If he had such power the Government might be republican in form, but it would be a monarchy in fact; and if he had undertaken to exercise it in the case of Kansas he would have been justly subject to the charge of usurpation and of violation of the dearest rights of the people of the United States.
In this quote, Pierce warns that if the President had the power to intervene in elections, it would undermine the republican nature of the government.
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