f upon such a
question I have fallen into an erroneous construction, I submit whether
it should be characterized as a violation of official duty and of law.

I have deemed it proper, in vindication of the course which I have
considered it my duty to take, to place before the Senate the reasons
upon which I have based my action. Although I have been advised by
every member of my Cabinet that the entire tenure-of-office act is
unconstitutional, and therefore void, and although I have expressly
concurred in that opinion in the veto message which I had the honor
to submit to Congress when I returned the bill for reconsideration,
I have refrained from making a removal of any officer contrary to the
provisions of the law, and have only exercised that power in the case of
Mr. Stanton, which, in my judgment, did not come within its provisions.
I have endeavored to proceed with the greatest circumspection, and have
acted only in an extreme and exceptional case, carefully following the
course which I have marked out for myself as a general rule, faithfully
to execute all laws, though passed over my objections on the score of
constitutionality. In the present instance I have appealed, or sought
to appeal, to that final arbiter fixed by the Constitution for the
determination of all such questions. To this course I have been impelled
by the solemn obligations which rest upon me to sustain inviolate the
powers of the high office committed to my hands.

Whatever may be the consequences merely personal to myself, I could not
allow them to prevail against a public duty so clear to my own mind, and
so imperative. If what was possible had been certain, if I had been
fully advised when I removed Mr. Stanton that in thus defending the
trust committed to my hands my own removal was sure to follow, I could
not have hesitated. Actuated by public considerations of the highest
character, I earnestly protest against the resolution of the Senate
which charges me in what I have done with a violation of the
Constitution and laws of the United States.

ANDREW JOHNSON.

WASHINGTON, _February 25, 1868_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In further answer of the resolution of the Senate of the 13th of January
last, relative to the appointment of the Hon. Anson Burlingame to a
diplomatic or other mission by the Emperor of China, I transmit a report
from the Secretary of State and the communication which accompanied it.

ANDREW JOHNSON.