CONGRESS. UNITED STATES. 



245 



" I see no impropriety whatever in saying 



that when appointments arc made during tho 

 . e-p. -cially those which mi^ht a.< well bo 

 : ate wlieu it is in session, pay- 

 ment In (hose appointees -hall lie deterred until 

 . ontinned. I do not think (hero 

 -onal or offensive in making that 

 rule. Tho doctrine which has been broached 

 lately, .'iinl a matter conversed about under tho 

 administ ration of President Lincoln, was car- 

 ried as far as this : that the President might 

 nominate nn officer during tho recess of the 

 Senate, which would hold up to tho conclusion 

 of the next session, and if then ho was rejected 

 or turned out, or at least not acted upon, it was 

 again a vacancy arising in the recess of Con- 

 . and tho President might immediately put 

 the same man in that the Senate had refused to 

 confirm ; and thus, in spite of the Senate, in 

 spite of the constitutional provision, the power 

 of appointment would rest entirely in tho 

 President, and the Senate was a nullity. I do 

 not know, and do not presume that President 

 Johnson would attempt to do any thing of that 

 description. It is to bo presumed he would 

 not; but President Lincoln did, certainly in 

 one case. I thought at the time it was exceed- 

 ingly improper, and if the doctrine was followed 

 out and the practice became fixed, that in re- 

 ality the Senate would amount to just nothing 

 at all." 



Mr. Howe, of "Wisconsin, in support of the 

 amendment, said : " I hold, Mr. President, that 

 this amendment is one of the most important, 

 if not tho most important, proposition that I 

 have been called to vote upon since I have had 

 the honor of a seat on this floor. It is nothing 

 less than whether a hundred millions of money 

 is to be placed in the hands of the President of 

 the United States, and always kept there, to be 

 used in propagating political opinions with the 

 people of the United States. I never saw an 

 opinion, I never heard of a political opinion 

 that I would be willing to propagate at that 

 expense. I think if we confine this missionary 

 work to the proper organs, all political opinions 

 which are proper to be inculcated upon the 

 American people may be inculcated at a much 

 less expense. 



"I will not rote for this amendment ; I will 

 not vote for any other proposition which is cal- 

 culated either to restrict tho powers which tho 

 Constitution confers upon the President, or 

 which are calculated to embarrass him in tho 

 exercise of those powers ; and I say once more, 

 if the Constitution does delegate to the Presi- 

 dent of tho United States tho right or (ho 

 power to make these removals, it is our duty 

 to acquiesce in that construction, to recognize 

 the vacancies thus created, to cooperate cheer- 

 fully with tho President in tilling them, and ap- 

 propriate regularly and annually the money 

 necessary to pay tho officers thus appointed ; 

 but I say that that power never was given to 

 tho President by the Constitution and never 

 ought to be vested in him by the Constitution. 



" Tliis Question has been treated as if all tho 

 officers whose duty it is to collect the customs, 

 whose duty it is to collect the internal re 

 whoso duty it is to act as marshals and deputy 

 marshals of the several districts, all these sub- 

 ordinate officers were the mere assistants, aids, 

 waiters, personal attendants upon the President 

 to help him discharge his duties, and as though 

 ho were individually and officially responsible 

 for all their acts." 



Mr. Gnthrie, of Kentucky, followed, saying: 

 "My objection to this measure is, that the 

 question was settled in 1789, settled when a 

 great many of the men who had participated 

 in making the Constitution were hero in Con- 

 gress, settled at tho instance of Mr. Madison, 

 who, perhaps, better understood the Constitu- 

 tion than any one else, and who regarded the 

 power of removal as a power incidental to the 

 executive duties which tho Constitution con- 

 ferred upon the President. This power of re- 

 moval was acquiesced in during the Adminis- 

 tration of Washington. I think the Senator 

 from "Wisconsin attributes more deference to 

 "Washington on the part of Congress than was 

 felt or acted upon. However that may be, the 

 power was exercised by Jefferson, by Madison, 

 by Monroe, and by Adams, in a greater or less 

 degree. It has been the settled doctrine of the 

 Constitution since 1789 to the present time. 

 My objection to this species of legislation is 

 that it is an attempt to change the settled con- 

 struction of the Constitution, which has been 

 acted upon and sanctioned by the American 

 people ; it is a revolution in relation to the ap- 

 pointing and removing power, a civil revolution 

 inaugurated by the members of Congress, who 

 go back and criticise the action of their prede- 

 cessors in coming to the resolution arrived at 

 in 1789, and it is done obviously and clearly 

 because these gentlemen do not agree that the 

 President shall not have the power of remov- 

 ing certain men who support them and their 

 measures in opposition to him. "We all know 

 that there are very few of them who, when 

 they come to make a speech, can deny it. 



" I am unwilling to change by vote of mine 

 or to sanction a change of the construction of 

 the Constitution in this particular as it has ex- 

 isted ever since the days of "Washington, and 

 has been exercised by all the Presidents. There 

 may be dangers, there may be inconveniences 

 in adhering to it ; but I believe this Govern- 

 ment cannot be carried on successfully and ad- 

 vantageously without the power of removal 

 being invested in the Executive. I believe the 

 power of Congress and public sentiment will 

 always restrain the Executive in tho direction 

 in which he ought to be restrained. I advise 

 and counsel no unjust or improper deference to 

 the President ; but I do advise that we will let 

 tho landmarks settled "by our fathers and ad- 

 hered to by all succeeding Administrations 

 stand where we found them. I do not want 

 to put it in the power of the President to say 

 that Congress is making war upon him by de- 



