s, when called into the actual Service of the United
States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer
in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the
Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant
Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in
Cases of Impeachment.

The Commander in Chiefship

HISTORICAL

The purely military aspects of the Commander in Chiefship were those
which were originally stressed. Hamilton said the office "would amount
to nothing more than the supreme command and direction of the Military
and naval forces, as first general and admiral of the confederacy."[45]
Story wrote in his Commentaries: "The propriety of admitting the
president to be commander in chief, so far as to give orders, and have a
general superintendency, was admitted. But it was urged, that it would
be dangerous to let him command in person, without any restraint, as he
might make a bad use of it. The consent of both houses of Congress
ought, therefore, to be required, before he should take the actual
command. The answer then given was, that though the president might,
there was no necessity that he should, take the command in person; and
there was no probability that he would do so, except in extraordinary
emergencies, and when he was possessed of superior military
talents."[46] In 1850 Chief Justice Taney, for the Court, said: "His
[the President's] duty and his power are purely military. As commander
in chief, he is authorized to direct the movements of the naval and
military forces placed by law at his command, and to employ them in the
manner he may deem most effectual to harass and conquer and subdue the
enemy. He may invade the hostile country, and subject it to the
sovereignty and authority of the United States. But his conquests do not
enlarge the boundaries of this Union, nor extend the operation of our
institutions and laws beyond the limits before assigned to them by the
legislative power. * * * But in the distribution of political power
between the great departments of government, there is such a wide
difference between the power conferred on the President of the United
States, and the authority and sovereignty which belong to the English
crown, that it would be altogether unsafe to reason from any supposed
resemblance between them, either as regards conquest in war, or any
other subject where the rights and powers of t