Sir, to
ask, too, if an executive magistrate, while professing to act under the
Constitution, is restrained only by this responsibility to public
opinion, what prevents him, on the same responsibility, from proposing a
change in that Constitution? Why may he not say, "I am about to
introduce new forms, new principles, and a new spirit; I am about to try
a political experiment on a great scale; and when I get through with it,
I shall be responsible to the American people, I shall be answerable to
the bar of public opinion"?

Connected, Sir, with the idea of this airy and unreal responsibility to
the public is another sentiment, which of late we hear frequently
expressed; and that is, _that the President is the direct representative
of the American people_. This is declared in the Protest in so many
words. "The President," it says, "_is the direct representative of the
American people_." Now, Sir, this is not the language of the
Constitution. The Constitution nowhere calls him the representative of
the American people; still less, their direct representative. It could
not do so with the least propriety. He is not chosen directly by the
people, but by a body of electors, some of whom are chosen by the
people, and some of whom are appointed by the State legislatures. Where,
then, is the authority for saying that the President is the _direct
representative of the people_? The Constitution calls the members of the
other house Representatives, and declares that they shall be chosen by
the people; and there are no other direct or immediate representatives
of the people in this government. The Constitution denominates the
President simply the President of the United States; it points out the
complex mode of electing him, defines his powers and duties, and imposes
limits and restraints on his authority. With these powers and duties,
and under these restraints, he becomes, when chosen, President of the
United States. That is his character, and the denomination of his
office. How is it, then, that, on this official character, thus
cautiously created, limited, and defined, he is to engraft another and a
very imposing character, namely, the character _of the direct
representative of the American people_? I hold this, Sir, to be mere
assumption, and dangerous assumption. If he is the representative of
_all_ the American people, he is the only representative which they all
have. Nobody else presumes to represent all the people. And if