Congress. Having performed that duty, the executive department of the
Government can not rightfully control the decision of Congress on any
subject of legislation until that decision shall have been officially
submitted to the President for approval. The check provided by the
Constitution in the clause conferring the qualified veto will never be
exercised by me except in the cases contemplated by the fathers of the
Republic. I view it as an extreme measure, to be resorted to only in
extraordinary cases, as where it may become necessary to defend the
executive against the encroachments of the legislative power or to
prevent hasty and inconsiderate or unconstitutional legislation. By
cautiously confining this remedy within the sphere prescribed to it in
the cotemporaneous expositions of the framers of the Constitution, the
will of the people, legitimately expressed on all subjects of
legislation through their constitutional organs, the Senators and
Representatives of the United States, will have its full effect. As
indispensable to the preservation of our system of self-government, the
independence of the representatives of the States and the people is
guaranteed by the Constitution, and they owe no responsibility to any
human power but their constituents. By holding the representative
responsible only to the people, and exempting him from all other
influences, we elevate the character of the constituent and quicken his
sense of responsibility to his country. It is under these circumstances
only that the elector can feel that in the choice of the lawmaker he is
himself truly a component part of the sovereign power of the nation.
With equal care we should study to defend the rights of the executive
and judicial departments. Our Government can only be preserved in its
purity by the suppression and entire elimination of every claim or
tendency of one coordinate branch to encroachment upon another. With the
strict observance of this rule and the other injunctions of the
Constitution, with a sedulous inculcation of that respect and love for