Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. III.djvu/109

ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT 81 taken deep root in the minds of the people, and bore good fruit in after years. In March, 1871, the disorders in the southern states, growing out of conflicts between the whites and the blacks, had assumed such proportions that the president sent a special message to congress re questing "such legislation as shall effectually se cure life, liberty, and property, and the enforce ment of law in all parts of the United States." On April 20 congress passed an act that authorized the president to suspend, under certain defined cir cumstances, the writ of habeas corpus in any dis trict, and to use the army and navy in suppressing insurrections. He issued a proclamation, May 4, ordering all unlawful armed bands to disperse, and, after expressing his reluctance to use the extraor dinary power conferred upon him, said he would "not hesitate to exhaust the power thus vested in the executive, whenever and wherever it shall be come necessary to do so for the purpose of securing to all citizens of the United States the peaceful enjoyment of the rights guaranteed to them by the constitution and the laws." As this did not produce the desired effect, he issued a proclama tion of warning, October 12, and on the 17th sus pended the writ of habeas corpus in parts of North and South Carolina. He followed this by vigorous prosecutions, which resulted in sending a number