It is the never-dying worm in his bosom, grows with
his growth and strengthens with the declining years of its victim.
If this is true, it is the part of wisdom for a republic to limit
the service of that officer at least to whom she has intrusted the
management of her foreign relations, the execution of her laws,
and the command of her armies and navies to a period so short as
to prevent his forgetting that he is the accountable agent, not
the principal; the servant, not the master. Until an amendment of
the Constitution can be effected public opinion may secure the
desired object. I give my aid to it by renewing the pledge
heretofore given that under no circumstances will I consent to
serve a second term.
But if there is danger to public liberty from the acknowledged
defects of the Constitution in the want of limit to the
continuance of the Executive power in the same hands, there is, I
apprehend, not much less from a misconstruction of that instrument
as it regards the powers actually given. I can not conceive that
by a fair construction any or either of its provisions would be
found to constitute the President a part of the legislative power.
It can not be claimed from the power to recommend, since, although
enjoined as a duty upon him, it is a privilege which he holds in
common with every other citizen; and although there may be
something more of confidence in the propriety of the measures
recommended in the one case than in the other, in the obligations
of ultimate decision there can be no difference.
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