If the Constitution had not
qualified the power of the President in appointing to office by
associating the Senate with him in that business, would it not be clear
that he would have the right by virtue of his executive power to make
such appointment? Should we be authorized in defiance of that clause
in the Constitution, "The executive power shall be vested in the
President," to unite the Senate with the President in the appointment
to office? I conceive not. If it is admitted that we should not be
authorized to do this, I think it may be disputed whether we have a
right to associate them in removing persons from office, the one power
being as much of an executive nature as the other; and the first one is
authorized by being excepted out of the general rule established by the
Constitution in these words: "The executive power shall be vested in the
President."
The question, thus ably and exhaustively argued, was decided by the
House of Representatives, by a vote of 34 to 20, in favor of the
principle that the executive power of removal is vested by the
Constitution in the Executive, and in the Senate by the casting vote
of the Vice-President.
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