The President is in himself no bond of union in that respect. He holds his station as Commander in Chief of the land and naval forces, and of the militia, under a constitution which binds together as one people, for that, and many other important purposes. His absence would not dissolve the bond. It would not revive discordant, latent claims, or become a signal for disorganization. The judicious selection of the Chief Commander for any expedition, or important station, is an object of high interest to the nation.
Success often depends on it.
The right to do this appears to me to have been explicitly vested in the President, by the authority given to Congress to provide for calling forth the militia, organizing, arming, disciplining and governing them, when employed in the service of the United States, and by the powers vested in him as Chief Executive of the United States. The rights of that highly respectable and virtuous body of our fellow citizens are I am persuaded completely secured when the militia officers commanding corps are retained in their command, a Major-General over his division, a Brigadier over his brigade, a Colonel over his regiment and inferior officers in their respective stations. These rights are not injured or affected by the exercise of the right of the Chief Magistrate, a right incident to the executive power, equally applicable to every species of force, and of high importance to the public, to appoint a commander over them of the regular army when employed in the service of the United States, if he should deem it expedient. The rights of the militia officers, and those of the general government, are strictly compatible with each other, there is no collision between them. To displace militia officers for the employment of regular, or to multiply commands of a separate character, especially of small bodies, for that purpose, would be improper.