Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-03-24

character conStraln me TO say that your
resignation as Secretary of War viii be &C
cepted.
To which note the said Stanton made
the foIlewiDt: reply:
WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, Aug
), 1S67.-SIR: Your note of this day has
been received, stating that public con-
siderations of a high character constrain
you to say that my resignation as Secre-
| tary of War will be accepted. In reply,
have the honor 70 say that public con-
siderations of high character, which
alone have induced me to continue at the
head of this departmet, constrains me not
to resign the Office of Secretary of War be-
| fore the next meeting of Congress.
Very respectfully yours,
EDWIN NJ. STANTON.
This respondent, as President of the
United States, was Of the opinion that.
having regard to the necessary official reIa-
| lions Of the Secretary for the Department
of War to the President of the United
States, according to the Consultation and
laws of the United States, and having re-
| gard to the responsibility of a Presi-
| dent for the conduct of said Secretary, and
| having regard to the paramount executive
| authority of the Office which the respond
ent holds under the Constitution and laws
of the United States, it was impossible, con-
sistently with public interest, to allow said
| Stanton to continue to hold said office of
Secretary of War. And it then became
| the official duty Of respondent, az Presi
deni of the United States, to consider
and decide what act or acts should
and might lawfully be done by him,
as President Of the United States,
tsssause the said Stanton to surrender the
said office; this respondent was informed
and verify believes that it was practically
settled by the first Congress of the United
States, and had been so considered and
uniformly acted on, in a great number of
instances, by Congress and the Presidents of
the United States, in succession from
President Washington TO and including
President Lincoln, and frem the first Con-
| gress TO the seth Congress, that the Con-
stitution of the United States conferred on
| the President, as part Of the executive pow
| er, and as one of the necessary means and
instruments of performing executive duty
expressly imposed on him by the Consti-
| tuition, of taking care that the laws be
faithfully executed, the power at all times
| of removing from Office all Executive Off
GERS for cause to be adjudged by the Presi-
dent alone, this respondent has assurance
of the Constitution, but required the opin-
| ion of each CO principal officer of the Ex-
ecutive Departments upon the question of
the Executive power and duty, and had
| been advised by each of them, including
said Stanton, Secretary for the Depart
ment of War, that under the Constitution
of the United States this power was lodged
by the Constitution in the President of the
| United States, and consequently can be
| lawfully exercised by him, and Congress
| gould not deprive him thereof; and this
respondent in his capacity of President of
| the United States was both enabled and
bound to use his best Judgment upon this
question, did in good faith and with hon
est desires to arrive at the truth, come to
| the conclusion and did make it known to
the honorable Senate of the United States
by a message dated on the I'd of March,
1867, true copy whereof is Rereunto an
nexed, and remarked that the power last
mentioned was conferred, and the duty of
exercising it was imposed on the Presi-
dent by the Constitution of the United
Suites, dHu lIldk kIt Il ItSlutDb GOutu uOt NC
deprived of this power or relieved of this
duty, nor could the same be vested by law
in the President and Senate jointly, either
in part or in whole and this has ever since
remained, and was the opinion Of this re-
spondent at the time when he was forced
az aforesaid to consider and decide wheth-
er that act should be lawfully done by this
respondent as President of the United
States to cause the said Stanton to surren-
der said Office, and this respondent was
then also aware that the first section of an
act regulating the tenure of civil Office
passed March 3D. 1867, by the constitu-
tional majority of both Houses of Congress,
it was enacted, as follows:
That every 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 here
after be appointed to such Office, and shall
become duly qualified to act therein, is and
shall be entitled to hold such office until
successor shall have been in like manner
appointed and duly qualified, except az
herein otherwise provided.
That the Secretary of State, of the
Treasury, ofthe Navy, of the Interior, the
Postmaster General and the Attorney Gen
eral shall hold their office for and during
the term of the President by whom they
may have been appointed, and for one
month thereafter, subject to removal by the
advice and consent of the Senate.
This the respondent understood to be an
expression of the opinion of the Congress
by which that act was passed, that the
power to remove the executive officers for
causes might by law be taken from the
President and vested in the House and
Senate jointly, and although this respond
ent had arrived. and still retained the
opinion above expressed, and verify be-
lieyed as he still believes that the first
lion Of the last mentioned act Wasand is in
operative and void by reason of its con-
hict with the Constitution of the United
States yet, as the same had been enacted
by the constitutional majority in each of
the two houses of that Congress, this re-
spondent considered it to be proper to ex-
anime and decide whether the particular
case of the said Stanton, on which il was
this respondents duty to act was within |
or without the terms of that first section of |
the act, or, if within in it, whether the |
President had not the power, according to
from the Office of Secretary of War: and |
having, in his capacity of President of the |
United States, examined and considered. |
did form the opinion that the case of said |
Stanton and his tenure Of Office were not
affected by the first section of the last |
named act; and this respondent, further |
says that, although a case thus |
existing which, in his Judgment as Presi-
dent of the United States, called for the
exercise of the Executive power to remove |
said Stanton from the Office of Secretary |
for the Department oil War, and although !
this respondent was Of the opinion, az
above shown, that, under the Constitu-
ton of the United States, power to
remove said Stanton from said office
was vested in the President Of the United
States, although this respondent was also
Of the opinion as above shown, that the
case Of said Stanton was not affected by the
first section of the last named act, and al
though each of the said opinions had been
formed by this respondent upon the actual
ease requiring him 10 his capacity of
President Of the United States TO come to
,ome judgment and determination thereon,
pet this respondent, President of the United
States, desired and determined to arrive if