wer,
namely, the removing part, unless for some obvious and irresistible
reason. In other words, this argument which I am answering is not sound
in its premises, and therefore not sound in its conclusion, if the grant
of the power of appointment does naturally include also the power of
removal, when this last power is not otherwise expressly provided for;
because, if the power of removal belongs to the power of appointment, or
necessarily follows it, then it has gone with it into the hands of the
President and Senate; and the President does not hold it alone, as an
implication or inference from the grant to him of general executive
powers.

The true application of that rule of construction, thus relied on, would
present the argument, I think, in this form: "The appointing power is
vested in the President and Senate; this is the general rule of the
Constitution. The removing power is part of the appointing power; it
cannot be separated from the rest, but by supposing that an exception
was intended; but all exceptions to general rules are to be taken
strictly, even when expressed; and, for a much stronger reason, they are
not to be implied, when not expressed, unless inevitable necessity of
construction requires it."

On the whole, Sir, with the diffidence which becomes one who is
reviewing the opinions of some of the ablest and wisest men of the age,
I must still express my own conviction, that the decision of Congress in
1789, which separated the power of removal from the power of
appointment, was founded on an erroneous construction of the
Constitution, and that it has led to great inconsistencies, as well as
to great abuses, in the subsequent, and especially in the more recent,
history of the government.

Much has been said now, and much was said formerly, about the
inconvenience of denying this power to the President alone. I agree that
an argument drawn from this source may have weight, in a doubtful case;
but it is not to be permitted that we shall presume the existence of a
power merely because we think it would be convenient. Nor is there, I
think, any such glaring, striking, or certain inconvenience as has been
suggested. Sudden removals from office are seldom necessary; we see how
seldom, by reference to the practice of the government under all
administrations which preceded the present. And if we look back over the
removals which have been made in the last six years, there is no man who
can maintain that t