On the record
Such an act would have created a new class of voters, and would have been an assumption of power by the President which nothing in the Constitution or laws of the United States would have warranted.
Source
gutenberg.orgEditor's note · Context
Johnson warns that a presidential act granting voting rights to freedmen would be unconstitutional and an overreach of power.
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Jun 4, 1868
In further answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 25th of November, 1867, calling for information in relation to the trial and conviction of American citizens in Great Britain and Ireland for the last two years, I…
May 5, 1868
I transmit to the Senate, in further answer to their resolution of the 14th of April last, the accompanying report from the Secretary of State.
Jul 19, 1868
Feeling constrained to withhold my consent, I herewith return the resolution to the Senate, in which House it originated, with a brief statement of the reasons which have induced my action.
Jun 19, 1868
I have been unable to find in the Constitution of the United States any warrant for the exercise of the authority thus claimed by Congress.
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