nts which
have been employed to give success to the attempted imposition.

In one instance, which I cite as a sample of the general spirit, the
temerity has proceeded so far as to ascribe to the President of the
United States a power which by the instrument reported is EXPRESSLY
allotted to the Executives of the individual States. I mean the power of
filling casual vacancies in the Senate.

This bold experiment upon the discernment of his countrymen has been
hazarded by a writer who (whatever may be his real merit) has had no
inconsiderable share in the applauses of his party(1); and who, upon
this false and unfounded suggestion, has built a series of observations
equally false and unfounded. Let him now be confronted with the evidence
of the fact, and let him, if he be able, justify or extenuate the
shameful outrage he has offered to the dictates of truth and to the
rules of fair dealing.

The second clause of the second section of the second article empowers
the President of the United States "to nominate, and by and with the
advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint ambassadors, other public
ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other
OFFICERS of United States whose appointments are NOT in the Constitution
OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR, and WHICH SHALL BE ESTABLISHED BY LAW."
Immediately after this clause follows another in these words: "The
President shall have power to fill up all VACANCIES that may happen
DURING THE RECESS OF THE SENATE, by granting commissions which shall
EXPIRE AT THE END OF THEIR NEXT SESSION." It is from this last provision
that the pretended power of the President to fill vacancies in the
Senate has been deduced. A slight attention to the connection of the
clauses, and to the obvious meaning of the terms, will satisfy us that
the deduction is not even colorable.

The first of these two clauses, it is clear, only provides a mode for
appointing such officers, "whose appointments are NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED
FOR in the Constitution, and which SHALL BE ESTABLISHED BY LAW";
of course it cannot extend to the appointments of senators, whose
appointments are OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR in the Constitution(2), and
who are ESTABLISHED BY THE CONSTITUTION, and will not require a future
establishment by law. This position will hardly be contested.

The last of these two clauses, it is equally clear, cannot be understood
to comprehend the power of filling vacancies in the Senate, for the