State officer

“ So, in the case of appointing officers, if it can be truly said that these heads of departments are the servants of the President alone, we shall make the executive department a dangerous one.
I do not admit that any man has an estate in his office. I conceive all officers to be appointed during pleasure, except where the Constitution stipulates for a different tenure—unless, indeed, the law should create the office, or officer, for a term of years. After observing this, I must contend that the power of removal is incidental to the power of appointment. ”

“ Our inquiry must be, is he an officer? If an officer, under the words of the Constitution, he is excluded. If not an officer, we cannot exclude him by law.
An extensive meaning has been given to the word office. How far such a construction of the meaning of this word is warranted, I leave for others to decide. That all contractors are not officers I am certain. A man, for instance, makes a contract with government to furnish supplies. He certainly is not an officer, according to the common and known acceptation of that word. ”

“ I cannot subscribe to the opinion, delivered by some gentlemen, that the executive in its nature implies the power to appoint the officers of government. Why does it imply it? The appointment of officers depends upon the qualities that are necessary for forming a judgment on the merits of men; and the displacing of them, instead of including the idea of what is necessary for an executive officer, includes the idea necessary for a judicial one; therefore it cannot exist, in the nature of things, that an executive power is either to appoint or displace the officers of government. ”

“ All men from forty years of age upwards shall be capable to be chosen State Officers, and none younger, unless any one by his industry and moderate conversation doth move the people to choose him.
39. If any man make suit to move the people to choose him an Officer, that man shall not be chosen at all that time. ”

“ It is impossible that any officer could be chosen more impartially. He is, in consequence of his election, the creature of no particular district or state, but the officer and representative of the Union. ”

“ Any officer who is, at the establishment of the Commonwealth, in the public service of a State, and who is, by consent of the Governor of the State with the advice of the Executive Council thereof, transferred to the public service of the Commonwealth, shall have the same rights as if he had been an officer of a department transferred to the Commonwealth and were retained in the service of the Commonwealth. ”

“ Every worthy officer desires to make his official action a gain and an honor to his country; but the people themselves, far more than their officers in public station, are interested in a pure, economical, and vigorous administration. ”

“ Ask your teacher to let you see the teachers' report to the county superintendent. How much state money did your district receive last year?
CHAPTER XIV. OTHER STATE OFFICERS. Adjutant-General.—To aid the governor in the discharge of his duties as commander-in-chief, there is an officer called the adjutant-general. Through him all general orders to the state militia are issued. He also keeps the rolls and records of the militia. In some states he is required by law to act as attorney for those seeking pensions from the United States. ”

“ The secretary of state, attorney-general and general treasurer shall be engaged by the governor, or by a justice of the supreme court.
Sec. 6. No person holding any office under the government of the United States, or of any other state or country, shall act as a general officer, or as a member of the General Assembly, unless at the time of taking his engagement he shall have resigned his office under such government ”

“ There are officers under the Constitution who hold their office by a different tenure: your judges are appointed during good behavior; and from the delicacy and peculiar nature of their trust, it is right it should be so, in order that they may be independent and impartial in administering justice between the government and its citizens. But the removability of the one class, or immovability of the other, is founded on the same principle—the security of the people against the abuse of power. Does any gentleman imagine that an officer is entitled to his office as lo an estate? ”

“ The President and Secretary of State, and in case of disagreement, the Vice-President shall appoint all civil officers, but shall not have power to remove any officer. All removals shall be the result of a fair trial, whether civil or military. ”

“ A power that hitherto all the departments of the Federal Government, acting in concert or separately, have not dared to exercise is here attempted to be conferred on a subordinate military officer. To him, as a military officer of the Federal Government, is given the power, supported by "a sufficient military force," to remove every civil officer of the State. ”

“ If it was the President alone that appointed, he alone could displace. If the President and Senate, by a joint agreement, appoint an officer, they alone have the power to supersede him; and however any gentleman may say he doubts, or does not understand, the force of this principle, yet to me it appears as clear and demonstrable as any principle of law or justice that I am acquainted with. There is another method to displace officers expressly pointed out by the Constitution ”

“ The Constitution declares the tenure of the officers it recognizes, and says one class of them shall hold their offices during good behavior; they are the judges of your Supreme and other courts; but as to any other officer being established on this firm tenure, the Constitution is silent. It, then, necessarily follows that we must consider every other according to its nature, and regulate it in a corresponding manner. The business of the secretary of foreign affairs is of an executive nature, and must consequently be attached to the executive department. ”

“ And such would appear to have been the legislative construction of the Constitution. For in the organization of the three great Departments of State, War and Treasury, in the year 1789, provision is made for the appointment of a subordinate officer, by the head of the department, who should have the charge and custody of the records, books, and papers appertaining to the office, when the head of the department should be removed from the office by the President of the United States. ”

“ However, the plea for the discretion of the appointing officers forms the backbone of Governor Black's memorandum, and therefore demands closer inspection. The Governor insists that the head of a State, or of a public department, bears a heavy responsibility; that he will therefore be very careful in the exercise of his power as an appointing officer ”

“ The Chairman did state that from prudential motives, he had thought it inexpedient to give the number now actually in service, or enlisted by the present establishment. Sir, it is not my wish to go into a strict inquiry; the regard I have for the honor of my country forbids me; but I will suppose seventeen thousand, and, I believe, that is large; then there is left officers for eighteen thousand men. Are these not sufficient for the recruiting service? to engage every man who is willing to serve his country? to place a recruiting officer in almost every town and village in the United States? ”

“ All officers, serving by commission from the authority of any particular state, shall on all detachments, courts-martial, or other duty, wherein they may be employed in conjunction with the regular forces of the United States, take rank, next after all officers of the like grade in said regular forces, notwithstanding the commissions of such militia or state officers may be elder than the commissions of the officers of the regular forces of the United States. ”

“ The variety of the concerns and the magnitude and complexity of the details occupying and dividing the attention of the Commissioner appear to render it difficult, if not impracticable, for that officer by any possible assiduity to bestow on all the multifarious subjects upon which he is called to act the ready and careful attention due to their respective importance, unless the Legislature shall assist him by a law providing, or enabling him to provide, for a more regular and economical distribution of labor, with the incident responsibility among those employed under his direction. ”

“ The incumbent became an officer with a view to public benefits, and when these require his removal they are not to be sacrificed to private interests. It is the people, and they alone, who have a right to complain when a bad officer is substituted for a good one. He who is removed has the same means of obtaining a living that are enjoyed by the millions who never held office. ”

“ May you ever become an officer of the law? Would you as a citizen be justified in withholding from an officer that obedience and moral support which you as an officer might justly demand from every citizen?
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. The State.—For the founding of the several colonies, their charters, etc., the student may profitably consult the learned monographs in Winsor's Narrative and Critical History of America, 8 vols., Boston, 1886-89. ”

“ The state officers will ever be important, because they are necessary and useful. Their powers are such as are extremely interesting among the people; such as affect their property, their liberty, and life. What is more important than the administration of justice and the execution of the civil and criminal laws? Can the state governments become insignificant while they have the power of raising money independently, and without control? ”

“ There has never yet been any scarcity of proper officers in any department of the government of the United States; even during the war, when men risked their lives and property by engaging in such service, there were candidates enough. ”

“ The number of officers, and their compensations, will be as inconsiderable as the nature of their business will admit of. With respect to collectors of the general taxes, I have not the least doubt that Congress will employ the state officers and sheriffs, because it will be economical, and agreeable to the people; a considerable sum will be saved by it. They will employ such men, Mr. ”

“ To whatsoever extent State or federal officials perform ministerial functions they are answerable to the judiciary for their acts. Ministerial officers comprise the vast body of appointees in the States and in the United States. ”

“ Their officers are men of talents and ambition. The impression made upon the minds of a great concourse of distinguished citizens, in the civil department, who were present, was highly creditable to our military system, and to those, whose duty it is to attend to the execution of laws on the subject. The Governor, as Commander in Chief, had ordered a spacious marque to be erected, where upwards of fifteen hundred people were accommodated in partaking of an abundant collation; rations were also dealt out to all the troops on duty at the expense of the State. ”

“ The executive government consists of a governor, comptroller, treasurer, commissioner of the general land office, and superintendent of education, elected biennially, with an attorney-general and a secretary of state, appointed by the governor. ”

“ Certainly there are far more state than federal enforcement officers and their activities, up to now, have more frequently and closely touched the intimate daily lives of people than have the activities of federal officers. ”

“ The officers directly charged with the administration of national affairs in any State shall, as a rule, be citizens of that State. The officers, employés and workmen of the national administration shall, if they so desire, be employed in the districts where they reside as far as is possible and not inconsistent with their training and with the requirements of the service. ”

“ In modern usage the roles and regulations of clubs, learned societies, and other associations, are also called by-laws.]
[Sidenote: Power and responsibility.] In the selectmen and various special officers the town has an executive department; and here let us observe that, while these officials are kept strictly accountable to the people, they are entrusted with very considerable authority. Things are not so arranged that an officer can plead that he has failed in his duty from lack of power. There is ample power, joined with complete responsibility. ”

“ That the executive, besides a general authority to execute the federal acts, ought to appoint all federal officers not otherwise provided for, and to direct all military operations; provided, that none of the persons composing the federal executive shall, on any occasion, take command of any troops, so as personally to conduct any military enterprise as general, or in any other capacity. ”

“ I wish also to talk about the making of laws, the origin of laws, how they are put in form and finally enacted by the people. I wish to talk about our public servants, because one of the important things for each citizen to know is that from the President of the United States down to the constable of the humblest [pg 199] village, all officers are mere servants of the people and that no officer in America is in his official capacity master of any man, woman, or child. ”

“ The President, and Vice-President, of the Federation, the Members of the Supreme Court of Justice, the Secretaries of State, and those employed in their departments, the Governors of States and Territories, Military Commandants, Archbishops, Bishops, Vicars-general, Judges of Districts, and Commissaries-general of Finance, or War, are not eligible, as Deputies, for the States, or Territories, in which they exercise their functions ”