Suspension of Habeas Corpus (1862) John Merryman, a state legislator from Maryland, is arrested for attempting to stop Union troops from moving from Baltimore to Washington during the Civil War and is held at Fort McHenry by Union military officials. His attorney immediately sought a writ of habeas corpus so that a federal court could examine the charges. However, President Abraham Lincoln decided to suspend the right of habeas corpus. Roger Taney, the chief justice of the Supreme Court (and also the author of the infamous Dred Scott decision), issued a ruling that President Lincoln did not have the authority to suspend habeas corpus. Lincoln ignored the Supreme Court’s ruling and insisted that he needed to suspend the writ of habeas corpus in order to put down the rebellion in the South. Vocabulary: The writs of habeas corpus are a person’s right not to be imprisoned unless charged with a crime and given a trial

Conscription Act (the Draft) (1863) During the Civil War, the U.S. Congress passes a conscription act that produces the first wartime draft of U.S. citizens in American history. The act called for registration of all males between the ages of 20 and 45, including aliens (immigrants) with the intention of becoming citizens, by April 1. Exemptions from the draft could be bought for $300 or by finding a substitute draftee. This clause led to bloody draft riots in New York City, where protesters were outraged that exemptions were effectively granted only to the wealthiest U.S. citizens. The NYC draft riots are the bloodiest riots that NYC has ever had. Rioters torched government buildings and fought against police officers and troops. About 300, over half of them policemen and soldiers, were injured, and there were 119 deaths, most of them rioters. A majority of the rioters were poor Irish who were angry that the draft could be avoided by payment of 300 dollars, an enormous sum only the rich could afford. Many innocent African Americans in New York were killed and their homes sacked. A Colored Orphan Asylum was set on fire with the children still inside. Vocabulary: Conscription or a draft is a law ordering men to enlist in the military.

Emancipation Proclamation (1863) By mid-1862, after the Union victory in the Battle of Antietam, Lincoln issued the Emancipation proclamation stating that in all states still in rebellion on January 1, 1863, he would declare their slaves “then, thenceforward, and forever free.” January 1 came, and with it the final proclamation, which committed the government and armed forces of the United States to liberate the slaves in rebel states The proclamation did not include the salves in the border slave states on the grounds that these areas were not in rebellion against the United States. Lincoln had tried earlier to persuade the border states to accept gradual emancipation, with compensation to slave owners from the federal government, but they had refused. The proclamation also authorized the recruitment of freed slaves and free blacks as Union soldiers; during the next 2 1/2 years 180,000 of them fought in the Union army and 10,000 in the navy, making a vital contribution to Union victory as well as their own freedom. Vocabulary: Emancipation is the freeing of someone from slavery.

as Commander in Chief (1861-1865) Use of the Telegraph as Commander in Chief (1861-1865) When Lincoln arrived for his inauguration in 1861 there was not even a telegraph line to the War Department, much less the White House. That situation changed rapidly. Telegraph lines were sprung across the nation and without guidance and in the middle of a battle for the nation's survival, Abraham Lincoln used the new electronic communications to transform the nature of the presidency. The telegraph became a tool of his leadership and, thus, helped to win the Civil War. The telegraph changed the president's relationship with his forces in the field. No longer was President Lincoln content to sit idly by and await information, he was actively in communication with the front. After reading a message from his General Ulysses Grant which said that stopping the draft riots might deplete (hurt) the force at the front and thus affect his operations, Lincoln intervened directly. "Hold on with a bull-dog grip, and chew and choke, as much as possible" he wired Grant. It was as good as walking into Grant's headquarters and responding through conversation. As he put down the president's telegram, Grant laughed out loud and exclaimed to those around him, "The President has more nerve than any of his advisers." Grant was, of course, correct in his observation. Vocabulary: Telegraph is a system for sending messages from a distance along a wire.