Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1922-07-17
CONSTITUTION
OF United States Explained BY
Authority.

Sources and Its Application. BY
Thomas James Norton tLittle, Brown
d Co, Boston.)
The author Undertakes, In terse
and clear language, to give the
history and reasons for each of the
provisions of the constitution and
how such provisions of the basic
law of the nation have worked out
in practice.
illustrative of how he handles
his subject, the author discusses
the provision that the house of
representative shall have the sole
power Of impeachment" with
clarity rarely found in books and
articles on the American consti-
tuition.
This phase of the work is Sc
| lected because of the peculiar in
terest attaching to the impeach-
ment of President Johnson, which
failed because of the heroic atti-
tude of Senator Ross of Kansas,
father of Pitt Ross Of this city.
President Cleveland had to deal
with the tenure of office act, and
did so precisely in the way 1t was
dealt with by President Johnson.
The author says:
"The house formulates the
charge against the official and re-
duces 1t to writing. The senate
sits as a court (the chief justice
of the United States presiding
when the accused is the president)
and hears the witnesses and pro-
nounces judgment. 1t is to be
said with pride that there have
been but few impeachments in our
history. One Judge of a United
States court was impeached, tried
and removed for drunkenness, an
other for disloyalty during the
Civil war and a third for conduct
not becoming a judge. A member
of President Grants cabinet was
impeached by the house of repre-
sentatives, but as he resigned the
senate did not try him.
"The great impeachment was
that of President Johnson, which
the house Of representatives
brought on February "a, 1868. The
president and congress had been
| in passionate conflict over recon-
struction of the southern states,
which had seeded from the Union
and had been overcome in the
Civil war. 1t was the belief of
the president that he, as comman-
der in chief of the victorious army
and navy and possessed under the
constitution of the pardoning pow
err, which he had exercised toward
those lately in hostile arms, should
supervise and control the return
of the southern states which had
never been legally out of the
| Union.
HE claimed to be carrying out
the plan of Lincoln. But congress,
insisting that it had the authority
and that many of the southern
states had enacted vagrancy laws
and other statutes designed to put
the liberated negro practically in
his former state of bondage, it be-
came it's duty to effectuate the de-
cision reached by war, passed two
reconstruction acts over the pres
ident's veto. The president de-
nounced the acts as not only un-
constitutional but as also indefen-
sibly harsh, especially as they af-
fected a great number of people
in the southern states who had
been loyal to the Union.
"In 1857 congress passed over
the presidents veto the tenure
OF office act, which forbade him
to remove his appointees to office
without the consent of the senate,
which is required by the consti-
tuition to approve the appoint
ments. That act OF congress was
in disregard of an early congress
sional Interpretation of the con-
stitutional clause cited and of the
practice which had been sanction
cd through the administration OF
16 presidents. President johnson
transgressed the act by removing
Edwin M. Stanton, secretary of
war, who was openly hostile to the
reconstruction policy of his chief
For this the house of representa-
tives voted articles of impeach-
ment, and from March 5, 1868. to
May 16, the senate sat as a trial
! court, Chief Justice Salmon P
Chase presiding. The managers
of the impeachment failed to gel
i. the two-thirds vote necessary I'M
: der the constitution to convict.
"In messages to congress Presi.
dent Grant and President Hayes
requested the repeal of the tenure
J of office act. 1t remained upor
the statute books until Cleveland
administration, when (1SS6) thai
executive sternly refused to give
to the senate reasons for remov,
ing an official whose appointment
| the senate had, of course, confirm.
, ed. He said it was his duty tt
maintain the chief magistracy 'un'
impaired in its dignity and vigor;
and he denied that the senate ha.
, the right in any case to review the
, act of the executive in removing
or suspending a public officer.
: Later the tenure of office act
which had been the basis of i'm
parchment Of President Johnson
, was repealed by congress"
The author deals thus compre
, hensively and clearly with ever,
/ phase of the constitution. It Il
book easily read and any higf
{ school student should be able t.
= understand 1t. M. L. F.