General Orders No. 11 Analysis
On May 25th, 1861, John Merryman is taken from his home and is imprisoned in Fort McHenry. This was a result of Pratt Street Riot in Baltimore, and Merryman was arrested by the order of Gen. Keim. Merryman was then put under the custody of Gen. Cadwalader at the Fort, a copy of the warrant (which the prisoner was arrested) was demanded by his counsel, and refused. Chief Justice Roger Taney demanded Merryman be produced for a trial, and Cadwalader couldn’t obey the writ. Without violating his honor and under the authority of the president he refused. Cadwalader had every right to do so, Merryman was seen as a traitor during a time of rebellion. But the question is, did President Lincoln have the power to suspend the privilege of the Writ of
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Habeas Corpus? Taney later cites the 14th section of the Judiciary Act of 1789 and rules the President can’t suspend habeas corpus. In addition, the President can’t authorize a military officer to ignore the writ after making an arrest. In June the same year, Taney files his opinion, arguing against Lincoln for granting himself easily abused powers. Under English law, only Parliament has the authorization to suspend habeas corpus, not the King.
In the U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 9, Clause 2 states the privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall only be suspended in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion and the public safety requires it. Lincoln’s suspension of habeas corpus in the first year of America’s Civil War was in response to riots and thus disloyal persons were imprisoned without trial. Which brings into question how many constitutional rights were still maintained in 1861. After the Supreme Court makes its decision, Lincoln continues to ignore it. Lincoln’s suspension of habeas corpus wasn’t unconstitutional, but still a bad call. Indeed one can justify Lincoln’s decision but at the time it was an overstep of power for the President. Lincoln allowed these new restrictions, which also imposed martial law in some volatile border areas and curbed freedom of speech and the press, to expand throughout the Northern states. However, in 1863, Congress decided the President should indeed have the ability to suspend the writ.
In the formation of the Confederation, General Orders No.
11 was issued by Major-General Ulysses Grant. In 1862, the expulsion of all Jews was ordered in Southern areas. Grant believed a black market for cotton was being run by the Jews, and he issued the order in an effort to reduce corruption. Of course this is a violation of Constitutional rights, and a telegram was sent to Lincoln. General Orders No. 11 compared to Lincoln’s wartime actions show a pattern of civil liberties being taken away in desperate times. In summary, this is a prime example of how armies worked during the time. The same year, Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation. Thus, he gets his name the “Great Emancipator”, not a very accurate label. In his 1858 debate with Stephen Douglas, Lincoln reports he has never been in favor of social and political equality of the white and black races. He is in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race. Lincoln was never one who stood for the equality between races, rather a President who realized slavery was dividing the country. Abolitionist who really believed in the cause like Frederick Douglass did more than Lincoln ever did. The largest mass execution in American history carried out under the orders of President
Lincoln.
After the assassination of Lincoln, Andrew Johnson takes office. He carried out what he believed to be Lincoln’s ideas for Reconstruction, but he made some clumsy moves. He was an inept politician and made attempts to block several Reconstruction laws passed by Congress. He was always in conflict constitutionally with the Radicals over the status of freedmen and whites in the defeated South. Many of the former Confederate men didn’t welcome the idea of being politically and socially equal with their former slaves. The same year as Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, the KKK is founded. If Lincoln would have survived, and of course we can only speculate, but many facts point towards Reconstruction going a lot smoother than it had under Johnson. Would there have been the infamous Black Codes? Would the Reconstruction process under Lincoln suppress the residue of animosity that exists today? One can only guess. His second term, in theory, would have been better for the South, more of a gradual Reconstruction that could’ve satisfied the radicals. Currently, the consensus in the North in regards to the Civil War was that it was a victory against the evils of slavery. In the South, many viewed the Northern victory as the government taking away their economic advantage. However, many do believe Lincoln to be the Great Emancipator due to him passing the Emancipation Proclamation. They fail to realize his true prerogative and motivations for passing the laws he did. To me, Lincoln was never the man we like to make him out to be. He wasn’t by any stretch an activist for African American rights, more of a man of his time. He was a good president overall and kept pushing to keep America united. The Civil War settled the dispute of what America's founding principles were, and there was bad and good on each side. Many associate good with the North, due to the apparent evils of slavery. Many forget how many Confederate men died in an attempt to preserve the institution, and don’t understand their motivation to sacrifice their lives. Lincoln did what he could to keep us united, and we held together post-Civil War. However, there is still much to be done in the Reconstruction of our country in 1865.
Habeas Corpus? Taney later cites the 14th section of the Judiciary Act of 1789 and rules the President can’t suspend habeas corpus. In addition, the President can’t authorize a military officer to ignore the writ after making an arrest. In June the same year, Taney files his opinion, arguing against Lincoln for granting himself easily abused powers. Under English law, only Parliament has the authorization to suspend habeas corpus, not the King.
In the U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 9, Clause 2 states the privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall only be suspended in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion and the public safety requires it. Lincoln’s suspension of habeas corpus in the first year of America’s Civil War was in response to riots and thus disloyal persons were imprisoned without trial. Which brings into question how many constitutional rights were still maintained in 1861. After the Supreme Court makes its decision, Lincoln continues to ignore it. Lincoln’s suspension of habeas corpus wasn’t unconstitutional, but still a bad call. Indeed one can justify Lincoln’s decision but at the time it was an overstep of power for the President. Lincoln allowed these new restrictions, which also imposed martial law in some volatile border areas and curbed freedom of speech and the press, to expand throughout the Northern states. However, in 1863, Congress decided the President should indeed have the ability to suspend the writ.
In the formation of the Confederation, General Orders No.
11 was issued by Major-General Ulysses Grant. In 1862, the expulsion of all Jews was ordered in Southern areas. Grant believed a black market for cotton was being run by the Jews, and he issued the order in an effort to reduce corruption. Of course this is a violation of Constitutional rights, and a telegram was sent to Lincoln. General Orders No. 11 compared to Lincoln’s wartime actions show a pattern of civil liberties being taken away in desperate times. In summary, this is a prime example of how armies worked during the time. The same year, Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation. Thus, he gets his name the “Great Emancipator”, not a very accurate label. In his 1858 debate with Stephen Douglas, Lincoln reports he has never been in favor of social and political equality of the white and black races. He is in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race. Lincoln was never one who stood for the equality between races, rather a President who realized slavery was dividing the country. Abolitionist who really believed in the cause like Frederick Douglass did more than Lincoln ever did. The largest mass execution in American history carried out under the orders of President
Lincoln.
After the assassination of Lincoln, Andrew Johnson takes office. He carried out what he believed to be Lincoln’s ideas for Reconstruction, but he made some clumsy moves. He was an inept politician and made attempts to block several Reconstruction laws passed by Congress. He was always in conflict constitutionally with the Radicals over the status of freedmen and whites in the defeated South. Many of the former Confederate men didn’t welcome the idea of being politically and socially equal with their former slaves. The same year as Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, the KKK is founded. If Lincoln would have survived, and of course we can only speculate, but many facts point towards Reconstruction going a lot smoother than it had under Johnson. Would there have been the infamous Black Codes? Would the Reconstruction process under Lincoln suppress the residue of animosity that exists today? One can only guess. His second term, in theory, would have been better for the South, more of a gradual Reconstruction that could’ve satisfied the radicals. Currently, the consensus in the North in regards to the Civil War was that it was a victory against the evils of slavery. In the South, many viewed the Northern victory as the government taking away their economic advantage. However, many do believe Lincoln to be the Great Emancipator due to him passing the Emancipation Proclamation. They fail to realize his true prerogative and motivations for passing the laws he did. To me, Lincoln was never the man we like to make him out to be. He wasn’t by any stretch an activist for African American rights, more of a man of his time. He was a good president overall and kept pushing to keep America united. The Civil War settled the dispute of what America's founding principles were, and there was bad and good on each side. Many associate good with the North, due to the apparent evils of slavery. Many forget how many Confederate men died in an attempt to preserve the institution, and don’t understand their motivation to sacrifice their lives. Lincoln did what he could to keep us united, and we held together post-Civil War. However, there is still much to be done in the Reconstruction of our country in 1865.