...seditious. To justify using the army to arrest his former vice president, Jefferson wrote that the "law of necessity, of self-preservation, of saving our country when in danger, are of higher obligation [than the constitutional text]."3 In fact, he relied heavily on reports from an American general who...

...by offering a general principle, one that has been quoted by many students of executive prerogative: "A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless...country when in danger, are of higher obligation. To lose our country by a scrupulous adherence to written law, would be to lose the law itself, with...

...high virtues of a good citizen, but it is not the highest" Thomas Jefferson wrote to a friend in 1810. "The laws of necessity, of self-preservation, of saving...country when in danger, are of higher obligation. To lose our country by a scrupulous adherence to written law, would be to lose the law itself, with...