US Presidency
1867

It certainly would be a novel spectacle if Congress should attempt to carry on a legal State government by the agency of its own officers. It is yet more strange that Congress attempts to sustain and carry on an illegal State government by the same Federal agency. In this connection I must call attention to the tenth and eleventh sections of the bill, which provide that none of the officers or appointees of these military commanders shall be bound in his action by any opinion of any civil officer of the United States, and that all the provisions of the act shall be construed liberally, to the end that all the intents thereof may be fully and perfectly carried out. It seems Congress supposed that this bill might require construction, and they fix, therefore, the rule to be applied. But where is the construction to come from?