184 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



Cowan, Davis, Fogg, Frelinghuyscn, Grimes, Guth- 

 rie, Harris, McDougall, Nesmith, Nye, Pomeroy, Kid- 

 dle, Sprague, Van Winkle, and Yates 18. 



This ac"t, not having been returned by the 

 President, became a law without his approval. 



In the House, on the 3d of December, Mr. 

 Stevens, of Pennsylvania, introduced a bill to 

 regulate removals from office. The first section 

 provided that in all instances of appointments 

 to office by the President, by and with the ad- 

 vice and consent of the Senate, the power of 

 removal should be exercised only in concur- 

 rence with the Senate. 



The second section provided that in case of 

 disability or misconduct in office, occurring dur- 

 ing the recess of the Senate, where the interests 

 of the public may make it necessary to displace 

 the incumbent until the advice and consent of 

 the Senate can be duly had and obtained there- 

 on, it should be lawful for the President to 

 suspend the disabled or defaulting officer, and 

 to designate some other person to perform the 

 duties of the office until the Senate should have 

 the opportunity of acting thereupon. And it 

 should be the duty of the President, within ten 

 days after the next meeting of the Senate, to 

 report to it the fact of such suspension, with 

 the reasons therefor, and to nominate a person 

 for the place; and in case of the refusal of the 

 Senate to concur in such suspension, either by 

 a direct vote thereon, or by advising and con- 

 senting to the appointment of the person so 

 nominated, the officer suspended should there- 

 upon resume the exercise of his official func- 

 tions as though the same had not been sus- 

 pended. 



The third section provided that every person 

 who had been or should thereafter be nomi- 

 nated to the Senate for office, and who should 

 fail to receive the advice and consent of the 

 Senate thereto, should be incapable of holding 

 any office under the United States for the term 

 of three years after such rejection, unless two- 

 thirds of the Senate should relieve him of such 

 disability. And whenever any person has as- 

 sumed office, and discharged its duties upon the 

 nomination of the President, before he had 

 been confirmed by the Senate, or his rejection 

 by the Senate, all subordinates and deputies 

 appointed by him, or on his recommendation, 

 shall vacate their places. 



The fourth section provided that all nomina- 

 tions made by the President should be commu- 

 nicated to the Senate within twenty days after 

 they are made, or after the commencement of 

 the next succeeding session of the Senate. 



In the House, on December 5th, Mr. Williams, 

 of Pennsylvania, called up his motion to recon- 

 sider the vote recommitting the House bill of 

 the last session for the regulation of appoint- 

 ments, removals, etc. He said : " The first sec- 

 tion enacts that no officer who has been ap- 

 pointed by and with the advice and consent of 

 the Senate shall be removable except by the 

 same agencies, with the proviso, however, that 



in case of disability or misconduct in office dur- 

 ing the recess of that body, the President may, 

 with the advice of the Attorney-General, sus- 

 pend the incumbent and commission another 

 until the next session, at which it shall be his 

 duty to report the fact, along with the causes 

 of removal, and the name of the officer so ap- 

 pointed, or such other person as he shall choose 

 to nominate; and that in case of the refusal of 

 the Senate to approve the act, the officer so 

 suspended shall resume his functions, without 

 any allowance, however, of compensation in 

 the meanwhile. 



" The second section provides that ne officer 

 renominated shall continue to hold after his 

 rejection, and that the party so rejected shall 

 not be again appointed. 



" The third section I propose, with the appro- 

 bation of the committee, to strike out, and in- 

 sert two others one to the effect that where a 

 vacancy happening during the recess may have 

 been filled by the President, it shall be his duty 

 to make a nomination before the end of the 

 next session, and in case of the nomination of 

 any other person or persons than the one so 

 commissioned, and the refusal of the Senate to 

 advise and consent thereto, the office shall not 

 be considered as vacant upon its adjournment, 

 but the person so commissioned shall continue 

 to hold and enjoy the same during the recess, 

 and until he shall be either nominated and re- 

 jected, or duly superseded by a new appoint- 

 ment: and the other providing that the heads 

 of departments shall hold their offices for the 

 term of four years unless removed with the 

 concurrence of the Senate ; and shall moreover 

 nominate, and by and with the advice and con- 

 sent of the Senate appoint, all their assistants 

 and subordinates, to hold for the like period, 

 unless removed in the same manner. 



" The bill rests, therefore, on the hypothesis 

 that the power of removal does not rightfully 

 belong to the President alone even if he can 

 be properly claimed to have any share of it, 

 under the Constitution and cannot be safely 

 left with that officer without any restraint upon 

 its exercise; and this as a general principle, 

 and without any reference, to the merits or de- 

 merits of the existing functionary. It proposes 

 to improve the rare advantage of a dissociation 

 between the party in power here and the Presi- 

 dent of its own choice, for the correction of a 

 great evil, by a surrender and dedication of the 

 spoil which that party may be supposed to have 

 won, upon the public altar, and for the nation's 

 benefit, through all coming time. 



u It aims at the reformation of a giant vice 

 in the administration of this Government, by 

 bringing its practice back from a rule of its in- 

 fancy and inexperience, resting mainly, per- 

 haps, on its unbounded confidence in the per- 

 sonal virtues of its first Chief Magistrate, to 

 what are believed to be the true spirit and 

 meaning of its fundamental law." 



After examining the constitutional question 

 and its history, Mr. Williams proceeded to say : 



