History of the Origin, Formation, and Adoption of the Constitution of the United States, Vol. 1: With Notices of Its Principle FramersCurtis, George Ticknor
History
History of the Origin, Formation, and Adoption of the Constitution of the United States, Vol. 1: With Notices of Its Principle Framers
Curtis, George Ticknor
Constitutional history -- United States
[191] "It is not to be presumed," he said, "that the constitution of any
State means to define and fix the precise numbers and descriptions of
all officers to be permitted in the State, excluding the creation of any
new ones, whatever might be the necessity derived from that variety of
circumstances incident to all political institutions. The legislature
must always have a discretionary power of appointing officers, not
expressly known to the constitution, and this power will include that of
authorizing the federal government to make the appointments in cases
where the general welfare may require it. The denial of this would prove
too much; to wit, that the power given by the Confederation to Congress,
to appoint all officers in the post-office, was illegal and
unconstitutional. The doctrine advanced by Rhode Island would perhaps
prove also that the federal government ought to have the appointment of
no internal officers whatever; a position that would defeat all the
provisions of the Confederation, and all the purposes of the union. The
truth is, that no federal constitution can exist without powers that in
their exercise effect the internal police of the component members. It
is equally true, that no government can exist without a right to appoint
officers for those purposes which proceed from, and concentre in,
itself; and therefore the Confederation has expressly declared, that
Congress shall have authority to appoint all such 'civil officers as may
be necessary for managing the general affairs of the United States under
their direction.' All that can be required is, that the federal
government confine its appointments to such as it is empowered to make
by the original act of union, or by the subsequent consent of the
parties; unless there should be express words of exclusion in the
constitution of a State, there can be no reason to doubt that it is
within the compass of legislative discretion to communicate that
authority. The propriety of doing it upon the present occasion, is
founded on substantial reasons. The measure proposed is a measure of
necessity. Repeated experiments have shown, that the revenue to be
raised within these States is altogether inadequate to the public wants.
The deficiency can only be supplied by loans. Our applications to the
foreign powers on whose friendship we depend, have had a success far
short of our necessities. The next resource is to borrow from
individuals. These will neither be actuated by generosity nor reasons of
state. 'Tis to their interest alone we must appeal. To conciliate this,
we must not only stipulate a proper compensation for what they lend, but
we must give security for the performance. We must pledge an ascertained
fund, simple and productive in its nature, general in its principle, and
at the disposal of a single will. There can be little confidence in a
security under the constant revisal of thirteen different deliberatives.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account