In the former
supposition, his fortitude would be stimulated by his immediate interest
in the power of his office; in the latter, by the probability of the
sanction of his constituents, who, though they would naturally incline
to the legislative body in a doubtful case, would hardly suffer their
partiality to delude them in a very plain case. I speak now with an eye
to a magistrate possessing only a common share of firmness. There are
men who, under any circumstances, will have the courage to do their duty
at every hazard.
But the convention have pursued a mean in this business, which will both
facilitate the exercise of the power vested in this respect in the
executive magistrate, and make its efficacy to depend on the sense of a
considerable part of the legislative body. Instead of an absolute
negative, it is proposed to give the Executive the qualified negative
already described. This is a power which would be much more readily
exercised than the other. A man who might be afraid to defeat a law by
his single VETO, might not scruple to return it for reconsideration;
subject to being finally rejected only in the event of more than one
third of each house concurring in the sufficiency of his objections.
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