Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1868-03-31
WAsnISGToN. March %

Tor Dy Gne ffeS1QenG ana Re1uSeQ,
WAsn1NGToN, March %.
At p. NJ. to-day the President pro tenn.
of the Senate vacated the chair and the Chief
Justice entered and took his seat.
The Chief Justice raped the court to or
del and directed the sergeant at arms to make
proclamation.
TIE PRESIDENTS ANSWER.
The following is, in substance, the answer
of the President to the articles of impeach-
ment exhibited against him by the House of
Representatives For answer to the first ar
ticle he says that Edwin NJ. Stanton was ap-
pointed Secretary for the Department of War
on the 18th day of January, A. d. 1862, by
Abraham Lincoln, then President of the
United States, during the first term of his
Presidency, and was commissioned according
to the constitution and laws of the United
States to hold the said Office during the plea
sure of the President; that the law of 1899,
passed by the first Congress of the United
States, creating the office of Secretary of
War, provides that he shall perform his du-
ties according to the second section of the
second article of the constitution, in such
manner as the President shall, from time to
time, order and instruct, acting, according to
uniform practice, as of the Presidents
advisers acting also for the President in
matters pertaining to the Department, sub
ordinate to the President, who is made re-
sponsibie by the constitution and laws for the
conduct of the Secretary of War. Further,
that when by the death of Mr.. Lincoln April
Is, 1865, the respondent became President,
Mr.. Stanton was holding Office under the ap-
pointmcnt above mentioned, and not having
been removed from office by the respondent,
Mr.. Stanton continued on at the pleasure of
the President, aud at no time received any
other appointment except as before stated
Further. that on and prior to the 5th of Au-
gust, 1867, the respondent, President Of the
United States, responsible for Mr.. Stanton's
official acts, became satisfied that he could not
allow the said Stanton to continue to hold
the Office of Secretary of the Department of
War without hazard of the public interests !;
that the relations between the said Stanton
and the President no longer permitted the
President to resort to him for advice, or to
be, in the judgment of the President, safely
responsible for his conduct of the affairs Of
the Department of War, as by law required,
in accordance with the orders and instruc-
tions of the President, that the respondent
then considered and determined that the said
Stanton ought no longer to hold the office,
and quotes the note to the Secretary, dated
August 5th, 1867, requesting him to resign,
also the answer of Mr.. Stanton refusing to do
so, 'for public considerations of high char
acter;" that the respondent, having regard
for his responsibility, then held that it was
impossible, consistent with public interests,
to allow Mr.. Stanton to continue to hold the
office, and forthwith set about to decide what
acts were necessary to cause him to surrender
the Office.
The respondent believes it to have been
practically settled by the first Congress, and
acted on in many cases by each Congress and
President from the first; that the power at
any and all times of removing from Office all
executive officers, for cause is to be Judged
of by the President alone. This respondent
had, in pursuance of the constitution, required
the opinion Of each principal officer of the
executive department upon this question of
constitutional executive power and duty, and
had been advised by each of them, including
the said Stanton, Secretary for the Depart-
mcnt of War, that under the constitution of
the United States this power was lodged by
the constitution in the President of the Uni
ted States, and that consequently it could be
lawfully exercised by him, and the Congress
could not deprive him thereof; and this re-
spondcnt, in his capacity of President of the
United States, and because in that capacity
he was both enabled and bound to use his
best Judgment upon this question, did, in
good faith and with an honest desire to arrive
at the truth, come to the conclusion and opn-
ion, and did make the same known to the
honorable the Senate of the United States by
n message dated on the I'd day of March,
1867. That the respondent was then aware
of the provisions of the tenure, of-offce law,
passed March I'd, 1867, by constitutional
majority of Congress, as follows:
THAT any person holding any civil Office
to which he has been appointed by and with
the advice and consent of the Senate, and
every person who shall hereafter be appointed
to any such office, and shall become duly
qualified to act therein, is and shall be en-
titled to hold such Office until successor
shall have been in a like manner duly appoint
ed aud qualified, except as herein otherwise
provided. Provided that tho Secretary of
State, of the Treasury, of War, of the Navy
and of the Interior, the Postmaster General
and the Attorny General, shall hold their
offices respectively and during the term of the
President by whom they may have been ap-
pointed, and for one month thereafter subject
to removal by and with the advice and con-
sent Of the Senate
That the respondent was also aware that
this act was understood aud intended to be
an expression Of the opinion of Congress that
the power to remove executive officers for
cause might by law be taken from the Presi-
dent and vested in him and the Senate Joint
ly, and although this respondent had arrived
at and still retained the opinion above cx-
pressed, and verify believed, as he still be-
lievcs, that the said first section of the last
mentioned act was and is wholly imperative
and void, by reason of its conflict with the
constitution of the United States, yet mas
much as the same had been enacted by the
constitutional majority in each of the two
houses of that Congress, this respondent con-
sidered it to be proper to examine and decide