Sincerely desiring to reconcile
the States with one another and the whole people to the Government of
the United States, it has been my earnest wish to cooperate with
Congress in all measures having for their object a proper and complete
adjustment of the questions resulting from our late civil war. Harmony
between the coordinate branches of the Government, always necessary for
the public welfare, was never more demanded than at the present time,
and it will therefore be my constant aim to promote as far as possible
concert of action between them. The differences of opinion that have
already occurred have rendered me only the more cautious, lest the
Executive should encroach upon any of the prerogatives of Congress,
or by exceeding in any manner the constitutional limit of his duties
destroy the equilibrium which should exist between the several
coordinate departments, and which is so essential to the harmonious
working of the Government. I know it has been urged that the executive
department is more likely to enlarge the sphere of its action than
either of the other two branches of the Government, and especially in
the exercise of the veto power conferred upon it by the Constitution.
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