The Inauguration It was formerly the practice for Congress, after having made the official count, to select a committee for the purpose of notifying the new President of his election, but this was not uniformly followed, and has now been abandoned altogether. Curiously enough no official notice whatever is given to the President-elect. He is supposed to be sufficiently aware of the fact himself, and on the fourth of March he appears to take the oath of office. He usually arrives in Washington a few days before, and calls upon the retiring President, to pay his respects. On the day of inauguration, the President-elect, in charge of a committee on ceremonies, is conducted to the White House, whence, accompanied by the President, he is driven to the Capitol. Unless the weather prevents, the oath of office, administered by the Chief Justice of the United States, is taken in the open air upon the platform built for the special purpose at the east front of the Capitol.1 Following the example set by Washington, it is the practice of the President to deliver an inaugural address setting forth his policy. After the administration of the oath of office, the new President is driven back to the White House, where, from a reviewing-stand, he surveys a long procession, which is usually hours in filing past. As soon as the new President has been installed, he is confronted with the problem of selecting his Cabinet and of filling a large number of minor places which are either vacant or whose occupants are ousted for one reason or another. It is quite common for the President to select for the post of Secretary of State the member of his party who is generally deemed to be next to himself in the esteem of the country. For example, Mr. Lincoln called to the State Department Mr. Seward, who had been his chief rival for nomination at the convention of 1860 in Chicago. Sometimes the new President rewards with Cabinet positions the men who have been especially prominent in securing his election. For example, Mr. Harrison appointed Mr. John Wanamaker, who had been treasurer of the Republican campaign If the weather prevents the open-air ceremony, the oath is taken in the Senate chamber. 2 Of course, many appointments are decided upon long before inauguration. He must be a natural-born citizen, at least thirty-five years old, and must have been fourteen years a resident within the United States. The same qualifications apply to the Vice-President. The term is fixed at four years, and so far as the Constitution is concerned, the President or Vice-President may be reëlected indefinitely.1 To these constitutional requirements, a third has been added by political practice: no person is eligible to the office of President for more than two terms, at least, in succession. This "third term doctrine," as it is called, is supposed to rest upon the example set by Washington in declining reëlection at the expiration of eight years' service. Tradition has it that Washington acted on principle, but this seems to have slight historical foundation. He did not share Jefferson's decided ideas on rotation in office, and there is apparently no reason for believing that he objected to a President's serving three terms or more. In fact, his farewell address is filled with reasonable excuses why he in particular ought not to be charged with lack of patriotism or neglect of duty in refusing to serve for another term. Jefferson originally believed that the President should have been given a seven years' term, and then made ineligible for reëlection." Later, however, he came to the conclusion that service for eight years with the possibility of removal at the end of four years was nearer the ideal arrangement. He, accordingly, followed the example set by Washington, and thus the third term doctrine early received such high sanction that it became a political dogma almost as inviolable as an express provision of the Constitution. 1 In case of the death or resignation of the President, the Vice-President succeeds. By statute Congress provided, in 1886, that in case of the death or resignation of both the President and Vice-President the following officers shall serve, in the order mentioned: Secretary of State, of the Treasury, of War, the Attorney-General, the Postmaster-General, the Secretary of the Navy, and of the Interior. 2 R. S. Rantoul, in The Essex Institute Historical Collections, Vol. XXXVII, p. 321 (1901). Readings, p. 70. The Inauguration It was formerly the practice for Congress, after having made the official count, to select a committee for the purpose of notifying the new President of his election, but this was not uniformly followed, and has now been abandoned altogether. Curiously enough no official notice whatever is given to the President-elect. He is supposed to be sufficiently aware of the fact himself, and on the fourth of March he appears to take the oath of office. He usually arrives in Washington a few days before, and calls upon the retiring President, to pay his respects. On the day of inauguration, the President-elect, in charge of a committee on ceremonies, is conducted to the White House, whence, accompanied by the President, he is driven to the Capitol. Unless the weather prevents, the oath of office, administered by the Chief Justice of the United States, is taken in the open air upon the platform built for the special purpose at the east front of the Capitol.1 Following the example set by Washington, it is the practice of the President to deliver an inaugural address setting forth his policy. After the administration of the oath of office, the new President is driven back to the White House, where, from a reviewing-stand, he surveys a long procession, which is usually hours in filing past. As soon as the new President has been installed, he is confronted with the problem of selecting his Cabinet and of filling a large number of minor places which are either vacant or whose occupants are ousted for one reason or another. It is quite common for the President to select for the post of Secretary of State the member of his party who is generally deemed to be next to himself in the esteem of the country. For example, Mr. Lincoln called to the State Department Mr. Seward, who had been his chief rival for nomination at the convention of 1860 in Chicago. Sometimes the new President rewards with Cabinet positions the men who have been especially prominent in securing his election. For example, Mr. Harrison appointed Mr. John Wanamaker, who had been treasurer of the Republican campaign If the weather prevents the open-air ceremony, the oath is taken in the Senate chamber. 2 Of course, many appointments are decided upon long before inauguration. committee, to the office of Postmaster-General; and Mr. Taft rewarded with the same office Mr. Hitchcock, who was chairman of the national committee during his campaign. Though as a rule the President confines his appointments to members of his own party, he sometimes chooses members of the opposition who have been lukewarm in their political activity. Furthermore, in making appointments to Cabinet positions the President usually attempts to have the different parts of the country fairly well represented. In all cases, he is supposed to select men with whom he can work harmoniously and who are willing to carry out the main lines of his policy. While the Cabinet officer's nomination must be confirmed by the Senate, as a matter of practice, the Senate always accepts the President's selection, so that in a very peculiar sense the Cabinet may be regarded as his personal retinue on whom he can depend for coöperation and advice in making his administration successful. CHAPTER X THE POWERS OF THE PRESIDENT THE functions of the President are prescribed by the Constitution, but his real achievements are not set by the letter of the law. They are determined rather by his personality, the weight of his influence, his capacity for managing men, and the strength and effectiveness of the party forces behind him. As chief executive, he operates through a vast and complicated official hierarchy centering at Washington and ramifying throughout the great American empire and even into foreign countries through the diplomatic and consular services. As political leader he may use his exalted position to appeal to the nationto sectional, class, or group interests; he may use his veto power against laws passed by Congress, he may agitate by means of his messages, and he may bring pressure to bear in Congress and within his party through the discriminating use of the federal patronage. Thus it happens that we do not have the whole office of President before us when we are in the presence of the Constitution and statutes of the United States. The President as Director of the Administration The President is the head of the national administration. It is his duty to see that the Constitution, laws, and treaties of the United States, and judicial decisions rendered by the federal courts are duly enforced everywhere throughout the United States. In the fulfilment of this duty, he may direct the heads of departments and their subordinates in the discharge of the functions vested in them by the acts of Congress. The exact degree, however, to which he may control an administrative officer is frequently a subject of political controversy, and cannot be set down with precision; it depends more upon the personality of the President than upon any theories of constitutional law.1 1 The President's power of direction is a product of historical development. It does not necessarily inhere in the Constitution. This power, according to Professor Goodnow, is "hardly recognized in the Constitution. The only |