Life of Abraham Lincoln, Sixteenth President of the United StatesCrosby, Frank
History
Life of Abraham Lincoln, Sixteenth President of the United States
Crosby, Frank
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865
“General Taylor’s opinion, as expressed in his Allison letter, is
as I now read:
“‘The power given by the veto is a high conservative power; but,
in my opinion, should never be exercised, except in cases of clear
violation of the Constitution, or manifest haste and want of
consideration by Congress.
“It is here seen that, in Mr. Jefferson’s opinion, if, on the
Constitutionality of any given bill, the President _doubts_, he
is not to veto it, as the gentleman from Kentucky would have him
to do, but is to defer to Congress and approve it. And if we
compare the opinions of Jefferson and Taylor, as expressed in these
paragraphs, we shall find them more exactly alike than we can often
find any two expressions having any literal difference. None but
interested fault-finders, can discover any substantial variation.
“But gentlemen on the other side are unanimously agreed that Gen.
Taylor has no other principle. They are in utter darkness as to
his opinions on any of the questions of policy which occupy the
public attention. But is there any doubt as to what he will _do_
on the prominent question, if elected? Not the least. It is not
possible to know what he will or would do in every imaginable case;
because many questions have passed away, and others doubtless will
arise which none of us have yet thought of; but on the prominent
questions of currency, tariff, internal improvements, and Wilmot
proviso, General Taylor’s course is at least as well defined as is
General Cass’s. Why, in their eagerness to get at General Taylor,
several Democratic members here have desired to know whether, in
case of his election, a bankrupt law is to be established. Can
they tell us General Cass’s opinion on this question? (Some member
answered, ‘He is against it.’) Aye, how do you know he is? There is
nothing about it in the platform, nor elsewhere, that I have seen.
If the gentleman knows any thing which I do not, he can show it.
But to return: General Taylor, in his Allison letter says:
“‘Upon the subject of the tariff, the currency, the improvement of
our great highways, rivers, lakes, and harbors, the will of the
people, as expressed through their Representatives in Congress,
ought to be respected and carried out by the Executive.’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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