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THE CONSTITUTION AND THE LAW.

84

(February 27, 1860, Speech at Cooper Institute, New York-Howells, p. 199.)

I do not mean to say we are bound to follow implicitly in whatever our fathers did. To do so would be to discard all the lights of current experience— to reject all progress, all improvement. What I do say is that if we would supplant the opinions and policy of our fathers in any case, we should do so upon evidence so conclusive, and argument so clear, that even their great authority, fairly considered and weighed, cannot stand.

85

(December 5, 1864, Annual Message-Barrett, p. 668.)

For myself I have no doubt of the power and duty of the executive, under the law of nations, to exclude enemies of the human race from an asylum in the United States.

86

(September 22, 1861, Letter to 0. H. Browning-Complete Works, Vol. II, p. 81.)

I do not say Congress might not with propriety pass a law on the point, just such as General Fre

mont proclaimed. I do not say I might not, as a member of Congress, vote for it. What I object to is, that I, as president, shall expressly or impliedly seize and exercise the permanent legislative functions of the government.

87

(March 4, 1861, First Inaugural-Raymond, p. 168.)

By the frame of the government under which we live, the same people have wisely given their public servants but little power for mischief, and have, with equal wisdom, provided for the return of that little to their own hands at very short intervals. While the people retain their virtue and vigilance no administration, by any extreme wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure the government in the short space of four years.

88

(January 27, 1837, Speech at Springfield, Ill.-Complete Works, Vol. I, p. 12.)

When I so pressingly urge a strict observance of the laws, let me not be understood as saying there are no bad laws, or that grievances may not arise for the redress of which no legal provisions have been made. I mean to say no such thing. But I do mean to say that although bad laws, if they exist, should be repealed as soon as possible, still, while they continue in force, for the sake of the example they should be religiously observed.

89

(July 1, 1848, Fragment-Hapgood, p. 97.)

Finally, were I President, I should desire the legislation of the country to rest with Congress uninfluenced by the executive in its origin or progress and undisturbed by the veto unless in very special and clear cases.

90

(February 15, 1848, Letter to W. H. Herndon-Herndon, p. 282.)

The provision of the constitution giving the warmaking power to Congress was dictated as I understand it by the following reasons: Kings had always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars, pretending generally, if not always, that the good of the people was the object. This our convention understood to be the most oppressive of all kingly oppressions, and they resolved to so frame the constitution that no one man should hold the power of bringing this oppression upon us. But your view destroys the whole matter and places our President where kings have always stood.

91

(August 15, 1863, Opinion on Draft Act-Complete Works, Vol. II, p. 390.)

It has been said, and I believe truly, that the Constitution itself is not altogether such as any one of its framers would have preferred. It was the

joint work of all, and certainly the better that it

was so.

92

(March 4, 1861, First Inaugural-Van Buren, p. 53.)

No organic law can ever be framed with a provision specifically applicable to every question which may occur in practical administration. No foresight can anticipate, nor document of reasonable length contain, express provisions for all possible questions.

93

(March 4, 1861, First Inaugural-Van Buren, p. 52.)

We find the proposition that, in legal contemplation, the Union is perpetual confirmed by the history of the Union itself. The Union is much older than the Constitution. It was formed, in fact, by the Articles of Association in 1774. It was matured and continued by the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It was further matured, and the faith of all the thirteen States expressly plighted and engaged that it should be perpetual, by the Articles of Confederation in 1778. And, finally, in 1787, one of the declared objects for ordaining and establishing the Constitution was "to form a more perfect Union."

But if the destruction of the Union by one or by a part only of the States be lawfully possible, the Union is less perfect than before the Constitution having lost the vital element of perpetuity.

94

(June 20, 1848, Speech in Congress-Complete Works, Vol. I, p. 129.)

I wish now to submit a few remarks on the general proposition of amending the Constitution. As a general rule, I think we would much better let it alone. No slight occasion should tempt us to touch it. Better, rather, habituate ourselves to think of it as unalterable. It can scarcely be made better than it is. New provisions would introduce new difficulties, and thus create and increase appetite for further change.

95

(January 27, 1837, Speech at Springfield, Ill.-Complete Works, Vol. I, p. 12.)

Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well-wisher to his posterity swear by the blood of the Revolution never to violate in the least particular the laws of the country, and never to tolerate their violation by others. As the patriots of seventysix did to the support of the Declaration of Independence, so to the support of the Constitution and laws let every American pledge his life, his property and his sacred honor-let every man remember that to violate the law is to trample on the blood of his father, and to tear the charter of his own and his children's liberty. Let reverence for the laws be breathed by every American mother to the lisping

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