Congress was not in session at the time, and would not be for another eight months, so obviously it fell to the President to take action. Congress affirmed his action as soon as it returned to Washington.
It didn’t “obviously” fall to the President, as the President has no constitutional authority to suspend habeas corpus—that is textually committed to Congress. It boggles the mind to say that a power textually committed to one branch of government “obviously” falls to another if one branch of government chooses not to exercise that power. That’s like saying that the President can make laws when Congress is not in session. It’s just wrong.
Indeed, as I noted above, none other than the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court held that Lincoln’s actions were unconstitutional—a ruling that Lincoln ignored, incidentally.
Negative. The end does NOT justify the means.
Try again.