Civil War Prize Cases

In 1863 the Supreme Court upheld President Abraham Lincoln's exercise, at the outbreak of the Civil War, of emergency powers not previously authorized by Congress. After the firing on Fort Sumter in April 1861, Lincoln all but declared war, called for volunteers, suspended the writ of habeas corpus, and blockaded various southern ports. Not until July did Congress retroactively legalize these executive measures. Meanwhile, under the presidential Blockade certain merchant vessels were captured as prizes by the Union navy for attempting to run the blockade. The Supreme Court upheld the seizures on the grounds that a de facto state of war had existed since April.

Bibliography

Neely, Mark, Jr. The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.

Paludan, Phillip Shaw. The Presidency of Abraham Lincoln. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1994.