veto of the Executive is applied it may be overcome by a vote of
two-thirds of both Houses of Congress. The negative upon the acts of
the legislative by the executive authority, and that in the hands of
one individual, would seem to be an incongruity in our system. Like
some others of a similar character, however, it appears to be highly
expedient, and if used only with the forbearance and in the spirit
which was intended by its authors it may be productive of great good
and be found one of the best safeguards to the Union. At the period of
the formation of the Constitution the principle does not appear to have
enjoyed much favor in the State governments. It existed but in two, and
in one of these there was a plural executive. If we would search for
the motives which operated upon the purely patriotic and enlightened
assembly which framed the Constitution for the adoption of a provision
so apparently repugnant to the leading democratic principle that the
majority should govern, we must reject the idea that they anticipated
from it any benefit to the ordinary course of legislation. They knew
too well the high degree of intelligence which existed among the people
and the enlightened character of the State legislatures not to have the
fullest confidence that the two bodies elected by them would be worthy
representatives of such constituents, and, of course, that they would
require no aid in conceiving and maturing the measures which the
circumstances of the country might require. And it is preposterous to
suppose that a thought could for a moment have been entertained that
the President, placed at the capital, in the center of the country,
could better understand the wants and wishes of the people than their
own immediate representatives, who spend a part of every year among
them, living with them, often laboring with them, and bound to them by
the triple tie of interest, duty, and affection. To assist or control
Congress, then, in its ordinary legislation could not, I conceive, have
been the motive for conferring the veto power on the President. This