Resource

An “Unconstitutional” Act? The Suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus

Background

At the beginning of the Civil War, as the number of dead increased daily, a force of opposition to the war efforts began to intensify in the Congress and in the voices of the American people. Abraham Lincoln, in an effort to silence the Southern sympathizers, or “Copperheads,” suspended the writ of habeas corpus, a clause of the Constitution that forbids unlawful imprisonment. The suspension of this clause was first mandated only in the state of Maryland due to its proximity to the capital, but in September of 1861...