The Constitution is not a suicide pact The Constitution is not a suicide pact "The Constitution is not a suicide pact" is a phrase in American political and legal discourse. The phrase expresses the belief that constitutional restrictions on governmental power must be balanced against the need for survival of the state and its people. It is most often attributed to Abraham Lincoln, as a response to charges that he was violating the United States Constitution by suspending "habeas corpus" during the American Civil War. Although the phrase echoes statements made by Lincoln, and although versions of the sentiment have been advanced at various times in American
Constitution of Belarus the rights and freedoms of its citizens and to maintain a stable government that is run by the people and based on the rule of law. Section One of the Constitution sets up the governmental framework and specifies that the government is run by the people of Belarus. The government, which has been declared a multi-party representative democracy, forms its own foreign policy and is willing to defend the right to do so when necessary. Section One also establishes that the state protects the rights and freedoms of its citizens, but contains the proviso that a citizen of Belarus ""bears