EX PARTE MILLIGAN (1866)

 

Name ________________________                                                  Date_________________________

 

Microsoft Word Version

 

Indianapolis 28 Dec, 1864

 

Hon. E. M. Stanton Sec War.

                   Dear Sir I have

been condemned to die with-

-out evidence.  Please examine the facts and advise the President.    Do this much for  

an old acquaintance and friend ___

            Yours very truly

                       L.C. Milligan

 

The Civil War did not just (1)__________ the United States into two warring nations.  It created sharp (2)__________ among former friends in just about every (3)__________.  Many families were also divided based on their (4)__________ for either the North or the South, and it was not unknown to have members of the same family joining opposite (5)__________ to fight against each other in (6)__________ combat.

 

It can be (7)__________ that one of the direct causes of the Civil War was the division of the Democratic Party over (8)__________.  South Carolina seceded from the Union because of the election of the Republican (9)__________, Abraham Lincoln, to the presidency. If the Democratic Party had not (10)__________ in 1860 to offer two candidates instead of one, they might have been able to (11)__________ Lincoln.

argued   armies   candidate   community   deadly   defeat   divide   divisions   slavery   split   sympathies

 

 

There were very few (1)______________ in the South.  Northerners who opposed using (2)______________ to end slavery or to force the southern states back into the Union called themselves “Peace Democrats.”  Republicans called them “Copperheads.” Lambdin Milligan was (3)______________ politician who had once ran for Governor of Indiana.  As a (4)______________ he had defended other individuals who were prosecuted for disloyalty against the (5)______________ during the Civil War. Remember that Lincoln had (6)______________ Habeas Corpus in Northern territories several times during the War.  The Lincoln (7)______________ had also given military commanders a great deal of freedom in dealing with the possibility of (8)______________ in border areas. These actions were supposed to be directed against Southern Sympathizers who might have threatened public safety or the (9)______________ effort.    

administration   Democratic   insurrection   lawyer   Republicans   suspended   Union   violence   war

 

Milligan (1)______________ out strongly against the war, the Lincoln administration, and the suspension of the (2)______________ right of habeas corpus. In 1864 Milligan was (3)______________ by the Army and charged with planning to steal arms to forcibly liberate (4)______________ prisoners of war.  He was tried by a military (5)______________.  During that trial, the Army (6)______________ said “"The civil rights of the citizen become dead for the time being, if necessary to preserve the life of the nation."  Milligan was found guilty and sentenced to death by (7)______________.

 

Milligan had friends in high places that were able to delay the (8)______________ until after the war when the Supreme Court finally heard his (9)______________.  With the fighting over and the threat to the Union defeated, the (10)______________ was able to take a lasting stand on habeas corpus and on trials of (11)______________ by military tribunals.  

arrested   case   civilians   Confederate   constitutional   Court   execution   hanging   prosecutor   spoke   tribunal

 

Justice David Davis delivering the unanimous opinion of the Supreme Court::

 

 

“This nation, as (1)__________ has proved, cannot always remain at peace, and has no right to expect that it will always have wise and (2)__________ rulers, sincerely attached to the principles of the Constitution. Wicked men, ambitious of power, with hatred of liberty and (3)__________ of law, may fill the place once occupied by Washington and Lincoln; and if this right is conceded, and the calamities of war again befall us, the (4)__________ to human liberty are frightful to contemplate.”

"Martial rule can never exist where the courts are (5)__________ and in the proper and unobstructed exercise of their jurisdiction. It is also confined to the locality of actual (6)__________."

 

contempt   dangers   experience   humane   open   war

 

 

The Court struck a (1)________________ between military necessity in times of war and (2)________________ rights.  It ruled that if civilian courts were (3)________________, habeas corpus could not be lawfully suspended.  Neither enemy action nor insurrection had ever (4)________________ with the civilian court system in Indiana during the Civil War.  Therefore the court was reasserting Justice Taney’s decision in Ex-parte Merryman that Lincoln’s suspension of habeas corpus was (5)________________.   The court further ruled that military tribunals could not try civilians unless it was (6)________________ to safely try them in a civilian court. Milligan was set (7)________________.  

balance   civil   free   functioning   impossible   interfered   unconstitutional