Suspension of Habeas Corpus

When Abraham Lincoln suspended habeas corpus (also known as the right to a trial) in April 1861, it drew some of the most frequent accusations of his presidency. But, when they renewed it from 1863 to 1864, the Confederacy went one step further than Lincoln, which is a much less well-known fact.

Some have claimed that this was more of a formality because, whether Habeas Corpus was technically suspended or not, the Confederate forces seized thousands of citizens and imprisoned them without a trial. In fact, a Florida reporter was detained without charge or trial for speaking out against the attack on Fort Sumter on the very day the war officially began. These were the kinds of situations where a suspect would beg for a trial, as we'll see in future entries.