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that body imparts additional strength and security to it as the weaker branch of the Legislature, but because, from its smaller number and greater permanence, it may be more readily convened, and is gov. erned by steadier and more systematic views of public policy, and enabled to act with due promptitude and firmness.

5. The President is invested with the power to nominate, and, with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint ambassadors, and other public ministers, and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States whose appointments are not otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law. But Congress may vest the appointment of such inferior officers as they may think proper in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments.

The exercise by the people at large of this power of appointing the subordinate officers of the government would be impracticable; and a concurrent right of nomination by the Legislature, or any other select body, would afford great temptation and opportunity to intrigue, favouritism, and corrupt cabals, besides releasing the appointing power from all responsibility. No plan, I think, could have been devised better calculated, on the whole, to promote a judicious choice of men to fill the public offices, than that which was adopted. The power of selecting the heads of departments (which, by-the-way, are not otherwise recognised in the Constitution) established by law, to aid the President in the discharge of his executive duties; of nominating agents, to whom the immediate conduct of our international affairs and the negotiation of foreign treaties are confided; and of selecting the proper men for high judicial stations, is, with peculiar propriety, vested in the President, who is held

responsible for those acts of his immediate assistants and confidential advisers which receive his sanction, who is charged with the management of foreign affairs, and bound to see both treaties and the laws faithfully executed.

But the association of the Senate with the President in the exercise of this power is an exception to the general delegation of the executive authority which, were it not accompanied by the provision vesting in him the exclusive right of nomination, would be attended by the evils already adverted to. This power of nomination is, for all the useful purposes of restraint, equivalent to the power of absolute appointment, and imposes upon the President the same vivid sense of responsibility, and the same necessity of meeting the public approbation or censure; while the advice and consent of the Senate, which are necessary to render the nomination effectual, can never be attended with any mischievous consequences, and must at all times prove a check upon the misinformation or errors of the President. To prevent the inconvenience which would arise from occasional vacancies in office when the Senate is not in session, the President has power to fill up those which happen during recess, by granting commissions which expire at the end of the next session of Congress.

6. The remaining duties of the President consist in giving information to Congress of the state of the Union, and recommending to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary or expedient. He may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both houses of Congress, or either of them, and in case of disagreement between them, he may, as we have seen, adjourn them to such time as he may think proper. It is his duty to receive ambassadors

and other public ministers, to commission all officers of the United States, and generally and comprehensively to take care that the laws be faithfully executed.

III. The support of the President, which is the next subject of examination, is secured by a provision in the Constitution, which declares that he shall, at stated times, receive for his services a compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the period for which he was elected; and that he shall not receive within that time any other emolument from the United States, or any of them. This provision was intended to strengthen and preserve the proper independence and energy of the executive department. It would be in vain to declare that the different departments of the government should be separate and distinct, if the Legislature possessed a control over the salaries of the chief executive magistrate and the judicial officers. This, indeed, would be to disregard the voice of experience, and the operation of invariable principles of human conduct. The Constitution of Virginia, for instance, considers it a fundamental axiom of government, that the three great departments should be kept distinct, so that neither of them should exercise the powers properly belonging to another. But, without taking any precautions to preserve this principle in practice, it renders the governor dependant upon the Legislature for his annual existence and support. The result was, as Mr. Jefferson informs us, "that during the whole session of the Legislature, the direction of the executive by that body was habitual and familiar."

The Constitution of Massachusetts discovered more wisdom, and afforded the first example of a constitutional provision for the support of the execu

tive magistrate, by declaring that the governor should have a salary of a fixed and permanent value, amply sufficient, and established by standing laws. Those state constitutions which have been made or amended since the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, have generally followed the example. which it happily set to them in this and many other particulars; and it has been well observed by one of our jurists, that "we may consider it as one of the most signal blessings bestowed on this country, that we have such a fabric as the Federal Constitution constantly before our eyes, not only for national protection, but for local imitation and example."

The appointment of an extraordinary person as Vice-president of the United States, and ex officio President of the Senate, was originally objected to as superfluous, if not mischievous. But it was justified principally on two considerations: the first was, that, to secure at all times a definite resolution of the Senate, it was necessary that the president of that body should have a casting vote; and to take a senator from his seat as senator, and place him in that of the presiding officer, would be, in regard to the state from which he came, to exchange a constant for a contingent vote. The other consideration was, that as the Vice-president may occasionally become a substitute for the President in the supreme executive office, all the reasons which recommend the mode of election prescribed in the first instance for the one, apply with great, if not with equal force, to the other. The powers and duties of President devolve on the Vice-president, not only when no choice is made by the electors or the House of Representatives, but also in case of the President's removal from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge his duties; and Congress is authorized to provide by

law for the case of vacancies in the offices of both President and Vice-president. In pursuance of this power, it has been enacted that, in the event of such vacancies, the President of the Senate pro tempore, and in case there should be no such President of the Senate, that the Speaker of the House of Representatives for the time being, shall act as President of the United States until the vacancy be supplied. The evidence of a refusal to accept, or of a resignation of the office of President or Vice-president, is declared by the same act of Congress to be a declaration in writing, filed in the office of the Secretary of State.

As it might become a question who would be the person to serve, if the office of President should devolve on the Speaker of the House of Representatives, after the Congress for which the last speaker was chosen had expired, and before the new Congress meet, it is usual for the Vice-president to withdraw from the Senate shortly before the adjournment of the session, in order to afford an opportunity to that body to choose a president pro tempore; and if he should die or resign during the recess of Congress, and a casual vacancy occur in the offices of President and Vice-president, the former speaker would probably be deemed the person upon whom the office was intended to devolve. If the Vicepresident succeeds to the office of President, he continues in it until the expiration of the term for which the President was elected; and if both offices are vacant, it is made the duty of the Secretary of State to take measures, under the act of Congress, for the election of a President. But, as that act was passed before the amendment of the Constitution, and that amendment omitted, perhaps intentionally, to provide

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