"Sources of Danger to the Republic"

[markie]

https://frederickdouglasspapersproject.com/s/digitaledition/item/18126
excerpts of
Frederick Douglass - always a good read

"..........He is there for four years, and your only comfort, your only consolation, for whatever usurpation and misbehavior he is guilty of, is, that by and by you will have the right to elect another. What I needed for my manhood was, that I should be my own master. What the American people need for their manhood and their national security is, that the people shall, in time of war, and in time of peace be the masters of their own government.......

Now what are the elements that enter into this one man power and swell it to the formidable measure at which we find it at this time? The first thing
is the immense patronage of the President of the United States—the patronage of money, of honor, of place and power. He is able to divide among
his friends and among his satellites—attaching men to his person and to his political fortunes—a hundred million of dollars per annum in time of
peace, and uncounted thousands of millions of dollars in time of war are virtually at his disposal. This is an influence which can neither be weighed,
measured nor otherwise estimated. The very thought of it is overwhelming.
This amount of money lodged outside of the government in unfriendly hands could be made a formidable lever for the destruction of the government. It is a direct assault upon the national virtue. While the President of the United States can exalt whom he will, cast down whom he will; he can
place A into office for agreeing with him in opinion, and cause B to be put out of office because of an honest difference of opinion with him. Who
does not see that the tendency to agreement will be a million times stronger than the tendency to differ, even though truth should be in favor of difference.

Now I hold that this patronage should be abolished, that is to say that the President’s control over it should be abolished. The Constitution evidently contemplated that the large arm of our government should control the matter of appointments. It declares that the President may appoint by
and with the consent and with the advice of the Senate; he must get the Senate’s advice and consent, but custom and a certain laxity of administration has almost obliterated this feature of the Constitution, and now the President appoints, he not only appoints by and with the consent, but he has
the power of removal, and with this power he virtually makes the agency of the Senate of the United States of no effect in the matter of appointments. I
am very glad to see that a movement is on foot in Congress to make the appointments by the President or removal by the President alone illegal.
The security which you and I will have against the President is........."