Abraham Lincoln and Treason in the Civil War

The Trials of John Merryman

Jonathan W. White

• Publisher: LSU Press
• Year: 2011
• eBook ISBN: 9780807142165
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: American Civil War History
• Index: History

In the spring of 1861, Union military authorities arrested Maryland farmer John Merryman on charges of treason against the United States for burning railroad bridges around Baltimore in an effort to prevent northern soldiers from reaching the capital. From his prison cell at Fort McHenry, Merryman petitioned Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Roger B. Taney for release through a writ of habeas corpus. Taney issued the writ, but President Abraham Lincoln ignored it. In mid-July Merryman was released, only to be indicted for treason in a Baltimore federal court. His case, however, never went to trial and federal prosecutors finally dismissed it in 1867.
In Abraham Lincoln and Treason in the Civil War, Jonathan White reveals how the arrest and prosecution of this little-known Baltimore farmer had a lasting impact on the Lincoln administration and Congress as they struggled to develop policies to deal with both northern traitors and southern rebels. His work exposes several perennially controversial legal and constitutional issues in American history, including the nature and extent of presidential war powers, the development of national policies for dealing with disloyalty and treason, and the protection of civil liberties in wartime.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1 “Baltimore is to be the Battlefield of the Southern Revolution” the Baltimore Riot and the Formation of Lincoln’s Habeas Corpus Policy
• 2 “A Collision of Civil and Military Authority” The Arrest and Incarceration of John Merryman
• 3 “Prosecute your Best cases—Not the Weak and Doubtful” The Difficulty of Punishing Disloyalty in the Loyal States
• 4 “Necessity is the Tyrant’s Plea” The Habeas Corpus Act, Part I: Congressional Reaction to Military Arrests and Tribunals
• 5 “The Government Must In Some Way Sustain you in your Official Acts” The Habeas Corpus Act, Part II: The Failure of Congress to Protect Those Waging War
• Epilogue “Habeas Corpus John”
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index