President Lincoln had controversially suspended the right of the writ of Habeas Corpus throughout the country on December 15, 1863. By a similar proclamation, President Andrew Johnson lifted this suspension in all the states that had been loyal to the Union but retained it southern and southwestern areas, including Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas North and South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, the District of Columbia, and the New Mexico and Arizona Territories. (By John Osborne)