The policy has been not to inquire into the wisdom of laws already enacted, but to learn their spirit and intent and to enforce them accordingly.
Editor's note · Context
Grant outlines his administration's approach to enforcing laws based on their spirit and intent rather than questioning their wisdom.
Share
More from Ulysses S. Grant
At the time of the framing of our constitution the only physical forces that had been subdued and made to serve man and do his labor, were the currents in the streams and in the air we breathe.
A power should exist complete in its organization, ready to take and able to maintain its place among the nations of the earth.
History shows that no Administration from the time of Washington to the present has been free from these mistakes.
But now, as in its past history, the United States should carefully avoid the false lights which might lead it into the mazes of doubtful law and of questionable propriety, and adhere rigidly and sternly to the rule, which has been its…





