"The provision of the Constitution that "the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended unless when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it" is equivalent to a provision — is a provision — that such privilege may be suspended when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety does require it. It was decided that we have a case of rebellion and that the public safety does require the qualified suspension of the privilege of the writ which was authorized to be made. Now it is insisted that Congress, and not the Executive, is vested with this power; but the Constitution itself is silent as to which or who is to exercise the power; and as the provision was plainly made for a dangerous emergency, it can not be believed the framers of the instrument intended that in every case the danger should run its course until Congress could be called together, the very assembling of which might be prevented, as was intended in this case, by the rebellion."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Lawyers from the United StatesAbolitionistsPoliticians from IllinoisAbraham LincolnPeople of the American Civil War
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Abraham Lincoln
1809 – 1865
Präsident der USA (1861-1865)
663 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Abraham Lincoln →
Related Quotes
"It is rather for us here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increa…"
"It is the eternal struggle between these two principles — right and wrong — throughout the world. They are the two pr…"
"Those arguments that are made, that the inferior race are to be treated with as much allowance as they are capable of…"
"I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisd…"
"I was a brute last night."
"Miscellany"
"The Writings of Abraham Lincoln"
"John Summerfield Staples, President Lincoln's "Substitute""
"Abraham Lincoln's Assassination"
"Meditations on the Divine Will (from an undated manuscript found among his papers by one of his secretaries found amo…"