Suspending Habeas Corpus

During the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, President Abraham Lincoln took desperate measures to defend the north. This included an executive order, Proclamation 104, suspending the writ of habeas corpus, which is the right of the accused to report an unlawful detention. Two years later, Congress would expand the suspension from the northeast to the entire country.

The Union Army had the right to go wherever they liked, arrest anyone without a warrant, and imprison people without a trial. The proclamation was overturned in 1865 by President Andrew Johnson – the war was over, and civilians no longer needed to be subject to military law.