nt, using, in the immediate context, no
words of limitation, yet it elsewhere subjects the treaty-making power,
and the appointing power, to the concurrence of the Senate. The
irresistible inference from these considerations is, that the mere
nomination of a department, as one of the three great and commonly
acknowledged departments of government, does not confer on that
department any power at all. Notwithstanding the departments are called
the legislative, the executive, and the judicial, we must yet look into
the provisions of the Constitution itself, in order to learn, first,
what powers the Constitution regards as legislative, executive, and
judicial; and, in the next place, what portions or quantities of these
powers are conferred on the respective departments; because no one will
contend that _all_ legislative power belongs to Congress, _all_
executive power to the President, or _all_ judicial power to the courts
of the United States.

The first three articles of the Constitution, as all know, are taken up
in prescribing the organization, and enumerating the powers, of the
three departments. The first article treats of the legislature, and its
first section is, "All legislative power, _herein granted_, shall be
vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a
Senate and House of Representatives." The second article treats of the
executive power, and its first section declares that "the executive
power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America."
The third article treats of the judicial power, and its first section
declares that "the judicial power of the United States shall be vested
in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may,
from time to time, ordain and establish."

It is too plain to be doubted, I think, Sir, that these descriptions of
the persons or officers in whom the executive and the judicial powers
are to be vested no more define the extent of the grant of those powers,
than the words quoted from the first article describe the extent of the
legislative grant to Congress. All these several titles, heads of
articles, or introductory clauses, with the general declarations which
they contain, serve to designate the departments, and to mark the
general distribution of powers; but in all the departments, in the
executive and judicial as well as in the legislative, it would be unsafe
to contend for any specific power under such clauses.

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