1862

Taney, Roger Brooke, 1777-1864

Pamphlet

Title: Decision of Chief Justice Taney in the Merryman case, upon the writ of habeas corpus.

Printed by John Campbell. Published by John Campbell. Second addition. Taney states "The Constitution provides, as I have before said, that 'no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of law.' It declares that 'the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effect, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated' ... It provides that the party accused shall be entitled to a speedy trial in a Court of justice. And these great and fundamental laws, which Congress, itself, could not suspend, have been…

GLC08557

1793

United States. Congress (1st : 1789-1791). Senate

Book

Title: Acts passed at a second Congress [Bill of Rights]

Printed by E. Oswald.

GLC08592

1862

Pamphlet

Title: Pamphlets related to Horace Binney's essay on President Abraham Lincoln's suspension of the writ of habeas corpus [Decimalized .01-.12]

On 1861, President Abraham Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus for military related cases. This decision directly defied Article I of the United States Constitution, which states "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." Suspension of the writ provoked much controversy, and was opposed by members of the United States Supreme Court. Horace Binney, an influential American legal figure, wrote a pamphlet in support of Lincoln's decision in 1862. GLC08599.01-.12 explores the…

GLC08599

1789

United States. Congress

Book

Title: Journal of the first session of the Senate of the United States...

The official printing of the journal of the first Senate, containing the first official printing of the Bill of Rights pp. 103-106. A wide-margined copy with slight browning of the leaves. Evans 22207, Grolier American Hundred 20.

GLC00172

circa 1830

Adams, John Quincy, 1767-1848

Autograph manuscript

Title: Notes on constitutional separation of powers; Bill of rights

Blue paper. "Constitutions. Legislative --Executive --Judicial" NH, MA, CT, VT" - p.4

GLC00186

1787

Varnum, James M., fl. 1787

Pamphlet

Title: The case of Trevett against Weeden: On Information and Complaint,....

Evans 20825, Kress B1355, Sabin 98638. Original blue/gray wrappers, reinforced (?). Stamp on titlepage of: Rhode Island Historical Society. The legal case tested the powers of the Articles of Confederation to the right of Trial by Jury.

GLC00201

23 September 1789

Fenno, John, 1751-1798

Newspaper

Title: Gazette of the United States. [No. XLVII (September 23, 1789)]

Reports on the Senate proceedings and prints twelve proposed amendments to the Constitution, an early form of the Bill of Rights. Reports on a debate in the House of Representatives on judicial salaries. Contains news from Europe, including the French Revolution, with a report on France's new Constitution. Features a continuation of a printing of "The Right Constitution of a Common Wealth Examined." Also contains a continuation of Noah Webster's criticisms of Edward Gibbon's "History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire."

GLC01063

December 12 - 15, 1795

Virginia

Header Record

Title: Proposed amendments to the US Constitution (with transmittal)

Accompanied by a transmittal document 1795/12/15. Swem, Virginia Imprints 7834. Evans 29798. Signed by H. Brooke and John Stewart.

GLC01075

December 31, 1787

Adams, Daniel Jr., 1720-1795

Manuscript document signed

Title: to Daniel Adams

Writes to his father about opposing the ratification of the U.S. Constitution. Daniel Adams, Jr. was town clerk and his father was a delegate at the state convention.

GLC00799

7 March 1790

Sherburne, Henry, 1748-1824

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Thanks Knox for sending his application to President Washington and also informs him that the Rhode Island state convention adjourned without discussing the question of whether or not to adopt the Constitution. Writes that "[t]his Extraordinary Step was warmly opposed, but without effect; Reason, Duty, necessity, and every other Argument was made use of, to no purpose." Feels that the Anti-federalist party is postponing the decision only to serve their own selfish motivations and secure their own representatives in the senate. Writes that "[t]he Convention in Order to Cover their design and…

GLC02437.04533

20 September 1863

Tillotson, Edwin, fl. 1861-1898

Autograph letter signed

Title: To George Tillotson

Enclosed with GLC04558.122.01. Written by George Tillotson's sister Mary and her husband Edwin. Mary writes of her hard work and says Nelly [Nelson] was taken prisoner. Edwin's letter (beginning on p.2) complains of poor health (consumption) and answers GWT (punctuation regularized): "I can scarcely believe you serious in your accusation against abolitionists as the cause of the war. It was the slave masters who first made opinions on slavery [into] political tests, and demanded 'soundness on the [illegible]' of every man north or south who asked office at Washington. It was they who…

GLC04558.122.02

14 August 1789

Newspaper

Title: Connecticut gazette. [Vol. 26, no. 1344 (August 14, 1789)]

With proposed draft of twelve amendments to the United States Constitution.

GLC08208

1862

Binney, Horace, 1780-1875

Pamphlet

Title: The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus under the Consitution.

Printed by C. Sherman & Son. Second edition. The first part, 58 pages in length, discusses "The right of the President of the United States, in time of rebellion, and when the public safety in his judgment requires, to arrest and detain a freeman, in temporary denial or delay of bail, trial, or discharge ... of his privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus ..." A second section, 50 pages in length, examines "a doctrine of certain writers, that the Habeas Corpus clause in the Constitution does not give power to anybody to suspend the privilege of the Writ, but is only restrictive of the…

GLC08599.01

1862

Bullitt, John Christian, 1824-1902

Pamphlet

Title: A review of Mr. Binney's pamphlet on "the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus under the Constitution."

Published by John Campbell. Bullitt seeks to examine the legal aspects of Horace Binney's argument, based on his opinion that Binney's "premises were not well taken, and that his inferences or conclusions were erroneous." Expresses hope to "present the great constitutional question involved in its true light." Cover is missing.

GLC08599.02

1862

Gross, Charles H., 1838-1902

Pamphlet

Title: A reply to Horace Binney's pamphlet on the habeas corpus.

States "The Constitution, assuming that the privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall exist complete and universal, and thus authorizing it, authorizes it to be suspended on certain conditions" (page 39). Indicates that this essay was written 22 February. Cover is missing, and Gross's name is written in pencil on the title page.

GLC08599.03

1862

Jackson, Tatlow, fl. 1862-1873

Pamphlet

Title: Authorities cited antagonistic to Horace Binney's conclusions on the writ of habeas corpus.

Published by John Campbell. Jackson states "Having carefully read Mr. Horace Binney's pamphlet 'The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus under the Constitution,' and conscientiously believing the doctrine therein inculcated to be of an anti-Republican tendency, and the conclusion- 'The President being the properest and the safest depository of the power (to suspend the Writ of Habeas Corpus) and being the only power which can exercise it under real and effective responsibilities to the people'- to be untrue, and not safe ... I feel it to be a duty ... to make public the result of such…

GLC08599.04

1862

Montgomery, John T., 1817-?

Pamphlet

Title: The writ of habeas corpus and Mr. Binney.

Published by John Campbell. Referring to Binney, Montgomery states "At a time like this, when the United States professes to be contending for the Principles of Free Government under the Constitution, it is unfortunate that a gentleman of great attainments and reputation, and of an experience of rare maturity, should come from his honorable retirement to give the world his reasons for humbling from its hitherto proud position one of the dearest principles of liberty known to free institutions." Cover is missing, and back page is detached from binding.

GLC08599.05

1862

Wharton, Geo. M., 1808-1870

Pamphlet

Title: Remarks on Mr. Binney's treatise on the writ of habeas corpus...

Published by John Campbell. Second edition. Wharton, a lawyer from Pennsylvania, states "It is as undoubtedly, however, no part of the office of an American Chief Executive to suspend, at his discretion, the privileges of the humblest citizen, whether arising from Common or Statute Law. The poorest man that walks has an equal right with the proudest, to the full protection and enjoyment of the Constitution and laws. It is, or has been, the boast of American liberty, that the rights of the citizen were clearly defined, and placed far above arbitrary estimation or interference. It has been…

GLC08599.06

1862

Wharton Geo. M., 1808-1870

Pamphlet

Title: Answer to Mr. Binney's reply to 'remarks' on his treatise on the habeas corpus.

Published by John Campbell. Wharton, a lawyer from Pennsylvania, states "Mr. Binney contends- That it is a lawful and a praiseworthy act, in the present crisis to seize a citizen in a peaceful State, where law and justice are openly and constantly administered and dispensed by the Courts, and without a responsible accuser, without oath or warrant, and without a hearing, by the mere will of the President or one of his subordinates, to hurry him to a distant fortress, and keep him confined there indefinitely, without bail or trial. The advocates of freedom content- That all this is sheer…

GLC08599.07

1862

Myer, Isaac, 1836-1902

Pamphlet

Title: Presidential power over personal liberty. A review of Horace Binney's essay on the writ of habeas corpus.

Includes inserted errata notes. States "we have shown that the normal condition of the English, and we their descendants, is freedom, subject to the law; that it was against encroachments upon their liberty, our ancestors have been contending for centuries; that the President has not and should not have the right to arrest outside of the courts of justice; that the word 'privilege' in the clause in the Constitution we have been discussing, means the right of citizens of this country to ask for the Writ of Habeas Corpus, a Writ known only to us and our ancestors, a right to a legal Writ;…

GLC08599.08

1862

Johnston, James F., fl. 1862

Pamphlet

Title: The suspending power and the writ of habeas corpus.

Published by John Campbell. Johnston states "it has been said that the 'President has no power that can be abused, except with more danger to himself than to the community,' and that ... ours is 'the most feeblest Executive perhaps ever known in a civilized community.' Is it not plain that the inference from all that is against the President's having the power to suspend the Habeas Corpus?" (page 48). Cover is missing.

GLC08599.09

1862

Kennedy, William M., fl. 1862

Pamphlet

Title: The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus under the Constitution of the United States. In what it consists. How it is allowed. How it is suspended. It is the regulation of the law, not the authorization of an exercise of legislative power.

Possibly published by John Campbell. Referring to the clauses within Article I of the United States Constitution, Campbell states "Omit the second sentence of the Clause, and we have 'The privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall NOT be suspended,' expressed. But it is subject to the implication, 'unless the public safety require it,' or 'it be herein otherwise ordained.'" Cover is missing.

GLC08599.10

1862

Parker, Joel, 1795-1875

Pamphlet

Title: Habeas corpus and martial law. A review of the opinion of Chief Justice Taney, in the case of John Merryman.

Published by John Campbell. Second addition. Parker reviews the decision of Justice Roger B. Taney regarding the seizure of John Merryman, who was allegedly imprisoned without due process. Cover is missing. Back page is detached from binding.

GLC08599.11

1862

Taney, Roger Brooke, 1777-1864

Pamphlet

Title: Decision of Chief Justice Taney, in the Merryman case, upon the writ of habeas corpus.

Published by John Campbell. Second addition. Taney states "The Constitution provides, as I have before said, that 'no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of law.' It declares that 'the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effect, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated' ... It provides that the party accused shall be entitled to a speedy trial in a Court of justice. And these great and fundamental laws, which Congress, itself, could not suspend, have been disregarded, and suspended, like the…

GLC08599.12

January 1864

Redmond, Dennis, fl. 1856-1865

Newspaper

Title: Southern cultivator. [Vol. 22, no. 1 (January, 1864)]

Cotton at Home and Abroad, The Wounded as Overseers of Plantations While Owners are Gone, Farmers Not Extortioners. An editorial upholds the freedom of the press, while another encourages farmers not to hoard provisions, and another implies that provisions should be willingly supplied to soldiers' families and the government. A suggestion is made that discharged, wounded soldiers be made overseers of farms. Minutes for the Patriotic Planters of Washington County are included. An article encourages syrup to be given to slaves in place of bacon to preserve resources and allow for their…

GLC05959.11.07