History of the Impeachment of Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, by the House of Representatives, and his trial by the Senate for high crimes and misdemeanors in office, 1868Ross, Edmund G. (Edmund Gibson)
History
History of the Impeachment of Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, by the House of Representatives, and his trial by the Senate for high crimes and misdemeanors in office, 1868
Ross, Edmund G. (Edmund Gibson)
Johnson, Andrew, 1808-1875 -- Impeachment
On the other hand, an exclusive power of removal by the President was
defended as a true exposition of the text of the Constitution. It was
maintained that there are certain causes for which persons ought to
be removed from office without being guilty of treason, bribery, or
malfeasance, and that the nature of things demands that it should be so.
"Suppose," it was said, "a man becomes insane by the visitation of God,
and is likely to ruin our affairs; are the hands of Government to be
confined front warding off the evil? Suppose a person in office
not possessing the talents he was judged to have at the time of the
appointment, is the error not to be corrected; suppose he acquire
vicious habits and incurable indolence, or totally neglect the duties of
his office, which shall work mischief to the public welfare, is there
no way to arrest the threatened danger? Suppose he become odious and
unpopular by reason of the measures he pursues, and this he may do
without committing any positive offense against the law, must he
preserve his office in despite of the popular will? Suppose him grasping
for his own aggrandizement and the elevation of his connections by every
means short of the treason defined by the Constitution, hurrying your
affairs to the precipice of destruction, endangering your domestic
tranquility, plundering you of the means of defense, alienating the
affections of your allies, and promoting the spirit of discord, must the
tardy, tedious, desultory road, by way of impeachment, be traveled to
overtake the man who, barely confining himself within the letter of the
law, is employed in drawing off the vital principle of the Government?"
The nature of things, the great objects of society, the express objects
of the Constitution itself require that this thing should be otherwise.
To unite the Senate with the President "in the exercise of the power"
it was said, would involve us in the most serious difficulty. "Suppose
a discovery of any of these events should take place when the Senate
is not in session, how is the remedy to be applied? The evil could be
avoided in no other way than by the Senate sitting always." In regard
to the danger of the power being abused if exercised by one man, it was
said "that the danger is as great with respect to the Senate, who
are assembled from various parts of the continent, with different
impressions and opinions;" that such a body is more likely to misuse the
power of removal than the man whom the united voice of America calls to
the presidential chair. As the nature of Government requires the power
of removal, it was maintained "that it should be exercised in this way
by the hand capable of exerting itself with effect, and the power must
be conferred on the President by the Constitution as the executive
officer of the Government." Mr. Madison, whose adverse opinion in the
Federalist had been relied upon by those who denied the exclusive power,
now participated in the debate.
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