St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-12-14
ABOLIsHING THE PRESIDENCY

be amended so as to abolish the Office of
president. The memorialists present bill
of Indictment against the Office of president
as long and comprehensive as the multitu-
dinous offenses charged against King
GEORGE in the Declaration of Indepen-
dence. The burthen of their complaint is
that we are living under disguised mon
archy The memorial starts off with the
assertion that the president is king clothed
with greater power than any European
sovereign, with the exception of the Rus
sian car. They claim that the executive is
not simply coordinate branch of the gov
eminent, but that it is made by the consti-
tuition an independent branch. and that the
founders of the fundamental law fashioned
it after conception of the TUDOR and
STUART times. Among the most promi-
nent of the numerous objections which the
memorialists urge against the continuance
of the Office of president is that he is in
vested with aveto power which enables him
to thwart the will of the people, as expressed
through their representatives. and that his
position as commander-in-chief of tine regu-
lar army and navy and of the militia of the
several states with the right to suspend
habeas corpus and proclaim martial law
makes him an absolute dictator. Among
the implied powers which the president has
received by general investiture. and
which have been exercised IN notable
instances, the memorialists enumerate the
following:
He has in two instances declared war with
out the sanction of congress. He has de-
clared the acts of congress utilities, and par
doned the criminals convicted under such
laws.
He has forced secretly prepared treaties
upon the senate. and for this purpose he has
covertly communicated with foreign coun-
tries. As these treaties become the supreme
law of the land he may combine with the SEN
ate to legislate for the people and thus en-
danger the liberties of the nation.
He has distributed the spells of Office to his
army of faithful followers. He appoints the
Judge who may preside at his-trial upon i'm
parchment.
He has refused to use the army to assist
governors or states who had been made pris-
oners by mobs
He has proclaimed the doctrine: "Our enc
mics must be punished, our friends re-
warded."
He has declared that the oath he had taken
to support the constitution meant an oath to
support the constitution as he understood it,
not as interpreted by congress or the courts.
He has made use of the army to carry out
his personal will.
He has usurped the power of congress by
making war upon foreign nation.
la has raha1liOn Threatened the pOv-
eminent, scattered our navies to the winds;
he has sent arms and ammunition into Sec
lions where they would fall into the hands of
insurrectionists, and he has ordered small
bodies of troops where they could easily be
overpowered. In the face of impending over
throw of the general government he has re-
fused to raise his hand to uphold the suprem-
acy of the law.
He has increased the regular army to the
extent Of eight regiments Of infantry, one of
cavalry, and one of artillery.
He has usurped extraordinary powers on
the ground that he was exercising war pow
ers."
He has ordered prominent citizens to be ar
rested and thrown into prison.
He has sent citizen beyond the jurisdic-
ton of the United States, with instructions
turned.
He has issued proclamation declaring as
a war measure that all persons held as slaves
shall be free.
He has declared the acts of prvateers to be
punishable as piracy.
He has regarded his oath to support the
constitution as one of allegiance to some SOW
ereign power, independent of the constitution
ITSELF
He has claimed the right to reconstruct the
nation after the close of one of the greatest
rebellions of modern days. He has refused
to submit the momentous questions involved
in this issue to the people.
He has legislated for the people, and then
executed the laws made by himself.
He has threatened to recognize few of his
followers in congress, together with certain
Confederate officers who mad been elected to
that body under provisional state govern
ments that had been instituted by the presi-
dent himself, as constituting the members of
the lawful legislature of the country.
He has used the army to interfere with the
action of a state legislature, and to force its
returning boards to declare his polite al
friends elected.
He has, under the color of the law, seized
anu ueuNeT0u up W SPAN d Spdulsu SuUJtCt
who had sought shelter on our shores.
He has turned out one legislature and put
in another in three of the states
He has negotiated q treaty by an aid-de-
camp.
He has instituted foreign intervention by
menace to sister republic.
He has used his Office to advance his own
family on scale of nepotlsm dwarf1ng every
thing of the kind in history
He has conferred Office on those from whom
he had received gifts and benefits.
He has made personal devotion to himself
the standard of favor.
He has used the vast appointing power to
promote his schemes, to reward his friends,
to punish his opponents, and to advance his
election TO a second term.
He has, in a disputed presidential election,
agreed to use the monarchial power of his
office, if declared elected in the interest of
those who voted against him.
He has bought votes with the promises or
gifts of the offices of the people.
He has allowed his friends to barter the fut-
ure patronage of the government for the
advance of large sums of money for campaign
purposes
H. has used the public property for his
pleasure snd recreation.
He has caused an imperial symbol to be
hoisted to the top-1nast whenever he passes
on 4 war vessel.
1t must be conceded that the memorialists
have found some illustrious precedents in
support of their argument to prove the
monarchial powers which the chief
magistrate of the Republic has exercised.
They fail. no Neyer, To state that the acts