Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1866-10-26
SHALL CONGRESS IMPEACh ~
PRESIDENT

A'' PRESIDENT
This question is now agitaring the country
Vg 5 fSSst2g st tso Il tREo REeSt PSet0pi6 aai5 dfon @g
this question and the people have respond
ed with most hearty amen. while others
were not so decided and did not commit
themselves upon this grave matter, yet the
Copporhcads charged even these with being
committed to this object and BY this means
brought the question of impeachment di
rectly before the masses. The present Con
gress at its late session took high ground
against the Presidential usurpatiuus and
direlietions but it needed Jl,e sanction OF the
people 70 go beyond the already adFanced
position which il had taken, and the late
elections in the three great States of Penn
sylyania, Ohio and Indiana have endorsed
it by re electing the same members, or 9TH
ers in their stead, by increased majorities IN
the face Of such opposition as the country
has never before witnessed. And when the
elections OF the 9th of November viii have
doubly endorsed the position Of the Re
publicans, the impeachment Of An
drew johnson viii become mandate, and
Congress a;i not dare to hesitate.
There ;re certain great Constitutional
questions which have grown out Of the po
>ition and ,rsurpatiohs Of Andrew johnson
that should be for ever settled. II there
were even 10 prospect of successful i'm
peachmept, he should be impeached at once,
and let the question be forever settled
whether the President can usurp the Legis-
lative functions Of the Government and re-
fuse to execute the laws passed BY Congress.
If the Constitution of the United States
sanctions any such despotisn, if the Presi
dent of the United States can set at defiance
the co ordinate branches Of the Government
under the broad sanction of the Constitution
the sooner the people know it the better.
Let us settle the vevad questions arising un-
der misconstruction of the Constitution.
The time has come for the adoption Of the
broadest principles Of liberty, and if the
Constitution sanctions such encroachments,
such absolutism, it we're time that the peo-
pie knew it and looked well to their liberties.
In times of war emergencies may arise when
an executive officer may be compelled, by
arbitrary necessity, for the preservation OF
the life of nation, to exceed the exact lin
its or provisions of the law, but in times of
peace, when the nation is at rest and all the
functions and branches of Government in
working condition, for there to be such a
radical difference of opinion between the
President and Congress in respect to their
respective duties and functions, after clear
sailing under the present Constitution for
nearly eighty years, Is most strange and the
question should be settled The people have
been led to believe that the President was a
mere Executive officer, and as such COM
manded the army and navy, but they have
never believed that he constituted also the
Legislative branch of Government. And
if the Constitution permits such assump-
tions of power the sooner some Court OF
competent jurisdiction tells US so the better.
We want this country to be as free as the
political and social relations of men viii per-
nit, without any distinctive features fol
race or color America is the high ground
upon which all races, all nations, all colors
are bound to fratenrize Already the Amer
lean, the Caucasian, the African and the
Monaghan are here, in a few years the last
of the FIVE great races, the Malayian, may
be here, and if he comes here, and complies
with our laws, we want American civiliza.
ton to make an American out of him, and
when it does, we want him to have equa
rights before the law.
The Constitution of the United States,
art. l, section >, clause 5, says the
House Of Representatives ''shall have thC
sole power of impeachment, and section
3, clause 6, of the same article says
THE Senate shall have the sole power tC
try all impeachments. When sitting foi
that purpose they shall be on oath or afir-
nation. When the President of the United
States is tried, the Chief Justice shall pre-
side and no person shall be convicted with
out the concurrence of two-thirds of the
members present. Here, then, is one oi
the highest and best tribunals in the world
composed of the profoundest lawyers and
abIest statesmen let this Court decide up
on the mooted questions that have arisen
and they will be forever set at rest, and il
there are any remedial amendments to the
Constitution required, let US have them, be-
cause the liberal construction imposed upon
this instrument for eighty years. if wrong,
must now be placed beyond misconstructior
and the liberties of the people guaranteed