And this respondent, further answering, says he succeeded to the office
of President of the United States upon and by reason of the death of
Abraham Lincoln, then President of the United States, on the 15th day
of April, 1865, and the said Stanton was then holding the said office
of Secretary for the Department of War under and by reason of the
appointment and commission aforesaid; and not having been removed from
the said office by this respondent, the said Stanton continued to hold
the same under the appointment and commission aforesaid, at the pleasure
of the President, until the time hereinafter particularly mentioned,
and at no time received any appointment or commission save as above
detailed.
And this respondent, further answering, says that on and prior to the
5th day of August, A.D. 1867, this respondent, the President of the
United States, responsible for the conduct of the Secretary for the
Department of War, and having the constitutional right to resort to
and rely upon the person holding that office for advice concerning
the great and difficult public duties enjoined on the President by
the Constitution and laws of the United States, became satisfied that
he could not allow the said Stanton to continue to hold the office
of Secretary for the Department of War without hazard of the public
interest; that the relations between the said Stanton and the President
no longer permitted the President to resort to him for advice or to be,
in the judgment of the President, safely responsible for his conduct of
the affairs of the Department of War, as by law required, in accordance
with the orders and instructions of the President; and thereupon, by
force of the Constitution and laws of the United States, which devolve
on the President the power and the duty to control the conduct of the
business of that Executive Department of the Government, and by reason
of the constitutional duty of the President to take care that the laws
be faithfully executed, this respondent did necessarily consider and did
determine that the said Stanton ought no longer to hold the said office
of Secretary for the Department of War.
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