Boon's Lick times. [volume] (Fayette, Mo.) 1840-1848, 1841-10-30
From the National Intelligcncer Of Oct. Z =.

rleS OF resolutions, tWCnty-thrcC in number,
adopted at an adjourned meeting of the
Vines of that part of the country, held on
the 25th instant, with request to publish
them. We have had many similar requests
made to us from meetings held in different
States, the impossbility of general COM
pliance with all of which has prevented our
making exceptions, which might be invidi-
Gus, in favor of any. They are, however,
all of one complexion, and from descrip-
ton of one the contents of all may be near
ly inferred. To give to our readers just
idea of their general purpose, we subloin
such of the GAINESVILLE resolutions as are not
personal in their application.
In condemnation of the Veto power, as
it now stands in the Constitution, we may
add, to what is expressed in these resolu-
tons, that, if there be an exception in the
declared sentiment of any Wing meeting.
or of any Wing press, throughout the Uni
ted States, we are not aware of it. We do
not mean to say that the Wings of the Uni
ted States universally desire to see the Veto
power entirely abolished. We are not our
selves prepared to 60 to that extent The
power, as it exists in the Constitution, was
so qualified as in the opinion of the trainers
of that instrument to render it harmless,
when they admitted it into our frame of
Government in order to quiet the alarm of
those friends to a stable government who,
being afraid of the PEOPLE, placed this curb
upon them. We would guilty the power
still further. Let the Veto power be so
limited as to make the votes of a majority
Gnstead of two-thirds) of both Houses ne
cessary to pass bill in the event of the
Presidents returning it with his objections;
and let the provision which has allowed the
President. under former Administration.
in defiance of the will of the people, to peck
ct, the most important bills without afford
ing to Congress an opportunity either to re-
pass or to reject them, be expunged altogeth-
err. Such amendment of the Constitution
will, we believe, be demanded by public
opinion and steadily insisted upon, until in
time it will succeed.
Our aversion to this feature Of the Con-
stituton is not of recent date. 1t has been
strongly and frequently stated since its ar
bitrary and wanton employment by Presi-
dent JACKSON, as soon as it was in his pow
er to WELD it, in the year 1910. 1t has not
been at allrecommended to our favor by the
use whichhas since been made of it. But our
conviction of its incongruity with the gen.
eral character Of this Government has been
greatly strengthened by discovering, from
recent indications, its odiousness to the
People to have become SO great that its ex-
ercse will hardly ever fail to produce
popular fermentation. 1t had been so often
used to defeat the will of the people here
tofore, that its application, now by those
whom they have placed in power, and
whom they did not expect to resort to it, is
resented as a grave injury. No power,
whose use generates such sentiment,
ought to retain place in Republican
Government. The exercise of the power
is applauded, indeed, with almost as much
vehemence as it is censured: but the very
terms in which it is applauded betray the
viciousness of the motive of that applause.
1t is gratifed hate, more even than the spir-
it of opposition, that exults in the defeat of
the hopes and expectations Of powerful
and sangune party by means Of the Veto.
We regret, certainly, as much as any one
of our readers can, the late (and especially
the LAST exercise of the Veto by the Presi-
dent. But we must not, by directing all
our attention TO the action and the effect.
overlook the source of the decisions which
we regret. The spring head of the errone-
Gus action is in the Constitution. 1.-THE pow
er had not been there, the PRESIDENT could
not have exercised it. Nor, if the power
had not been there, should we ever have had
the depreciation of the currency, the con-
fusion in the exchanges, the interruption of
commerce, the public debt in the General
Government, the embarrassment in the State
Governments, the pressure of which on all
the interests of the country brought about
the late political revolution. All these were
consequences Of the exercise of the veto
power by President JACKSON, begun at his /.
earliest opportunity, and continued to the
last grasp of his official life ALI THESE
EVILS WERE THE FRUITS OF THE VETo Con .
tradict it who can! Deny the conclusion
who will, we yet maintain that the veto
power Units present extenD has been tried. .
convicted, and sentenced. and that execu-
ton ought TO be done upon it.
Nor could any individual filing the office
of PRESIDENT desire to hold the power were
it in his power to part with it. Without
the painful responsibility which that power
imposes, the Executive duties are already
too onerous for one man to bear, as the Elk
ecutive power, in its present extent, is too
great and comprehensive for one man to
administer. The world has become wiser
since the Constitution was formed; and. if
it were to be cast anew, we should find the
Executive office very much curtaied of its
present power and attributes. Not that we
desire to subject the Constitution to the test
of a general revision. There is, most hap