rktown, to erect a statue of Hamilton, and so on and so forth. 42
Harvard Law Review, 426, 430-431. In his message of April 13, 1822,
President Monroe stated the thesis that, "as a general principle, * * *
Congress have no right under the Constitution to impose any restraint by
law on the power granted to the President so as to prevent his making a
free selection of proper persons for these [newly created] offices from
the whole body of his fellow-citizens." Messages and Papers of the
Presidents, II, 698, 701. The statement is ambiguous, but its apparent
intention is to claim for the President unrestricted power in
determining who are proper persons to fill newly created offices.

[285] 19 Stat. 143, 169 (1876).

[286] In Ex parte Curtis, 106 U.S. 371 (1882), Chief Justice Waite
reviews early Congressional legislation regulative of conduct in office.
"The act now in question is one regulating in some particulars the
conduct of certain officers and employes of the United States. It rests
on the same principle as that originally passed in 1789 at the first
session of the first Congress, which makes it unlawful for certain
officers of the Treasury Department to engage in the business of trade
or commerce, or to own a sea vessel, or to purchase public lands or
other public property, or to be concerned in the purchase or disposal of
the public securities of a State, or of the United States (Rev. Stat.,
sect. 243); and that passed in 1791, which makes it an offence for a
clerk in the same department to carry on trade or business in the funds
or debts of the States or of the United States, or in any kind of public
property (id., sect. 244); and that passed in 1812, which makes is
unlawful for a judge appointed under the authority of the United States
to exercise the profession of counsel or attorney, or to be engaged in
the practice of the law (id., sect. 713); and that passed in 1853, which
prohibits every officer of the United States or person holding any place
of trust or profit, or discharging any official function under or in
connection with any executive department of the government of the United
States, or under the Senate or House of Representatives, from acting as
an agent or attorney for the prosecution of any claim against the United
States (id., sect. 5498); and that passed in 1863, prohibiting members
of Congress from practicing in the Court of Claims (id., sect. 1058);
and that passed in 1867, punishing, by dismi