In maintenance of the rights secured by the Constitution to the
executive branch of the Government I am compelled to decline any
specific or detailed answer to the request of the House for information
as to "any executive offices, acts, or duties, and, if any, what, have
been performed at a distance from the seat of Government established by
law, and for how long a period at any one time and in what part of the
United States."
If, however, the House of Representatives desires to know whether during
the period of upward of seven years during which I have held the office
of President of the United States I have been absent from the seat of
Government, and whether during that period I have performed or have
neglected to perform the duties of my office, I freely inform the House
that from the time of my entrance upon my office I have been in the
habit, as were all of my predecessors (with the exception of one, who
lived only one month after assuming the duties of his office, and one
whose continued presence in Washington was necessary from the existence
at the time of a powerful rebellion), of absenting myself at times from
the seat of Government, and that during such absences I did not neglect
or forego the obligations or the duties of my office, but continued to
discharge all of the executive offices, acts, and duties which were
required of me as the President of the United States.
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