US Presidency
1830

It was originally organized and its compensation fixed with a view to occasional service, leaving to the incumbent time for the exercise of his profession in private practice. The state of things which warranted such an organization no longer exists. The frequent claims upon the services of this officer would render his absence from the seat of government in professional attendance upon the courts injurious to the public service, and the interests of the government could not fail to be promoted by charging him with the general superintendence of all its legal concerns. Under a strong conviction of the justness of these suggestions, I recommend it to Congress to make the necessary provisions for giving effect to them, and to place the Attorney General in regard to compensation on the same footing with the heads of the several executive departments.