PBA Galleries

[ii], 67 pp. (4to) 28.5x17 cm (11¼x6¾") original plain paper wrappers. First Edition.

"Edward Ingersoll was born to a prominent Philadelphia family, and he studied for the law after attending the University of Pennsylvania. In 1849, he published a treatise on the History and Law of the Writ of Habeas Corpus... This pamphlet was a direct response to those of Horace Binney and other writers who defended the President’s authority to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus. For Ingersoll, the assertion of executive authority to suspend the writ and impose martial law threatened the survival of constitutional government. He warned that “the question, whether the executive or the legislative department of the government, is to judge of ‘the requirements of the public safety in case of rebellion or invasion,’ amounts in its elements to the question of despotism or free representative government.” " (Federal Judicial Center website).