argument acquires additional force from the fact of its never having
been thus used by the first six Presidents - and two of them were
members of the Convention, one presiding over its deliberations and the
other bearing a larger share in consummating the labors of that august
body than any other person. But if bills were never returned to
Congress by either of the Presidents above referred to upon the ground
of their being inexpedient or not as well adapted as they might be to
the wants of the people, the veto was applied upon that of want of
conformity to the Constitution or because errors had been committed
from a too hasty enactment.

There is another ground for the adoption of the veto principle, which
had probably more influence in recommending it to the Convention than
any other. I refer to the security which it gives to the just and
equitable action of the Legislature upon all parts of the Union. It
could not but have occurred to the Convention that in a country so
extensive, embracing so great a variety of soil and climate, and
consequently of products, and which from the same causes must ever
exhibit a great difference in the amount of the population of its
various sections, calling for a great diversity in the employments of
the people, that the legislation of the majority might not always
justly regard the rights and interests of the minority, and that acts
of this character might be passed under an express grant by the words
of the Constitution, and therefore not within the competency of the
judiciary to declare void; that however enlightened and patriotic they
might suppose from past experience the members of Congress might be,
and however largely partaking, in the general, of the liberal feelings
of the people, it was impossible to expect that bodies so constituted
should not sometimes be controlled by local interests and sectional
feelings. It was proper, therefore, to provide some umpire from whose