246 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



nying to him a power that all the Presidents 

 of the United States have exercised, or curtail- 

 ing it as far as possible." 



The amendment of Mr. Trumhull was adopted 

 by the following vote : 



YEAS Messrs. Clark, Conness, Creswell, Harris, 

 Henderson, Howard, Howe, Kirkwood, Morrill, Nye, 

 Poland, Pomeroy, Ramsey, Sprague, Sumner, Trum- 

 bull, Wade, Williams, and Wilson 19. 



NATS Messrs. Davis, Dixon, Doolittle, Fessenden, 

 Guthrie, Johnson, Morgan, Saulsbury, Sherman, 

 Yan Winkle, and Willey 11. 



ABSENT Messrs. Anthony, Brown,. Buckalew, 

 Chandler, Cowan, Cragin, Edmunds, Foster, Grimes, 

 Hendricks, Lane of Indiana, Lane of Kansas, Me- 

 Dougall, Nesmitb, Norton, Riddle, Stewart, Wright, 

 and Yates 19. 



The bill, with this and other amendments, 

 was, on May 2d, passed. 



On May 7th the Senate resumed the consid- 

 eration of the bill, on a motion of Mr. Poland, 

 of Vermont, to reconsider the vote by which 

 the amendment of Mr. Trumbull had been 

 passed. 



Mr. Poland said : " I voted for the amend- 

 ment to this bill, and for the bill itself, with 

 great hesitation, and with the design, if I could 

 not become better satisfied with it, to move to 

 have it reconsidered. Subsequent reflection 

 satisfied me that the amendment ought not to 

 be adopted, and I therefore made the motion 

 to reconsider. 



"The amendment proposed by the Senator 

 from Illinois to this bill is very general and 

 comprehensive in its terms, and denies any 

 payment of salary or compensation to officers 

 appointed by the President before confirmation 

 by the Senate, unless appointed to fill vacancies 

 happening during the recess of the Senate by 

 death, resignation, expiration of term, or re- 

 moval for official misconduct. 



" It is said that one of the mischiefs which 

 this amendment is designed to prevent is the 

 filling of vacancies which exist while the Sen- 

 ate is in session, and where there is an oppor- 

 tunity to submit nominations for their advice 

 and consent, and this is omitted, or the nomi- 

 nation is rejected by the Senate, and the same 

 person reappointed after the Senate adjourns. 

 If the amendment went no further than this I 

 could very cheerfully support it, for the lan- 

 guage of the Constitution is clear that the 

 President's power of appointment without the 

 advice and consent of the Senate is confined to 

 vacancies that happen during the recess of the 

 Senate. 



" But the amendment has a scope and mean- 

 ing far beyond this. The power of the Pres- 

 ident to fill all vacancies that happen during the 

 recess of the Senate is not denied. But this 

 amendment declares that unless the vacancies 

 happen in a particular way, the person appointed 

 shall receive no salary or compensation until 

 confirmed by the Senate. 



" I have not examined or considered whether 

 the exceptions cover every possible occasion of 

 vacancy which can occur, except removals for 



other reasons than for misconduct or malfea 

 sance in office. 



" This is the class of cases which the amend- 

 ment is designed to reach, and I think its dis- 

 tinguished mover will not deny that the main 

 object and purpose of the amendment is to de- 

 clare that if the President makes removals from 

 office for mere political reasons, and thus causes 

 vacancies during the recess of the Senate, the 

 persons he appoints to fill them shall receive no 

 payment for their services in office until con- 

 firmed by the Senate. In such cases the real 

 question is not on the power of the President 

 to fill a vacancy, but as to his power to thus 

 make a vacancy. This brings up the old ques- 

 tion of the power of the President to remove 

 from office persons to whose original appoint- 

 ment the advice and consent of the Senate was 

 necessary. 



" The Senator from Missouri (Mr. Hender- 

 son), with his usual straightforwardness and 

 frankness, boldly avows that in his judgment 

 the President's power of removal in such cases 

 is commensurate only with his power of ap- 

 pointment; and that the consent of the Senate 

 is as necessary to the removal as to the appoint- 

 ment. The able and learned argument of the 

 Senator went far toward convincing me that if 

 the question could now be considered an open 

 one, that was the true construction of the Con- 

 stitution. 



" The Senator from Maine (Mr. Fessenden), 

 declared his willingness to support the amend- 

 ment, except for the clause requiring the canse 

 of removal to be reported to the Senate ; but 

 he admitted the power of the President under 

 the Constitution to make removals without the 

 consent of the Senate. In urging the necessity 

 of the amendment, however, he dwelt wholly 

 upon the abuse of the appointing power, by 

 making appointments after the adjournment 

 of the Senate, which might have been made 

 and submitted to the Senate while in session. 

 I should be doing that Senator great injustice 

 to suppose that he did not fully understand 

 that the matter aimed at was altogether a dif- 

 ferent and broader one. Other Senators have 

 fought shy upon this question, and have argued 

 in favor of the amendment, not exactly deny- 

 ing the power of removal, but under protesta- 

 tion, as a special pleader would say, that they 

 do not admit it. They have said, conceding 

 that he has the power of removal, we have the 

 power to say whether his new appointees shall 

 receive the salaries and compensations provided 

 by law for those holding the offices. So we 

 have the power to refuse any appropriations 

 to pay the salary of the President, or to carry 

 on any and every department of the Govern- 

 ment, and thus destroy it. Although we may 

 have such power, it is one which can only be 

 justified in use in the last resort, to prevent 

 usurpation or the destruction of the liberties of 

 the people. 



" But if we believe that the President has not 

 the legal and constitutional power of removal, 



