In the eighth section of its first article the Constitution gives a list of the duties which Congress shall perform,--of things, in short, which it shall do, or shall have power to do:--To raise taxes; to regulate commerce and the naturalization of citizens; to coin money and protect it when coined; to establish postal communication; to make laws for defence of patents and copyrights; to constitute national courts of law inferior to the Supreme Court; to punish piracies; to declare war; to raise, pay for, and govern armies, navies, and militia; and to exercise exclusive legislation in a certain district which shall contain the seat of Government of the United States, and which is therefore to be regarded as belonging to the nation at large, and not to any particular State. This district is now called the district of Columbia. It is situated on the Potomac and contains the city of Washington.
Then the ninth section of the same article declares what Congress shall not do. Certain immigration shall not be prohibited; _the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended_, except under certain circumstances; no ex post facto law shall be passed; no direct tax shall be laid unless in proportion to the census; no tax shall be laid on exports; no money shall be drawn from the treasury but by legal appropriation; no title of nobility shall be granted.
The above are lists or catalogues of the powers which Congress has, and of the powers which Congress has not; of what Congress may do, and of what Congress may not do; and having given them thus seriatim, I may here perhaps be best enabled to say a few words as to the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in the United States. It is generally known that this privilege has been suspended during the existence of the present rebellion very many times; that this has been done by the executive, and not by Congress; and that it is maintained by the executive, and by those who defend the conduct of the now acting executive of the United States, that the power of suspending the writ has been given by the constitution to the President, and not to Congress. I confess that I cannot understand how any man, familiar either with the wording or with the spirit of the constitution should hold such an argument. To me it appears manifest that the executive, in suspending the privilege of the writ without the authority of Congress, has committed a breach of the constitution. Were the case one referring to our British constitution, a plain man, knowing little of Parliamentary usage, and nothing of law lore, would probably feel some hesitation in expressing any decided opinion on such a subject, seeing that our constitution is unwritten. But the intention has been that every citizen of the United States should know and understand the rules under which he is to live,--and he that runs may read.