1. Surveys, 422. 2. Pre-emptions, 423. 4. Timber Culture, 426. 5. Bounty Lands, 427. 6. Mineral 11. Chief Clerk's Division..... 12. The Recorder's Division... 13. The Public Lands Division. 14. Division of Private Land Claims. 15. Division of Public Surveys... THE COMMISSIONER OF PENSIONS.......... 1. The Pension Office, 456. 2. Invalid Pensioners, 457. 3. Sur- vivors of War of 1812, 460. 4. Widows and Children's THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS. CHAPTER I. THE PRESIDENT. 1. By the Constitution of the United States, the powers of the Federal Government are divided into three great branches: the Legislative, the Executive, and the Judicial. Each of these, as constituted, exercises by authority of that instrument well-defined, separate, and independent functions, which are not to be limited or encroached upon in any sense by the other. It is the province of the Legislative branch to enact the laws, of the Executive branch to carry them into effect, and of the Judicial department to construe and apply the same, within the limits of its jurisdiction, to controversies as they may arise, whether between individuals, between them and the United States, or between the several States. In accordance with this supreme law of the land, the executive power is vested in the President. The political qualification for the office is, that he shall be a natural-born citizen of, and shall have been a resident for fourteen years within, the United States; also, that he shall have attained the age of thirty-five years. (Art. II, §§ 1, 2.) 2. According to the same instrument, he is the Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States. and of the militia of the several States when called into the actual service of the United States. (Id., § 2.) 3. He may require the opinion in writing of the principal officers in each of the executive departments upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices. (Id.) 4. He is invested with power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment. (Id.) 5. He has power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two-thirds of the Senators present concur; and he is required to nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate to appoint, ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States whose appointments are not otherwise provided for in the Constitution, and which shall be established by law. This last provision, as to other officers not provided for in the Constitution, is, however, subject to the power of Congress to vest the appointment of such inferior officers as it may think proper in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments. He has power to fill all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions to expire at the end of the next session thereof. (Id.) 6. He is required from time to time to give to Congress information of the state of the Union, and to recommend for its consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient. He may on extraordinary occasions convene both Houses, or either of them; and in case of disagreement between them with respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper. (Id., § 3.) 7. He is empowered to receive ambassadors and other public ministers. (Id.) 8. He is required to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and to commission all the officers of the United States. (Id.) 9. Every bill which shall have passed the House and the Senate, before it becomes a law, as likewise every order, resolution, or vote [except on a question of adjournment] requiring the concurrence of both Houses, must be presented to the President. If he approves it, he is required to sign the same; but if the contrary, to return it, with his objections, to the House in which it originated, to become a law on being repassed by two-thirds of each House. If the President shall fail to return the bill, order, &c., within ten days, Sundays excepted, it becomes a law, the same as if he had signed it, unless its return is prevented by the adjournment of Congress. (Art. I, § 2.) 10. The President is authorized by act of Congress to appoint, as his official household, a private secretary, an assistant secretary, two executive clerks, a steward, and a messenger. 11. Whenever Congress is about to convene, and from the prevalence of contagious sickness, or the existence of other circumstances, it would, in the opinion of the Presi dent, be hazardous to the lives or health of the members to meet at the seat of government, he is authorized, by proclamation, to convene that body at such other place as he shall judge proper. (R. S., § 34.) 12. In any case of the death, resignation, absence, or sickness of a head of a department or of the head of a bureau, or of any officer thereof whose appointment is not vested in the head of a department, except in the case of the death, resignation, absence, or sickness of the AttorneyGeneral, the President may authorize and direct the head of any other department, or any officer in either department whose appointment is vested in the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to perform the duties of the vacant office; but a vacancy occurring through death or resignation may not be filled for a longer period than ten |