No power exists
in the Constitution authorizing the joint resolution or the supposed
law--the only difference being that one would be more palpably
unconstitutional and revolutionary than the other. Both would rest upon
the radical error that Congress has the power to prescribe terms and
conditions to the right of the people of the States to cast their votes
for President and Vice-President.
For the reasons thus indicated I am constrained to return the joint
resolution to the Senate for such further action thereon as Congress
may deem necessary.
ANDREW JOHNSON.
WASHINGTON, _July 25, 1868_
_To the Senate of the United States_:
Believing that a bill entitled "An act relating to the Freedmen's
Bureau, and providing for its discontinuance," interferes with the
appointing power conferred by the Constitution upon the Executive, and
for other reasons, which at this late period of the session time will
not permit me to state, I herewith return it to the Senate, in which
House it originated, without my approval.
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