General Orders, No. 141. War Department, Adjutant General's Office.

https://exhibits.library.duke.edu/uploads/lincoln/25_lincoln_general_orders_141.jpg
 
Creator(s):
Lincoln, Abraham.
Title:
General Orders, No. 141. War Department, Adjutant General's Office.
Description:
The Confederate attack on Fort Sumter allowed President Lincoln to declare an “insurrection” in the states that seceded. With Congress in recess, he exercised bold, unilateral executive authority to suppress it. He called up troops, blockaded the southern coast, and authorized military expenditures. To defend the capital’s northward transportation corridors, he suspended the writ of habeas corpus, a legal principle that protects citizens from arbitrary arrest and unlawful imprisonment. The Constitution allows for this “in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion,” but notably does not specify that this power goes to the president. Congress later endorsed Lincoln’s actions, except for the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. Lincoln would continue to suspend the writ when he felt it necessary.
Source:
Photograph by Vincent Dilio. Courtesy of David M. Rubenstein.
Citation:
Lincoln, Abraham. General Orders, No. 141. War Department, Adjutant General's Office. Washington, D.C.: [Government Printing Office], 1862.