360 



IMPEACHMENT. 



act, to remove the said Stanton from the office of 

 Secretary for the Department of War, and having, in 

 his capacity of President of the United States, so ex- 

 amined and considered, did form the opinion that the 

 case of the said Stanton and his tenure of office were 

 not affected by the first section of the last-named 

 act. 



And this respondent, further answering, says, that 

 although a case thus existed which, in his judgment 

 as President of the United States, called for the exer- 

 cise of the executive power to remove the said Stan- 

 ton from the office of Secretary for the Department of 

 "War, and although this respondent was oi opinion, as 

 is above shown, that under the Constitution of the 

 United States the power to remove the said Stanton 

 from the said office was vested in the President of 

 the United States ; and although this respondent was 

 also of the opinion, as is above shown, that the case 

 of the said Stanton was not affected by the first sec- 

 tion of the last-named act ; and although each of the 

 said opinions had been formed by this respondent 

 upon an actual case, requiring him, in his capacity of 

 President of the United States, to come to some 

 judgment and determination thereon, yet this re- 

 spondent, as President of the United States, desired 

 and determined to avoid, if possible, any question of 

 the construction and effect of the said first section of 

 the last-named act, and also the broader question of 

 the executive power conferred on the President of the 

 United States, by the Constitution of the United 

 States, to remove one of the principal officers of one of 

 the Executive Departments, for cause seeming to him 

 sufficient ; and this respondent also desired and de- 

 termined that, if, from causes over which he could 

 exert no control, it should become absolutely neces- 

 sary to raise and have, in some way, determined 

 either or both of the said last-named questions, it 

 was in accordance with the Constitution of the Uni- 

 ted States, and was required of the President there- 

 by, that questions of so much gravity and impor- 

 tance, upon which the legislative and executive de- 

 partments of the Government had disagreed, which 

 involved powers considered by all branches of the 

 Government, during its entire history, down to the 

 year 1867, to have been confided by the Constitution 

 of the United States to the President, and to be 

 necessary for the complete and proper execution of 

 his constitutional duties, should be in some proper 

 way submitted to that judicial department of the 

 Government intrusted by the Constitution with the 

 power, and subjected by it to the duty, not only of 

 determining finally the construction and effect of all 

 acts of Congress, but of comparing them with the 

 Constitution of the United States, and pronouncing 

 them inoperative when found in conflict with that 

 fundamental law which the people have enacted for 

 the government of all their servants. And to these 

 ends, first, that, through the action of the Senate of 

 the United States, the absolute duty of the Presi- 

 dent to substitute some fit person in place of Mr. 

 Stanton as one of his advisers, and as a principal 

 subordinate officer whose official conduct he was re- 

 sponsible for, and had lawful right to control, might, 

 if possible, be accomplished without the necessity of 

 raising any one of the questions aforesaid; and, 

 second, if this duty could not be so performed, then 

 that these questions, or such of them as might neces- 

 sarily arise, should be judicially determined in man- 

 ner aforesaid, and for no other end or purpose, this 

 respondent ? as President of the United States, on the 

 12th day of August, 1867, seven days after the recep- 

 tion of the letter of the said Stanton of the 5th of 

 August, hereinbefore stated, did issue to the said 

 Stanton the order following, namely : 



EXECUTIVE MANSION, } 

 WASHINGTON, August 12, 1867. \ 



SIR: By virtue of the power and authority vested in 

 me, as President, by the Constitution and laws oft heTJm- 

 ted States, you are hereby suspended from office as 

 Secretary of War, and will cease to exercise any and all 

 functions pertaining to the same. 



You will at once transfer to General Ulysses S. Grant, 

 who has this day been authorized and empowered to act 

 as Secretary of War ad interim, all records, books, 

 papers, and other public property now in your custody 

 and charge. 



Hon. EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War. 



To which said order the said Stanton made the fol- 

 lowing reply : 



WAR DEPARTMENT, I 

 WASHINGTON CITY, August 12, 1867. j 



SIR: Your note of this date has been received, inform- 

 ing me that by virtue of the powers vested in you as 

 President, by the Constitution and laws of the United 

 States, I am suspended from office as Secretary of War, 

 and will cease to exercise any and all functions pertain- 

 ing to the same ; and also directing me at once to transfer 

 to General Ulysses S. Grant, who has this day been au- 

 thorized and empowered to act as Secretary of War ad 

 interim, all records, books, papers, and other public 

 property now in my custody and charge. Under a sense 

 of public duty, I am compelled to deny your right, under 

 the Constitution and laws of the United States, without 

 the advice and consent of the Senate, and without legal 

 cause, to suspend me from office as Secretary of War, or 

 the exercise of any or all functions pertaining to the 

 same, or without such advice and consent to compel me 

 to transfer to any person the records, books, papers, and 

 public property in my custody as Secretary. But, inas- 

 much as the General commanding the armies of the Uni- 

 ted States has been appointed ad interim, and has noti- 

 fied me that he has accepted the appointment, I have no 

 alternative but to submit, under protest, to superior 

 force. 



To the PRESIDENT. 



And this respondent, further answering, says, that 

 it is provided, in and by the second section of " an 

 act to regulate the tenure of certain civil offices," that 

 the President may suspend an officer from the per- 

 formance of the duties of the office held by him, for 

 certain causes therein designated, until the next 

 meeting of the Senate, and until the case shall be 

 acted on by the Senate; that this respondent, as 

 President of the United States, was advised and he 

 verily believed and still believe*, that the executive 



Sower of removal from office, confided to him by the 

 onstitution as aforesaid, includes the power ot sus- 

 pension from office at the pleasure of the President, 

 and this respondent, by the order aforesaid, did sus- 

 pend the said Stanton from office, not until the next 

 meeting of the Senate, or until the Senate should 

 have acted upon the case, but by force of the power 

 and authority vested in him by the Constitution and 

 laws of the United States, indefinitely, and at the 

 pleasure of the President, and the order, in form 

 aforesaid, was made known to the Senate oi the Uni- 

 ted States, on the 12th day of December, A. D. 1867, 

 as will be more fully hereinafter stated. 



And this respondent, further answering, says, that 

 in and by the act of February 13, 1795, it was, amon^ 

 other things, provided and enacted that,in case of 

 vacancy in the office of Secretary for the Department 

 of War, it shall be lawful for the President, in case 

 he shall think ft necessary, to authorize any person 

 to perform the duties of that office until a successor 

 be appointed or such vacancy filled, but not exceeding 

 the term of six months ; and this respondent, being 

 advised and believing that such law was in full force 

 and not repealed, by an order dated August 12, 1867, 

 did authorize and empower Ulysses S. Grant. Gener- 

 al of the armies of the United States, to act as Secre- 

 tary for the Department of War ad interim, in the 

 form in which similar authority had theretofore been 

 given, not until the next meeting of the Senate, and 

 until the Senate should act on the case, but at the 

 pleasure of the President, subject only to the limita- 

 tion of six months, in the said last-mentioned act 

 contained ; and a copy of the last-named order was 

 made known to the Senate of the United States, on 

 the 12th day of December, A. D. 1867, as will be 

 hereinafter more fully stated; and, in pursuance of 

 the design and intention aforesaid, if it should be- 

 come necessary, to submit the said questions to a ju- 

 dicial determination, this respondent, at or near the 

 date of the last-mentioned order, did make known 



