Text of President Abraham Lincoln's Executive Order Prohibiting Citizens Liable for the Draft from Leaving the United States, and Suspending the Writ of Habeas Corpus

August 8, 1862

On August 8, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued an executive order prohibiting citizens liable for the draft from leaving the United States, and suspending the writ of habeas corpus for persons arrested for disloyal practices.

Portrait of Abraham Lincoln

On August 8, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued an executive order prohibiting citizens liable for the draft from leaving the United States, and suspending the writ of habeas corpus for persons arrested for disloyal practices. [Wikimedia Commons]

WAR DEPARTMENT,

By direction of the President of the United States, it is hereby ordered that until further order no citizen liable to be drafted into the militia shall be allowed to go to a foreign country. And all marshals, deputy marshals, and military officers of the United States are directed, and all police authorities, especially at the ports of the United States on the seaboard and on the frontier, are requested, to see that this order is faithfully carried into effect. And they are hereby authorized and directed to arrest and detain any person or persons about to depart from the United States in violation of this order, and report to Major L. C. Turner, judge-advocate at Washington City, for further instructions respecting the person or persons so arrested or detained.

II. Any person liable to draft who shall absent himself from his county or State before such draft is made will be arrested by any provost-marshal or other United States or State officer, wherever he may be found within the jurisdiction of the United States, and be conveyed to the nearest military post or depot and placed on military duty for the term of the draft; and the expenses of his own arrest and conveyance to such post or depot, and also the sum of $5, as a reward to the officer who shall make such arrest, shall be deducted from his pay.

III. The writ of habeas corpus is hereby suspended in respect to all persons so arrested and detained, and in respect to all persons arrested for disloyal practices.

EDWIN M. STANTON,
Secretary of War.

Citation Information

The following information is provided for citations.

  • Article Title Text of President Abraham Lincoln's Executive Order Prohibiting Citizens Liable for the Draft from Leaving the United States, and Suspending the Writ of Habeas Corpus
  • Date August 8, 1862
  • Author
  • Keywords lincoln, draft, habeas corpus
  • Website Name American History Central
  • Access Date December 11, 2023
  • Publisher R.Squared Communications, LLC
  • Original Published Date
  • Date of Last Update May 3, 2022

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