Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1868-03-04
The Presidents Reasons for Attempt
inc TO Remove Secretary Stanton.

Senate upon the attempted removal Of Sec
retary Stanton, in which that body denied
the President right to remove the Secretary
Of War Monday of last week the Presi
dent sent To the Senate a message in which
he argued his side of the question. We
have no space for the whole message, but II
is due TO the President and to the country
that such reasons as exist for his action
should be made public, and we give below
the important parts of this message.
After stating that the uniform practice
rom the foundation of the government war
rants the executive in removing u cabinet
officer Mr.. johnson says
know but two laws which bear upon this
question The first in the order of time il
the act Of Aug. :, l7S9, creating the De
partmcnt of War, which. after providing fOr
- Secretary its principal officer, proceeds
is follows
Section :. And be it further enacted
thai there shall be in the said Department
IN inferior officer, to be appointed by the
said principal officer, to be employed therein
as he shal deem proper, and to be callad the
chief cirk in the Department Of War, and
who. whenever the said principal officer shall
lie removed from Office by the President OF
the JnIteI 81 ties, or in any other case OF
ylea cy, shall, during such vacancy, have
the c.larg- and custody of all records, books
and papers appertaining to the said Depart
mcnt
1t is clear that this act, issued BY Con
e,re-s, many of whose members participated
IN the formation of the Constitution, 90 far
from denying the power Of the President to
remove the Secretary of War recognizes it
1. -
tile concurrence Of the Senate, or any other
department Of the Governments.
Furthermore this act does not profes. to
confer the power by legislative au hority,
nor in fact WIS there any Other existing legis-
ldti1u through which 1t was bestowed upon
tie Executive. The recognition of the power
of tui- act Is therefore complete a re-
c0-nitiln under the Constitution itself, for
there was NJ other source of authority from
which il coulI be derived.
The other act which refers to this question
is thlt regulating the tenure Of office, passed
bv Congress on the second day of March
l-51. The hr~t section IF that act Is in the
t1 lowing words - That any person holding
any ciyI. office u which he has been ap-
pointed hv AID with the advice and consent
of rhe Senate. and any person who shall
hereafter ue appointed To any such Office, and
shall me duly qualified to act thereon, snd
shall tc entitled u hold Office until a success
-8r shall have been in like manner appointeo
and daily qualified. except a herein otherwis.
provided Provided that the Secretaries OF
State. of tie Treasury, of War Of the Navy
and of the Interior. the Postmaster General
and rAe Attorney General shall hold their
Offices respectively for and during the term
of the PRESIDENT bywom they may have been
appointed. and Tor one month thereafter,
subject II removal by and with the advice
and consent Of the Senate.
The fourth section Of the same act restricts
trc term of Office To the limit prescrIbed by
tie law creating them That part of the
first section which precedes the prOviso, de-
clare, that every person holding a civil office.
which he has been, or may be, appointed
lv and with the advice and consent of the
Senate, ami shall hold such office until a
successor shall have been in like manner ap-
p5i4tei 10 purp1rts to take from the Ex-
c.ative the fixed time established for the
tenure Of Office, the independence of re
m1vaI. and t. require for such removal the
concurrent action of the President and the
senate.
The proyiSo that follows, proceeds to fix
the time Of office Of the several Heads Of De
plrtments whose tenure never had been de
fined before BY prescribing that they shall
hold their office respectively for and during
the term of the President by whom they
may have been appointed and for one month
thereafter. subject to removal by and with
the advice and consent of the Senate. Thus
A. t. these enumerated officers the proviso
takes from the President the power of re-
moval except with the advice and consent
of the Senate. Bv It's terms, however, before
lie can be deprived Of the power to diSplace
them il must appear that he himself has ap-
pointed them 1t Is only in that case that
thev have any tenure Of office or any indie
pendent right to hold during the term of the
President and for one month after the cessa-
ton If his official functions The proviso
therefore, gives tenure of Office to any one
Of the officers who has been'appointed by the
President beyond one month after the accss-
sion of his successor.
Ia the case OF Mr.. Stanton, the only ap-
p0intment under which lie held the Office Of
Secretary of War, was that conferred upon
him by my immediate predecessor, with the
advice and consent Of the Senate. He has
never hell from me any appointment as the
head of the War Department. Whatever
ight he had to hold the office was derived
from that original appointment and my own
sutfrancc. The law not intended to
protect such an incumbent Of the War De
Iartmcnt, by taking from the President the
power To remove him. This, in my iudg
ment, Is perfectly clear, and the law itself
admits of no other Just construction. We
find in all that portion of the first section
which precedcs the proviso that. as to civil
officers generally. the President is deprived
Of the power of removal, and it is plain that
if there had been no proviso, that power
would Just as clearly have been taken fr1n
him - tar at 1t applies to the seven heads o.
departments but for reasons which were
no doubt satisfactory TO Congress. thes'
tffi.prS lIV nrOVIdci for
and A. To them the express and only require
ment i that the President who has ap
pointed them, shall not. without the advice
and consent Of the Senate, remove them
from olhce- The consequence is that, as ny
Cabinet embraces the seven officers desig
mated in the first section of the act, 1t ia ke:
from me the power without the concurrence Z
the Senate u remove any one of them that
have appointed but il does not protect sue
Of them as did not appoint, nor give to ther
any tenure of Office beyond my pleas re
An explanation of this act shows that Will
in one part Of the section provision is mad
for Offices generally. in another clause ther
Is class Of Offices designated by their off
cial titles who are exempted from the ger
eral terms of the law, and reference I
whom a clear distinction is made as to tn
general power Of removal limited in the frs
clause Of the section. This distinction
that as to such of these enumerated Office
as hold under the appointment of the Presi
dent, the power of removal can only b
exercised by him with the consent of th
Senate, while as 10 those who have not bee
appointed by him, there is no denial of h
power to displace them. 1t would be vic
lation of the plain meaning of this enac
nent to place Mr.. Stanton upon the sam
footing as those heads of departments wh
have ben appointed by myself AS to bin
this law gives him no tenure Of Office. II