A letter of the Secretary of the Interior of the 25th instant (ultimo) and a copy of a communication from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs of the 19th instant (ultimo), explanatory of the said treaty, are also herewith transmitted.

I herewith lay before the Senate, for its constitutional action thereon, a treaty concluded on the 2d March, 1866, between the United States and the Shawnee tribe of Indians of Kansas.

The powers of departmental commanders are hereby delegated to the above-named district commanders.

It places at his free disposal all the lands and goods in his district, and he may distribute them without let or hindrance to whom he pleases.

I have carefully examined the bill 'to regulate the tenure of certain civil offices.'

The bill in this respect conflicts, in my judgment, with the Constitution of the United States.

All the information I have on the subject convinces me that the masses of the Southern people and those who control their public acts [...] are completely united in the effort to reorganize their society on the basis of peace and to…

I submit to Congress whether this measure is not in its whole character, scope, and object without precedent and without authority.

I know no other way in which they can be preserved and maintained except by a constant adherence to them through the various vicissitudes of national existence, with such adaptations as may become necessary, always to be effected, however…

Under these circumstances, as a depositary of the executive authority of the nation, I do not feel at liberty to unite with Congress in reversing it by giving my approval to the bill.

While a just, proper, and watchful jealousy of executive power constantly prevails, as it ought ever to prevail, yet it is equally true that an efficient Executive is an indispensable security for tranquillity at home and peace, honor, and…

The power of removal was incident to that duty, and might often be requisite to fulfill it.

It reduces the whole population of the ten States--all persons, of every color, sex, and condition, and every stranger within their limits--to the most abject and degrading slavery.

The history of the world has been written in vain if it does not teach us that unrestrained authority can never be safely trusted in human hands.

This is a bill passed by Congress in time of peace.

It should induce us to pause in a course of legislation which, looking solely to the attainment of political ends, fails to consider the rights it transgresses, the law which it violates, or the institutions which it imperils.

To pronounce the supreme lawmaking power of an established state illegal is to say that law itself is unlawful.

For these reasons I return the bill to the Senate, in which House it originated, for the further consideration of Congress which the Constitution prescribes.