Life of James Buchanan, Fifteenth President of the United States. v. 1 (of 2)Curtis, George Ticknor
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Life of James Buchanan, Fifteenth President of the United States. v. 1 (of 2)
Curtis, George Ticknor
Buchanan, James, 1791-1868
The Constitution also declares that “he shall take care that the laws be
faithfully executed.” These two clauses of the Constitution confer the
executive power on the President, and define his duties. Is, then, the
removal from office an executive power? If it be so, there is an end of
the question; because the Constitution nowhere declares that the Senate,
or any other human tribunal, shall participate in the exercise of this
power. It will not be contended but that the power of removal exists,
and must exist, somewhere. Where else can it exist but in the executive,
on whom the Constitution imposes the obligation of taking care that the
laws shall be faithfully executed? It will not be pretended that the
power of removal is either of a legislative or judicial character. From
its very nature, it belongs to the executive. In case he discovers that
an officer is violating his trust—that instead of executing the laws,
his conduct is in direct opposition to their requisition, is it not,
strictly speaking, an executive power to arrest him in his career, by
removing him from office? How could the President execute the trust
confided to him, if he were destitute of this authority? If he possessed
it not, he would be compelled to witness the executive officers
violating the laws of Congress without the power of preventing it.
On this subject, it is impossible for me to advance anything new. It was
exhausted by Mr. Madison, in the debate of 1789, in the House of
Representatives. I am confident the Senate will indulge me whilst I read
two extracts from his speeches on that occasion, delivered on the 16th
and 17th June, 1789. The first was delivered on the 16th June, 1789, and
is as follows:
“By a strict examination of the Constitution, on what appears to be its
true principles, and considering the great departments of the Government
in the relation they have to each other, I have my doubts whether we are
not absolutely tied down to the construction declared in the bill. In
the first section of the first article, it is said that all legislative
powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United
States. In the second article, it is affirmed that the executive power
shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. In the
third article, it is declared that the judicial power of the United
States shall be vested in one Supreme Court; and in such inferior courts
as Congress may, from time to time, ordain and establish.
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