Juliet signal. [volume] (Juliet [i.e. Joliet], Ill.) 1844-1???, 1864-08-23
THE PRESIDENTS UsURPA-
THONS.
TO The Supporters OTGhe
0EernmeDf.

of the Presiieat Of the 9Th of July. 1864
The suppeftere Of the administration are
responsible to The country for its conduct :
and it is their right and duty to check the
enroschnents Of the Executive on the an
thority Of Congress, and to rcouie il 10
eOnfine itself toi proper sphere
1t is impossible to pass in silence this
prociamation without neglecting that du :
ty F.; and, having taken as much RESPONSE
bihty as any Others 10 supporting the adj
ministrstiops ue are not disposed to fail in
the other dnty Of asserting the rights of
Congress
The Presidept did not sigu the bill to
guarantee 60 pertain States whose gov
erpmebts&e fe bsen psurped arepublican
ftrmrof govsfrHent'-pessed ~ the sup.
porters of this administl alton in both
houses Of Congress after mature deIibera.
ton.
The Till did not therefore become lac ;
and is the, efore nothing
The proclamation is neither an approval
nor veto of the bill; it is therefore a
document unknown TO the laws and cupsti-
tuition of the United States.
So far as It contains an apology for no.
signing the bill. it lie a political manifesto
against the friends of the government.
So far as it proposes to execute the bill
which is not law, it ia a grave Executive
usurpation.
1t is fitting that the facts necessary to
enable the friends of the administration TO
appreciate the apology and the usurpation
be spread before them.
The proclamation SAYS:
And whereas the said bill was present.
ID - D.,a,AAr,k ~ ~
for his approval less than one hour before
the sine die adjournment OF 81 i'd session,
and was not signed by him
If that be accurate, still this bill was
presented with other bills which were not
signed.
Within that hour, the time for the sine
de adjournment was three times postpon-
ed by the votes Of both houses: and the
least intimation of a desire for more time
by the President t. consider this bill would
have secured further postponement.
UT the committee sent to ascertain if
the Pr sdent nad any further conmuuica-
ton tor the House # Representatives re-
= rted that be had none; aud the friends
OF the bill, who had anxiously waired on
HIM to ascertain Its fata. had already been
informed that the President had resolved
not III Ign it.
The time of presentation, therefore, had
nothing to do with bis failure to approve
1t.
The bill had been discussed and consid-
cred tor more than a month 10 the House
of Representatives, which it passed on the
4th of July it was reported to the Ssnat
on the 9th of May without material
amendment, and passed the Senate absO.
lutely as it came from the House on the
ID of July.
Ignorance of its contents is out of the
question
Indeed, at bis request draft of bill
substantially the same in all material
points, aud identical in the points object
ed to by The Proclamation. had been laid
before him tor his consideration In the
winter Of 1862 1868.
There il, therefore. no reason 70 SIM.
pose the provieio e Of the bill took the
President by surprise.
Ga the Contrary, we have reason to be
lieve them 20 have been SO well known
that this method of preventing the bill
from becoming a law without the CONSTR
tutiunal responsibility of veto bad been
resolved on long before the bill passed the
Senate
Weare informed by gentleman emit
tied TO entire c,nfdeuce. that before the
22d of June in New Orleans it was stated
by q member # General Banks staff. 10
the presence If other gentlemen In official
position that Senator DJnlIttle had writ
ten letter to the department that the
House reconstruction bill would be STAYED
off IN the Senate TO q period too late in
the session to require the President to ve>
to it 10 order to defeat il. and that Mr.
Lincoln would retain the bill If necessary
and thereby defeat it
The experience of Senator Wade. in hi,
various efforts to get the bill usidered in
the Senate, was quite in accordance with
| that plan and the fate of the bill was &C,
curately predicted by letters from New Or
| leans before it had passed the Senate.
Had the proclamation stopped there, il
would have cen only one other defeat oil
the will Of The peoll' by al Executive per.
| version o! the CONSTITUTION.
But it gees further. The President
says:
And whereas the said bill contains
among other things, plan for restenins
the States in rebellion to their proper C
| tioal relation 10 the Uuion, which pIt3kx
presses the sense of Congress upon tha
subject, and which plan it is now Though
fit tn lay before the people for their consid
| eratiUn-'
| In what form? The result to be declared
by whom? With what effect when ascer
tainedP
1t is to be law by the approval of th,
people without the approval of Congress
| at the will Of the President.
Will the President, on bis opinion of th,
popular approval, execute it as lawP
| Or is this merely device to avoid th,
serious responsibility of defeating a Law
on which so many loyol hearts reposed TO
security2
But The reasons now assigned for no
approving the bill are full of ominous sig
pifcauce.
The President proceeds:
Now, therefore, i, Abraham Lincoln
President of the Uuited States, do proclaim
! declare, and make known, that, while an
! las IN December last. when by proclana
ton 9ropounded plau for restoration
uuprepared, by formal approval of thi
! bill, to be inhexibly committed to any ain
gle plan of restora;iou-'
That is to say, the President is resolve,
that the people shall not 6y lJtc take an
securities from the rebel States against
renewal of the rebellion, before restorip,
their power TO govern Us.
His wisdom and prudence are to be on
Sufficient guarantees
He further says:
And. while am also unprepared to de
clare that the free State constitutions an,
governments already adopted and installed
in Arkansas and Louisiana shall be sc
aside ard held for naught thereby repell
ing and discouraging the loyal citizen
who have set up the same as to further eft
! fort
That is to say, the President persists IL
recogn'zIng those shadows Of government
in Arkansas and Louisiana, which Con
| grese formally declared shnuId not he rec