The report also showed
that of the precedents cited in behalf of the majority's
contention, the applicability could be maintained only of those
which were supplied by cases arising since 1867, before which
time the right of the President to remove officers at his own
discretion was fully conceded.
The controversy had so far followed the ordinary lines of
partisan contention in Congress, which public opinion was
accustomed to regard with contemptuous indifference as mere
sparring for points in the electioneering game. President
Cleveland now intervened in a way which riveted the attention of
the nation upon the issue. Ever since the memorable struggle
which began when the Senate censured President Jackson and did
not end until that censure was expunged, the Senate had been
chary of a direct encounter with the President. Although the
response of the Attorney-General stated that he was acting under
the direction of the President, the pending resolutions avoided
any mention of the President but expressed "condemnation of the
refusal of the Attorney-General under whatever influence, to send
to the Senate" the required papers. The logical implication was
that, when the orders of the President and the Senate conflicted,
it was the duty of the Attorney-General to obey the Senate. This
raised an issue which President Cleveland met by sending to the
Senate his message of March 1, 1886, which has taken a high rank
among American constitutional documents.
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